Since prices often vary a great deal due to seasons etc.. can you give us an idea of when to book a hotel in Amsterdam for October 2014? TIA!

For our late Sept trip this year we booked in June. There was plenty of availability. We actually used Priceline. The hotel,room and location were great for us although not to everyone's taste.

We booked on Priceline and got a hotel room for $100-NH Doelen- a bit old world but the location was perfect. Be careful if you bid to select your preferred location-our hotel was very central and we could walk to most places. A tram stop was near the hotel to access areas too far to walk to.

For Amsterdam, I don't see the legacy airline type of pricing where the same room goes up or down in price in a major way. The prices only seem to go up as more desirable rooms at good prices get snatched up. Looks like you are from the US? Think how Southwest Airline prices the seats.

Don't rely on any one timing "rule." Start looking at room rates once they start publishing the rates for the October 2014. Observe pricing on different days for October 2014.
While I don't observe market based price fluctuations based on the time of booking, there is a market based pricing for the time of the stay. The prices can shoot up 2x one week, if there is a major even going on and goes back to normal level a week before or after. I was in Amsterdam last weekend. I moved my schedule one week back because hotel prices during the weekend of Sept 28 was twice the normal rate along with poor choices. One of the major event going on was the European Cancer Congress. You don't necessarily need to know the major event schedules. The abnormal hotel prices and availabilities you would see at booking engines would clue you that something big is going on in the city. Even though it costs a little bit more, I usually book rooms with no cancellation penalties. Sometimes, I find later on, as an example at this forum, a hotel at a good location at better rate.

Make sure there's not a major convention happening on your travel dates. It can make a big difference in hotel availability!

Pricing of hotel rooms may vary by season, but the season depends on the date you will be there, not the date you are booking it.

I would book a refundable reservation and check back from time to time to see if the price has dropped.

Go to TripAdvisor.com Go to the netherlands forum. Look up the threads "Bidding on a 4 star" and "Bidding on a 5 star". They are usually in the first few pages. They are hundreds of posts long so start with the newest. You'll find you can get a 5 star hotel for $100 USD per night using Priceline's Name Your Own Price. Ask questions... people are glad to help.

Also check out BetterBidding.com and look at "Other Cities". You can also ask for advice on strategies there as well.