We booked our flights before discovering that we'll be in Amsterdam over the Queens's Day holiday. It sounds like a fun time to be there, but most of the hotels we've checked on are fully booked. I've contacted Seven Bridges, Canal House, and Hotel Hestia, among others. Ambassadee looks great and has a couple rooms left, but the rate is about $295 US. NH Schiller is available through travelocity at under $200, but the reviews I've read mentioned its noisy location. We'd like to stay in at least a 3 star hotel or b&b, but would prefer to pay under $250 per night - preferably under $200. Something with charm and a good location would be ideal. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

If you can freely cancel any of those offers, I would book one of them while continuing to 'shop'. Rates are higher during special events and the hotels do fill up.
The only other option is to stay outside of Amsterdam, but not sure what impact on transport the crowds will have.

I don't know your dates, but I entered April 27-May 2 into this site and got quite a few hotels..

http://www.channels.nl/

Thanks for your help! That looks like a great website. I'm also looking for hotel recommendations in/around Amsterdam. So far I've struck out on the hotels that had been highly recommended by fellow travelers, so I'm hoping for more recs.

Hi hwinokur

Last year I stayed at the NH Doelen for 159 euro for a deluxe double with view of the Amstel. Small, nice place. Location was good.

<i>Something with charm and a good location would be ideal. Any suggestions would be appreciated!</i>

On both counts you can hardly do better than the Ambassade.

Travelnut just hinted at what, I think, is a good idea. Search on www.google.nl
and you will be surprise at how many more hits you can get, both from hotels directly and from consolidators.

Last year I stayed at the Owl Hotel, about 115e. Nice hotel with breakfast included. 5 minutes to Leidesplein and 8 minutes to the Van Gogh museum, passing the Amerstdam mini version of Rodeo Drive.

I tend to spend my $ more on the experience of the city than in the hotel, but this was a nice hotel, complete with the Dutch humor. I asked the desk clerk how long it would take to walk to the Van Gogh, and he said, it depends on how you walk....

Try this link:
www.hotelres.nl

We loved Hotel Estherea -- very centrally located and lovely. It was cheap in early March (I think around $100 a night) but may get expensive in warm months.

I'd love to experience Amsterdam during Queen's Day. I'm quite envious of you.

On one of our trips we stayed at the Hotel Agora on the Singel and quite enjoyed it.

http://www.hotelagora.nl/

I agree with Travelnut - I think you should grab whatever you can find. You might have better luck staying outside of Amsterdam (Haarlem), however, it's Queen's Day all over the country. Good luck finding a hotel. Peace, Robyn &gt;-

www.kaphotel.nl

Thank you so much everyone! We're on a roll lately... we booked a trip to St. Lucia not realizing that they're hosting the cricket World Cup, and we'll be in Boston during the marathon. We're neither runners nor cricket fans, but I think we'll enjoy the Queen's Day festivities!

I checked but Agora and Estherea were both booked. We're there 4/29-5/5. I made a res at Ambassade to be safe, but 225 euro seems so expensive. I found a less expensive room at Hotel Roemer... no canal views, but the location and rooms look great. The flatscreen tv in the bathroom seems a little over the top. There were many rave reviews for Roemer on tripadvisor.com, but I haven't found any reviews on fodors.

Hotel Roemer renovated and reopened last year, so it's quite &quot;new&quot;. The location is good, quiet street but near Leidseplein action.