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My wife and I will be there for 9 days in February and I'm starting to look for a place to stay.

When we were there in September of 2009, I used Priceline and got the Grand Krasnapolsky for $80 USD per night including taxes. We got one of the newer rooms, so we had a very nice experience. From what I can tell, I should have no problem getting a similar deal for the whole 9 days using priceline. Other people report bids are accepted for 3 star hotels in Amsterdam for $50 USD per night, so if I'm willing to go down a step, 9 nights is only $450 which seems like a steal. Even for $80 a night, it's $720 and we're staying in a centrally-located 4 or even 5 star hotel.

I've done some research into houseboats, and the pricing I've found shows as per person, and the cheapest houseboat I can find will be over 100 euros per night, so with the exchange rate it is almost double the cost since I'm paying with dollars on Priceline. Same thing with apartments, significantly more expensive.

Am I looking in the wrong places? Is it possible to get a houseboat or apartment for less than $100 US per night (preferably much less), not per person?

I also wonder why I don't read about people here using Priceline more often.

Go here

http://www.frederic.nl/

Click rooms in the left menu. They have houseboats and apartments.

Just in case they don't float your boat.

http://amsterdam.citymundo.com/

Enjoy
FlyByNite

I also wonder why I don't read about people here using Priceline more often.[/quote]
I have used priceline atleast 40 times over the years, a lot less lately. I have found that 50% of the time you get a great deal. The problem is the other 50% of the time you get stuck in a annex, the really nice hotel has one block of shit rooms and that is where the PL guests stay, parking is extra when using PL, breakfast is not free to PL users, the list goes on and on. At least 5 times using PL I ended up paying more for the hotel by the time parking and breakfast was included than if I would have just booked the hotel(parking/breakfast included) from there own website.

ZBeebs wrote:I also wonder why I don't read about people here using Priceline more often.

https://www.coffeeshopdirect.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10398 And I have never seen or had a win for a 3* in at least 3 years.

sam wrote:I have used priceline atleast 40 times over the years, a lot less lately. I have found that 50% of the time you get a great deal. The problem is the other 50% of the time you get stuck in a annex, the really nice hotel has one block of shit rooms and that is where the PL guests stay, parking is extra when using PL, breakfast is not free to PL users, the list goes on and on. At least 5 times using PL I ended up paying more for the hotel by the time parking and breakfast was included than if I would have just booked the hotel(parking/breakfast included) from there own website.

I have never had that problem in the last 8 years of using the site. My friend is a manager at a large hotel here in town. She said unless you present your Priceline receipt, they don't know why you git such a good deal. I think education is the key. On the Trip Advisor forum there is several pages of winning bids for Amsterdam. If you are looking for something worldwide, then http://www.betterbidding.com is where you want to look. You can also post questions for a little help with a bidding strategy.

Peace,
Balou

sam wrote:I also wonder why I don't read about people here using Priceline more often.

I have used priceline atleast 40 times over the years, a lot less lately. I have found that 50% of the time you get a great deal. The problem is the other 50% of the time you get stuck in a annex, the really nice hotel has one block of shit rooms and that is where the PL guests stay, parking is extra when using PL, breakfast is not free to PL users, the list goes on and on. At least 5 times using PL I ended up paying more for the hotel by the time parking and breakfast was included than if I would have just booked the hotel(parking/breakfast included) from there own website.[/quote]

i used price line last year and this year too, got the NH Amsterdam centre for 3night in Sept. for 229.14 total its a good deal but staying in your own apartment is great too, you can also try www.vrbo.com

I used priceline this trip, im only interested in 4star, we put in $70us got the NH City Center.
Pretty happy, i think i could of bid $65 and still got it, as some others did near my time (mid july ).
I would think in Feb. using PL in offseason like that you could bid 60 safely.
Balou gave you the best site, that betterbidding has the answers.