Hotel Help

[Uncle Ron]

What's goin' on fellas?

Waited too long to book my room at GHE for 4/20 weekend and unfortunatly they only have rooms available that are out of my price range. Looking for some recommendations on cheap & clean hotels that have private 1 person, ensuite rooms and are also smoker friendly. Not looking to go the hostel route and the majority of spots I saw on hostelbookers.com & lovingamsterdam.com didn't really get me as excited as GHE does.

Hoping someone drops a hidden gem I may have missed in my research. Any help is appreciated.

First, which weekend? 420 is on a Tuesday.
I searched Amsterdamby.com and received the following results:
17-18 April - from E40 per night (canal boat; private room; shared bathroom; breakfast E5 extra)
24-25 April - from E40 per night (see above)
18-21 April - from E40 per night (see above)

Some below E70 per night offer private facilities and breakfast.

Good luck.
Peace.

[DaveS]

I stayed in the vijaya it's not bad but don't expect loxury, i think i paid 70/80 and if i remember rightly it claimed to be 4 star,i've just come back from a stay at the clement which is a budget hotel for 40 e night and i couldn't fault it,get what you pay for and smoker encouraging.

The Vijaya lists itself as a 2 star - and no, it's not the Grand Kras, but it's hard to beat for location, price (it's ensuite with free breakfast don't forget) and friendliness...

Fenix - you'll have no worries mate. The food's good, the sheets (and room in general) have always been clean everytime I've stayed there, and they're nice people there - they always recognise me now whenever I go back, and if the hotel's not full, they've given me a free upgrade to a bigger twin room a few times now... I'm getting to be a creature of habit now, and if I find somewhere that ticks all the right boxes, I tend not to bother looking anywhere else. ) I've even changed the dates of my flights to coincide with vacancies there!

Cheap is fine if you like surprises (Quentin Arrivee ) - me, I like to be able to lock my door... come back and find all my stuff's still where I left it... have a shit or a shower when I want to... You know - the little things in life! I have to save up quite a bit to fund my trips to Amsterdam, and I consider the whole lot wasted if the basic requirements (a clean and safe hotel) are sacrificed. Yeah, I know we're not spending the whole time in the hotel room, but it doesn't mean we have to put up with the crap that the Quentin's dole out... I'd rather spend the extra few €s and enjoy the whole holiday better, having had a few nights of good sleep...

I've got two bookings at the Vijaya this year, both have cost me €185 for three nights - my third trip in September with a friend has me staying at the Frisco Inn (Vijaya fully booked!) for €260 for the two of us (ensuite, no breakfast) for the three nights - haven't read any bad reports about this place yet! Fingers crossed...

[Uncle Ron]

Cheap is fine if you like surprises (edited for brevity)

I totally agree with DaveS.
There are good deals to be had, and there are also great deals, just depends on what one is willing to sacrifice. Typically, most want to stay inside the outer-most canal, the closer to the action the better. However, there are those such as myself that figured out how to get nearly everything we want, and save money as well. The catch is not to stay within the city limits. Even with the added cost of transportation, which is relatively cheap compared to other global cities, the cost will still be cheaper.
In the past, I have stayed in Almere (very nice), Amstelveen, and Haarlem, all of which were cheaper than staying in Amsterdam city. Most overnight visits I stay outside the city, and to me the sacrifice of not sleeping within the city limits versus having more money to spend is a no brainer for me. Plus, I don't mind a 30 minute train ride, mostly because I'll be baked. '8)'

To each their own.
Peace.

[Cisco]

You will have no probs with the Frisco Inn i have stayed there a couple of times ! nice modern rooms t.v. safe usual steep staircase and rooms can be small , but overall friendly , safe close to the action (they were cool about smoking in the room aswell , jus keep the window open and this was aftter the ban , but i only smoked green )

[BacSi]

"I've got two bookings at the Vijaya this year, both have cost me €185 for three nights"


See this is where I do not understand the math or the economics. Considering I paid 165 euros (20 euros less total) for 3 nights in a great 4 star with a smoking room--- double. (I actually stayed 14 nights at that nightly rate) tax etc inc.

Staying in a 1 or 2 star because you want that experience I can understand.....a little.

Staying because its more expensive I do not.

