Looking for a hotel for 4 adults in Amsterdam in the month of August. Haven't the faintest idea what location or hotel to go with. Our budget is up to 280$ Canadian a night. Thanks

Use Booking.com to scan the location and facilities. You can see the price in your currency.
The nearer the centre the higher the price. No matter what is suggested here you may not find availability at this late stage.

Maybe also look for hotels in Haarlem, Utrecht, The Hague, Leiden or even Rotterdam. You'll be amazed at the difference in rates: travel to Amsterdam from those places is never more than 45 minutes station to station.

I use the following when looking for hotels, tripadvisor / hotel.com or booking.com / google maps/earth. For 4 adults you may also want to consider homeaway.com. We spent 3 nights there with two families (8 people) and had an entire downtown home to ourselves. Certainly try and stay within walking distance from downtown. Walking Amsterdam at night is half the fun.

Are you still looking for a hotel?

No but thanks!