Few to choose from

[punkguy424]

Hi so me and the GF are planning a trip to Amsterdam for the end of February. Both of us have never been but are avid weed smokers and she's an art major so appreciates other stuff as well heh
We do very little traveling and look a lot younger than we are. I mention this only because I heard some parts of Amsterdam can be kinda bad and i want my gf to be in a safe environment.

I have a few options right now i'm looking at for Hotels. Most of my options are limited to main hotels because expedia and/or hotwire calculates both the flight there and back with the hotel cost. This seems to be waaaaay cheaper. Here are some of the Hotels we were thinking of:

Hotel Amsterdam - De Roode Leeuw - $1210 canadian (however will be remodeling the first floor starting Jan 2011 so might still be when i arrive)
Inntel Hotels Amsterdam Centre - $1269 canadian
Park Plaza Victoria Amsterdam - $1310 canadian

Keep in mind these prices include roundtrip flight no stop from toronto to amsterdam and back and 6 nights in hotel taxes included (accept the city tax)

Its crazy i tried to just book flight without the hotel, and cheapest i could find was $900!! so unless I can find a nice hotel for $400 canadian for 6 nights, i have to use the package.


So after all this anyone have good experiences with these hotels? I like the location of all of them (close to coffeeshops and seem to be decent areas). Also does anyone have any experience with smoking weed/hash in your hotel rooms? specifically at one of the above hotels? I fear it will be a must since it will be cold still and we are chill out smokers. Specially at night for me its a must and i'd feel weird going in and out of the hotel all the time for a few minutes.

Also i heard that some hotels may not let you in if you have weed or hash on you. Now obviously that would be hard for them to find unless they search you, but if i'm coming in and out smelling like weed, wouldn't they just assume?

sry if thats a lot of info hehe. The gf and I just want to have a great time, try many great ganjas and check out some art

any help would be appreciated!

cheers

[Balou]

Amsterdam is one of the safest cities in Europe. You should have no problems as long as you stay in the Center. All of the hotels you listed are quite posh and are non-smoking. You can be kicked out of the hotel for breaking the smoking rules and/or fined! Are the prices you listed per person? If so your budget is CAD$800, right? You should be able to do that especially at the end of February. Try looking at http://www.booking.com They seem to consistently have the best rates that I have seen. One last tip, try not to plan too much so you find yourself rushing around town.

Peace,
Balou

[Trad]

Hi punkguy424
I stayed 7 nights at the Hotel Amsterdam - De Roode Leeuw in Jan/2010, I also booked thru Expedia and flew from YYZ (Toronto). I paid $1589can for the flight and hotel(smoking room was extra)....cigs only no pot/hash, signs all over the place telling you the penalty for doing so. I didn't smoke pot in the room but, did take the elevator down and smoke right out in front of the hotel....sometimes quite late at night and often.... ....and nobody at the desk ever said anything to me....
At this hotel you have to insert your key-card in a device on the wall in order to get the electricity to operate. Took me a couple of days to get this worked out.....
You are in a very safe area(I never felt un-safe in any section of the city at any time of night), close to everything in the center of the city and Nes Cafe is an easy waddle across the square.
Enjoy.

[punkguy424]

Amsterdam is one of the safest cities in Europe. You should have no problems as long as you stay in the Center. All of the hotels you listed are quite posh and are non-smoking. You can be kicked out of the hotel for breaking the smoking rules and/or fined! Are the prices you listed per person? If so your budget is CAD$800, right? You should be able to do that especially at the end of February. Try looking at http://www.booking.com They seem to consistently have the best rates that I have seen. One last tip, try not to plan too much so you find yourself rushing around town.

Peace,
Balou

ya its per person. the first hotel i listed does have smoking (tobacco only) on the 2nd floor but like i said they were doing construction on the first floor in Jan so could be noisy. All hotels have windows that open though right? I was actually at a hotel in Toronto that had windows that didn't open! I did not like that, i'm a fresh air kind of person. If they kick you out I wonder if you get part of your money back.

if i'm lucky and i can get a flight for $800 to amsterdam from toronto then my budget for the hotel would be about $600. Don't know why flights are so expensive....