[Pauli Wallnuts]

"I've got two bookings at the Vijaya this year, both have cost me €185 for three nights"


See this is where I do not understand the math or the economics. Considering I paid 165 euros (20 euros less total) for 3 nights in a great 4 star with a smoking room--- double. (I actually stayed 14 nights at that nightly rate) tax etc inc.

Staying in a 1 or 2 star because you want that experience I can understand.....a little.

Staying because its more expensive I do not.

BacSi its time to start posting in other threads me thinks

[Kermit]

"I've got two bookings at the Vijaya this year, both have cost me €185 for three nights"


See this is where I do not understand the math or the economics. Considering I paid 165 euros (20 euros less total) for 3 nights in a great 4 star with a smoking room--- double. (I actually stayed 14 nights at that nightly rate) tax etc inc.

Staying in a 1 or 2 star because you want that experience I can understand.....a little.

Staying because its more expensive I do not.

Because it ticks the right boxes, read his post for gods sake. As PW said time to post something other than Hotels and priceline.

Do you have any experience with Weed or Hash??

Have you visited any CS??

And who the hell are you, you never even posted an intro, just straight into your pitch!!

[Toker70]

"I've got two bookings at the Vijaya this year, both have cost me €185 for three nights"


See this is where I do not understand the math or the economics. Considering I paid 165 euros (20 euros less total) for 3 nights in a great 4 star with a smoking room--- double. (I actually stayed 14 nights at that nightly rate) tax etc inc.

Staying in a 1 or 2 star because you want that experience I can understand.....a little.

Staying because its more expensive I do not.

Because it ticks the right boxes, read his post for gods sake. As PW said time to post something other than Hotels and priceline.

Do you have any experience with Weed or Hash??

Have you visited any CS??

And who the hell are you, you never even posted an intro, just straight into your pitch!!

Kinda like one of those door to door salesmen

[Boner]

Aye he's becoming spammy re: priceline now.

[Twichaldinho]

Aye he's becoming spammy re: priceline now.

Thank fuck I am not the only one who noticed, for a while I thought I may have been a little harsh to say so.
conscience clear

[DaveS]

You will have no probs with the Frisco Inn i have stayed there a couple of times ! nice modern rooms t.v. safe usual steep staircase and rooms can be small , but overall friendly , safe close to the action (they were cool about smoking in the room aswell , jus keep the window open and this was aftter the ban , but i only smoked green )

Thanks for that cisco... I normally do some checking before I book anywhere, to be honest... and this place looked ok and had some pretty good reviews online.

Stairs have never bothered me - it's part and parcel of Amsterdam as far as I'm concerned!

My criteria are simple (you might want to re-read this bit, BacSi) - close to the action, clean, secure, ensuite bathroom (a must), reasonable price, nice staff and breakfast (that's optional really, but it makes life easier to fill up before you leave the hotel for a days' hard schmoking.)

Now, much as I hate to bring this whole Priceline stuff up on yet another thread, let's just see if we can get this all out in the open and then bury it for good...

1) I've done my research (No, really BacSi.. I have..) and this is how it appears - you bid on a random hotel. Somewhere in Amsterdam. Yes?
2) You can get some great deals. Yes.
3) You don't know where you will stay until you win your bid.
4) Every one of the experienced posters on here clearly don't know what they're doing and have nothing but out of date information -

Actually that is outdated info Boner.

Bad Boner! - I mean, what would you know about this topic, bud?
5) We all love to throw our money away. Obviously.

Me, I like to know where I'm staying thank you.

I like to know exactly how much I will be paying for my shitty little 1 or 2 star hovel.

I don't care too much for 5 star places anyway - full of supercilious snobs who look down their noses at the 'scum' who can't afford to stay there. (...like myself, Twich, Boner, Kermit, Toker70, Pauli, cisco, Dirty Uncle Ron, FenixNYC, oh and pretty much everyone else who posts here...) And the food's stupidly expensive.

Before you start telling people what to do, BacSi, and letting us know that we're all idiots if we don't follow your instructions... try looking at the situation like this - some of us actually do know what we're talking about, are mature enough to accept that we don't know everything, and generally are more than happy to get better deals on things as and when new information is available.
However, some of us really do know the score, and leave the whole Priceline scenario to those who want to do it that way.

