Amsterdam Hotels
 

Anyone know of a good place to stay in Amsterdam? How about Hotel Arena?

Andy<BR><BR>Check out this site. Click on 'reviews with ratings'.<BR><BR>http://channels.nl/

Arena is a nice&amp;quiet hotel serving a good breakfast.Its main handicape is that's rather far (compared to other places near Rembrandt museum)to major touristical attractions and even to bus stops, (especially when you're carrying a heavy luggage like mine !!)Can

Sorry for the name...but Mercure Arthur Frommer hotel is a very good choice : great location and you can walk to all the major attractions, rooms clean and quite,
breakfast excellent.It's part of the &quot;mercure&quot; so they have a web site.
(Mercure.com and navigue in-they have it in english/american language).
We wer her 2 yeras ago with our daughters for 5 days and it was great.
Erik.

I booked a hotel room in Amsterdam using Priceline and I got a great deal at the Marriott in central Amsterdam for $77 us dollars for October...I have used priceline several times before and it is very reliable....no problems.

I have a question about booking with Priceline. It seems that they don't give you the hotel name and details until you have booked? What if you don't want the reservation? Are you obligated? How can you find out what the hotel is before you book it? And, how reliable are they. Thanks

judi1,

Before you book with Priceline you have to be sure of the exact dates of travel because once the reservation is made there are no changes allowed, believe me, they are strict in making any changes. I have used their service for hotels many times and the accomodations are always excellent for the low price one pays. They always use top brand hotel chains, the only thing when bidding on a hotel room in a large city, make a good decision of what area of the city you are willing to stay in....

judi1: Priceline can often snag you a 50% plus discount of a hotel's rates which is why it can be such a useful booking source. The tradeoff is that it is opaque. The hotel chains don't want you knowing for sure that you can get a steal of a deal; otherwise nobody would pay their own inflated rates. Now, for your specific inquiries:

&quot;It seems that they don't give you the hotel name and details until you have booked?&quot;

Correct.

&quot;What if you don't want the reservation? Are you obligated?&quot;

Yes. You will have prepaid for the reservation and are stuck with the propery, dates, and rate. No exceptions.

&quot;How can you find out what the hotel is before you book it?&quot;

While you can't be absolutely certain which property you might get, www.biddingfortravel.com/ reduces Priceline bidding to as close as an exact science as is possible with an opaque site. Although it would be dangerous to venture a success rate, I would guess that at least 70% of the time I have gotten the hotel I anticipated once armed with the voluminous bidding data at BiddingForTravel. And you most definitely control the general quality level of the hotel you seek (e.g. you can limited yourself to 4* and better hotels, or you can go all the way down to 1* properties). Just be sure to familiarize yourself with the intricacies of bidding (e.g. free rebidding).

As it pertains to Amsterdam hotels, Priceline often produces fantastic savings. You can typically get a centrally-located 4* like the Marriott or Renaissance for $75-$90 per night. You will definitely not find a rate anywhere near that level from other sources, and you'd be hard pressed to find a comparable hotel room in Amsterdam for under $100/night.

People have been complaining lately about getting the 4* Amsterdam Parkhotel on Priceline on BiddingForTravel with bids in the 70s, I think. However, I think there is a relatively reasonable cost for an upgrade to a better room.