[punkguy424]

Hi punkguy424
I stayed 7 nights at the Hotel Amsterdam - De Roode Leeuw in Jan/2010, I also booked thru Expedia and flew from YYZ (Toronto). I paid $1589can for the flight and hotel(smoking room was extra)....cigs only no pot/hash, signs all over the place telling you the penalty for doing so. I didn't smoke pot in the room but, did take the elevator down and smoke right out in front of the hotel....sometimes quite late at night and often.... ....and nobody at the desk ever said anything to me....
At this hotel you have to insert your key-card in a device on the wall in order to get the electricity to operate. Took me a couple of days to get this worked out.....
You are in a very safe area(I never felt un-safe in any section of the city at any time of night), close to everything in the center of the city and Nes Cafe is an easy waddle across the square.
Enjoy.

awsome! a local canadian heh. Well thats good that you can go down easily and no one cares. Was it pretty cold when you went? they say the avg. temp for February is around 3 degrees Celsius though i'm sure drops at night. So for the price you enjoyed the hotel?

[Balou]

Amsterdam is one of the safest cities in Europe. You should have no problems as long as you stay in the Center. All of the hotels you listed are quite posh and are non-smoking. You can be kicked out of the hotel for breaking the smoking rules and/or fined! Are the prices you listed per person? If so your budget is CAD$800, right? You should be able to do that especially at the end of February. Try looking at http://www.booking.com They seem to consistently have the best rates that I have seen. One last tip, try not to plan too much so you find yourself rushing around town.

Peace,
Balou

ya its per person. the first hotel i listed does have smoking (tobacco only) on the 2nd floor but like i said they were doing construction on the first floor in Jan so could be noisy. All hotels have windows that open though right? I was actually at a hotel in Toronto that had windows that didn't open! I did not like that, i'm a fresh air kind of person. If they kick you out I wonder if you get part of your money back.

if i'm lucky and i can get a flight for $800 to amsterdam from toronto then my budget for the hotel would be about $600. Don't know why flights are so expensive....

Not all hotels have windows that open, I've stayed in a couple in Amsterdam. From the stories I've heard after people got kicked out they didn't get a refund Flights to A'dam have almost doubled in the last few years for me. You would think flights from Toronto would be cheaper, but then Air Canada did drop that route. Have you tried http://www.Kayak.com for your flights? They consistently find some of the best pricing. If you like to gamble have a look at these threads https://www.coffeeshopdirect.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10398
https://www.coffeeshopdirect.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14620

Peace,
Balou

[Trad]

Hi punkguy424
I stayed 7 nights at the Hotel Amsterdam - De Roode Leeuw in Jan/2010, I also booked thru Expedia and flew from YYZ (Toronto). I paid $1589can for the flight and hotel(smoking room was extra)....cigs only no pot/hash, signs all over the place telling you the penalty for doing so. I didn't smoke pot in the room but, did take the elevator down and smoke right out in front of the hotel....sometimes quite late at night and often.... ....and nobody at the desk ever said anything to me....
At this hotel you have to insert your key-card in a device on the wall in order to get the electricity to operate. Took me a couple of days to get this worked out.....
You are in a very safe area(I never felt un-safe in any section of the city at any time of night), close to everything in the center of the city and Nes Cafe is an easy waddle across the square.
Enjoy.

awsome! a local canadian heh. Well thats good that you can go down easily and no one cares. Was it pretty cold when you went? they say the avg. temp for February is around 3 degrees Celsius though i'm sure drops at night. So for the price you enjoyed the hotel?

I didn't find it cold whilst I was there..3 degrees ABOVE zero is damn near tropical at that time of year ..there were days when I didn't even wear my long-johns, which dosen't happen here at home too often in Jan.
Being on the older side, I tend to like my creature comforts and the Red Lion filled those needs so, yes I was happy with the hotel for the price. The location is second to none....everything is at ones doorstep.
Have you looked at any apartments?

[hardboiled]

it's sea level there pg424. San Fransisco at it's worst. It ain't Canada.

There is several ways to set up cheap flights and accommodation. None of them involve expedia or hotwire.

The algorithms in search engine's and metacrawlers are set up to maximize revenues for the sellers/providers. That's how search engines entice advertisers . 'Searching' the internet is simply a by-product of these algorithms.

