A modern apartment in an historic building. This building was more than two centuries old when the U. S. war of independence began. It has, however, been fitted with a dishwasher, an induction cooktop, and a combination convection and microwave oven. The shower/bath is small but adequate. The separate room with the toilet is tiny but adequate.
And the location! People watching is fabulous out the window. There is a junction of canals just across the street. Less than 20 yards away is one of those quaint winding central Amsterdam streets crammed with bars, souvenir shops, eating places, one large grocery store (an Albert Heijns) and, of course, several coffee shops. Next door is a great place to get cappuccino, and across the street is a sidewalk cafe serving excellent sandwiches and superb apple strudel. The “Red Room” district begins about two blocks away.
This location is so good that a luxury Renaissance luxury hotel is just down the block.
There are three or four tram stops about three minutes away, and the Amsterdam Centraal railway station is about as far, a 5 minute walk. The train station has an information building outside of it where you can get tickets for the tram. More importantly for first-timers, there are multi-lingual humans to explain how to use the tram and bus systems.
The host was as helpful as she could be. Ingrid provides two booklets: one about how the apartment works, and one about places to dine and to sight see. Plus one about how to use the clothes washer. She genuinely cares about the people who temporarily live in her apartment.
Modern conveniences in a central location with an historic building as a bonus. A host who cares about people. It doesn’t get much better than this.
Note: I claim to have an informed opinion about hotels and Airbnbs: I count my nights spent there in the thousands. Well, 2,000+ in any event.