Amsterdam: two twins do not a queen-size make
 

Hello, all,

My man and I are going for a romantic weekend in Amsterdam in a few weeks and I am looking for hotels. The only element that is non-negotiable in the search is that the room have a real queen or king bed. None of this "pushed together" BS.

So far I have inquired at des Arts, Wiechmann, Belga, Brouwer, Ambassade and Prinsenhof and it seems that the trend is to push two twins together. As we all know (and probably learned the hard way), in this case, two halves do not make a whole.

Now, not all the hotels have gotten back to me yet, but I thought that you guys would be able to help me out. Has anyone stayed at the aforementioned hotels? Did they have big beds? Any other suggestions for hotels that meet our criteria?

Perhaps I sound paranoid, but so far on 2 occasions I have made a specific request for a big bed, only to arrive to a flashback of the 1950s. I seem to remember twins being a Dutch cultural standard, so maybe that is the deal.

Thank you very much,
laclaire

can´t help on the beds.. but i am happy to see your post, laclaire! hope you are fine.
still in barca?

Try Banks Mansion. I'm pretty sure they have a "normal" double bed because we had to request 2 twins. Have fun!

http://www.carlton.nl/banksMansion/gallery-en.html

I feel your pain, I really dislike that two twins pushed together stuff. However, I think in Amsterdam, you are venturing into that part of Europe where they love love love twin beds and don't even know anything else. It's the same thing in Poland, CR, Germany, Switzerland, etc. A real double bed is very hard to find.

We didn't like it, but the Holiday Inn had a real queen size bed.

We were there last April. The Holiday Inn is far from everything. Plus we came back one day to find the door to our room standing open.

In the Netherlands it is normal for a double bed to have two mattresses. Any double bed wider than 140cm will have two matresses. My bed is 180cm wide, and is two mattresses, and two bases. We never fall through the gap!

The apartment we rented in Amsterdam this summer had two twin beds pushed together, but there was an additional king mattress about 5 inches thick on top of the whole thing -- it was truly a king sized bed.
They remove the extra mattress if people want two separate beds.

Nothing to add on the subject, but happy to see you Claire, and happy to see you planning a romantic weekend.

If made up properly, you should not even be able to tell that there are 2 mattresses.

The Canal House has some rooms with double beds (of the US measure) but those are barely comfortable for 2 people to sleep in...not so bad for other stuff :-))

We rented one of the apartments associated with the Seven Bridges hotel (next door). We had a king size.

http://www.sevenbridgeshotel.nl/

At the Springhill Suites by Marriott in Seattle, I had what I thought was a king-size bed. But when I looked at it, I discovered it was actually two mattresses under a sheet. Think of the savings from the hotel's point of view - if something happens to one mattress, they don't have to replace the whole thing, etc. I have to say I did not notice anything uncomfortable about the two mattresses - I only found this out on close inspection.

In any event, despite this Marriott experience, I suspect an American or international-standard chain hotel might do better for a real king-size bed. Another complication in Amsterdam is that with narrow stairways, it's a real challenge to get something so large as a king-size bed into place, so it's much easier to get in twins. So look for a place without narrow stairways.

For example, I suspect the Moevenpick (which you can often get on Hotwire for a relatively cheap price) might not use those side-by-side beds, as it is just recently built and relatively spacious. The location is not so ideal, but it would work okay.

Hey, y'all! Thanks for all the tips and the warm welcome.

I have found 2 hotels with "real double beds," so now I am just waiting for their replies.

Falling through the crack: we have dealt with pushed together twins twice and on both occasions, both of us fell through the crack. The second time was when we said "OK, enough!" and from then on, it is our goal to never deal with that again.

Lin- I am still in Barcelona, indeed, and doing really well. As you can tell, I am seeing someone (randomly enough, he is Australian), and I recently changed jobs (still translating for the Museum, but now I am also working for another place full time) to the greatest place ever! So, work is great, personal is great, and I follow suit to say that I am doing really well.

Trip report on the A-dam to come.

Hey laclaire,

A friend and I are planning a relocate to BCN this spring would love to pick your brain. Do you still have my email.
I can't find yours or I would have gotten in touch sooner. Thanks

Ooh! Count me in. I just e-mailed you.

So, we found a room with the right bed, but the bathroom is in the hall. I am sure that if we were going for 200€+ per night, this would not be a problem, but as we are aiming lower, we are finding little problems all over the place.

Another cultural phenomenon: in Amsterdam, many hotels do not take 2 night reservations. You have to stay over Sunday night, as well, or at least pay for it, so that you can stay Fri and Sat. Annoying.

"So, we found a room with the right bed, but the bathroom is in the hall. I am sure that if we were going for 200€+ per night, this would not be a problem, but as we are aiming lower, we are finding little problems all over the place."

So tell, us what IS your budget. I'd be surprised if many hotels at 175 or even 150 euro per night had a shared bath. But your phrasing would indicate you're probably paying that much. Otherwise, if you were only paying something like 70 or 80 it would be ludicrous to suggest that you'd have to jump to 200 euro a night to get a private bath!

You could invest in one of these, then you could stay wherever you please:

http://www.comforthouse.com/playhouses.html

they are only $45-50USD. Google search "bed doubler"

hey laclaire how's things? i'm onto you about an apartment with a real double bed, also a roof terrace, in the centre, it's 140 per night: http://www.way2stay.com/Amsterdam-ap...en-67-1583.htm

Thank you, travel_buzzing, but I have been taken off the search by my man, who is stepping up to the plate and the challenge.

BTW- we wanted to be at 150E max, and found a place for 85, bathroom in the hall, and then another for 150E, no double bed guarantee.

'no double bed guarantee'

Do you realise that if you are asking for a double bed in Europe you may well get a smaller bed than a queen or king?

Normally double is 140 cm.wide, queen is 160, king is 180 - and almost always the latter are pushed/screwed together.