Priceline Hotel: Help for 4* Amsterdam 9/11-9/12

[GroovyGeek]

Have been trying to nab a reasonably priced room in AMS/City center MQ for about 5 days now., for 1 night 9/11-9/12 Started at $75 and with 2x/day bids (one for me and one for my wife) am up to $125 with zero success. This is so far out of line with published winning bids for this area and hotel class ($75-$80) that I am wondering what is going on. Any advice? Can those in the know suggest other areas that I might add that are not too far away from the main attractions? We have an overnight stay (arrive 10am 9/11 depart 10am 9/12) and wanted to take the oportunity for a quick look at the city.

[BacSi]

Sorry friend but you have picked the worst hotel dates of the year. By far. You are smack dab in the middle of the dreaded IBC.

Most hotel rooms are fully booked. Those that are not are 2x-3x the normal rate. Or more.

The best suggestion I can give is to look into an apt or a house boat. These tend to be somewhat less used during the IBC. (EDITED: Sorry an apt or houseboat will not work for a one night stay)

If not that then maybe a close by town. But even those will be somewhat to a lot more expensive.

[BacSi]

Considering that small crappy two star rooms could be going for $200 a night you "might" want to try something.

I have no idea what a really high bid would get you. Something in that $200 range. Most likely nothing. But that is the one thing I have not seen tried during this conference week.

And $200-$275 or so for a 4 star would be a great deal for this week.

Bad timing for sure

[GroovyGeek]

Sorry friend but you have picked the worst hotel dates of the year. By far. You are smack dab in the middle of the dreaded IBC.

Most hotel rooms are fully booked. Those that are not are 2x-3x the normal rate. Or more.

Yes, I woke up to this fact in the morning when I decided to google to see what is going on. The somewhat strange thing is that you can find a reasonable priced room on ALL other dates, just 9/11 seems to be sold out. I did the combinatorial bidding thing up to $275 for a 4* and still no luck. At this point I will probably make a reservation for EUR165 for Hotel De Beurs at the airport and keep looking (they have 7-day cancelation privilege). How is the transport from there to the city?

The worst part of all this is that we are visting AMS on a whim. We were making a connection there and decided to arrive one day and leave the other and use the dayfor a quick detour to the city. Seems like we picked THE worst possible day of the year. By far. :)

[thereuare]

The worst part of all this is that we are visting AMS on a whim. We were making a connection there and decided to arrive one day and leave the other and use the dayfor a quick detour to the city.

Not sure if all of your other plans are confirmed/changable, but have you looked into the cost of changing your airline tickets to another day to when the Amsterdam hotels are more reasonably priced?

Please use the PRICELINE and HOTWIRE links on the board to begin your travel purchases.

[BacSi]

I do not know that hotel. But once you get to the airport the transportation into the city is quick, often, and cheap.

A train from the airport to Central Station (20 mins top)

And while the hotels are over booked everyone says that you will notice no change around town as far as crowds.

Its still a great city and a beautiful time of the year.

Next time a different time period and a longer stay.

[GroovyGeek]

I do not know that hotel. But once you get to the airport the transportation into the city is quick, often, and cheap.

Turns out I missed the last double room there too, so I ended up with a $300 room (after tax) at the Van Der Valk Hotel A4 Schiphol. The advantage is that they have a free shuttle to/from the airport (10 min) and I figured that public transport from the airport would be relatively cheap and plentiful, so all is not lost. My daughter will probably be doing a semester of study abroad in Amsterdam so I am sure that we will be back.

We looked into the cost of changing airplane tickets but it comes out close to a wash, so we might as well stick with the plans. Thanks for the advice everyone, it has been really helpful.

[yellowdog]

GroovyGeek

Good to see that you found something that will work for your plans.

Thanks for the follow-up and closing this thread.

Yellowdog.