I have been going to Amsterdam for over 20 years now and look at this site as a valuable resource for sharing good info. Whatever people do with that information is up to them, and to be frank, fair play to you for letting people know that there are some great deals to be had. But you could come down off your high horse when you're playing in our backyard, as it were. We're not all kids here - I'm 42 years old and most of the fine folks that you're denigrating here are of a similar vintage (at least mentally if not physically!).

If you must insist that we all read the posts you list (at great length), extolling the virtues of the magical world of Priceline, at least have the common courtesy to fully read our posts in return. Or perhaps introduce yourself to us as something other than the Prophet Of Priceline so that we may understand where you're coming from... You've made 35 posts since you registered here, and almost without exception they have all been on this (rather tired) topic. You can see why people might get the wrong impression of you for this incessant spamming of Priceline's services.

I have stayed in many hotels in Amsterdam - some of which are great (Hotel Di-ann), but often a little more money than I want to spend, or just a little further out of town than I like to walk... some have been burned into my memory as all-time disaster areas (Quentin Arrivee).

Some places, (please excuse my spamming this hotel, folks) like the Hotel Vijaya just fit the bill perfectly or tick all the right boxes (cheers Kermit!) - and this is why I stay there. Yes, I might get a fantastic 5 star hotel somewhere out on the outer ring road cheaper, but I may enjoy the shorter travel time to and from my main purpose for visiting - i.e. the coffeeshops. It's not always about the

math or the economics

- it's about what we like. If you can't understand that, then maybe this isn't the right place for your Priceline manifesto...

Sheesh....

[Hotdog]

as this thread seems to have been taken over by 'mr priceline' (as my recent hotel help thread had been) just thought id say my g/f and I tried priceline the other week............crap! after reading hours and hours of advice on how to bid etc etc we decided to give it a go. one night we made 4 bids, got sod all except a footnote of advice to 'bid higher'. By this time we were bidding what we could pay on a site such as easytobook so we gave up. i know what SOME people will say "yeah but priceline will get ya a 4* for wot you pay for a 2* blah blah blah" but id rather just pay cash for somewhere decent that I know im defo booked into rather than exchange funds not knowing where im booking, as good as it may be. Also i dont like the way priceline ask for your credit card details befor you've made a bid. They have my details now and ive no intention of ever using them.

[Old Timer]

I don't care too much for 5 star places anyway - full of supercilious snobs who look down their noses at the 'scum' who can't afford to stay there. (...like myself, Twich, Boner, Kermit, Toker70, Pauli, cisco, Dirty Uncle Ron, FenixNYC, oh and pretty much everyone else who posts here...) And the food's stupidly expensive.

Just for the record:
There are quite a few of us here that have/do stay at the Kras.
I, and I'm sure none of the others, are "supercilious snobs who look down their noses at the 'scum' who can't afford to stay there."

The Kras checks all my boxes, as you say. The price is also a personal issue. What some people consider expensive, others might consider cheap. To each their own has always been my philosophy.

When I was younger I stayed in all sorts of cheap hotels and hostels all over the city. However, now that I'm a little older and can afford it, I prefer a bit of luxury.

Where I sleep at night and how much it costs, in know way reflects on what I think of others who stay in cheaper hotels.

I much prefer spending my time with you lot in coffee shops, than I do sipping afternoon tea at the Kras (or anywhere else for that matter).

If you ever meet me, you will soon realize that I'm about as far as can possibly be from a "supercilious snob."

[bleak]

I just spent some time in a really nice 4 star....with a moderately large double room..... in a great location....Leidesplien... nice smoking room for 55 euros a night including tax etc.

Sounds good, which hotel was it??

my friends are visiting town and I need to find them a hotel in this area.

[BacSi]

I just spent some time in a really nice 4 star....with a moderately large double room..... in a great location....Leidesplien... nice smoking room for 55 euros a night including tax etc.

Sounds good, which hotel was it??

my friends are visiting town and I need to find them a hotel in this area.

It was the NH Amsterdam Centre. And with that I am out of here.

I post what I know well. I post in an attempt to save people lots of money. People I do not even know.

But post here I will do no more.

Sorry for bothering you all