Booking from western Canada frequently has helped me to minimize charges.

I'd suggest:

1. Find the seat sales. Airlines set them around certain times of year, when demand sucks. Find a website that talks about them, and wait for it. there's usually a europe sale several times per year (I'm out at $875 this time )

2. Book hotel separately, and use a variety of sites. Booking.com (or lately, bookforless.com) out of the UK has treated me well too. Don't get too hung up on location. It's easy to get around, and the premiums can be high for little.

[punkguy424]

Amsterdam is one of the safest cities in Europe. You should have no problems as long as you stay in the Center. All of the hotels you listed are quite posh and are non-smoking. You can be kicked out of the hotel for breaking the smoking rules and/or fined! Are the prices you listed per person? If so your budget is CAD$800, right? You should be able to do that especially at the end of February. Try looking at http://www.booking.com They seem to consistently have the best rates that I have seen. One last tip, try not to plan too much so you find yourself rushing around town.

Peace,
Balou

ya its per person. the first hotel i listed does have smoking (tobacco only) on the 2nd floor but like i said they were doing construction on the first floor in Jan so could be noisy. All hotels have windows that open though right? I was actually at a hotel in Toronto that had windows that didn't open! I did not like that, i'm a fresh air kind of person. If they kick you out I wonder if you get part of your money back.

if i'm lucky and i can get a flight for $800 to amsterdam from toronto then my budget for the hotel would be about $600. Don't know why flights are so expensive....

Not all hotels have windows that open, I've stayed in a couple in Amsterdam. From the stories I've heard after people got kicked out they didn't get a refund Flights to A'dam have almost doubled in the last few years for me. You would think flights from Toronto would be cheaper, but then Air Canada did drop that route. Have you tried http://www.Kayak.com for your flights? They consistently find some of the best pricing. If you like to gamble have a look at these threads https://www.coffeeshopdirect.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10398
https://www.coffeeshopdirect.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14620

Peace,
Balou

wow that would suck hugely if they kicked people out with no refund!! k i dont want to take that chance i think we'll just step outside to smoke hehe. maybe just take mushy's inside

awesome i'll check the site out. Ya can't believe how expensive flights are.

[punkguy424]

Hi punkguy424
I stayed 7 nights at the Hotel Amsterdam - De Roode Leeuw in Jan/2010, I also booked thru Expedia and flew from YYZ (Toronto). I paid $1589can for the flight and hotel(smoking room was extra)....cigs only no pot/hash, signs all over the place telling you the penalty for doing so. I didn't smoke pot in the room but, did take the elevator down and smoke right out in front of the hotel....sometimes quite late at night and often.... ....and nobody at the desk ever said anything to me....
At this hotel you have to insert your key-card in a device on the wall in order to get the electricity to operate. Took me a couple of days to get this worked out.....
You are in a very safe area(I never felt un-safe in any section of the city at any time of night), close to everything in the center of the city and Nes Cafe is an easy waddle across the square.
Enjoy.

awsome! a local canadian heh. Well thats good that you can go down easily and no one cares. Was it pretty cold when you went? they say the avg. temp for February is around 3 degrees Celsius though i'm sure drops at night. So for the price you enjoyed the hotel?

I didn't find it cold whilst I was there..3 degrees ABOVE zero is damn near tropical at that time of year ..there were days when I didn't even wear my long-johns, which dosen't happen here at home too often in Jan.
Being on the older side, I tend to like my creature comforts and the Red Lion filled those needs so, yes I was happy with the hotel for the price. The location is second to none....everything is at ones doorstep.
Have you looked at any apartments?

I haven't looked at any apartments only because of the high price of flights my gf and i would only be able to afford about $1000 canadian towards it (that is combined).

[punkguy424]

it's sea level there pg424. San Fransisco at it's worst. It ain't Canada.

There is several ways to set up cheap flights and accommodation. None of them involve expedia or hotwire.

The algorithms in search engine's and metacrawlers are set up to maximize revenues for the sellers/providers. That's how search engines entice advertisers . 'Searching' the internet is simply a by-product of these algorithms.

Booking from western Canada frequently has helped me to minimize charges.

I'd suggest:

1. Find the seat sales. Airlines set them around certain times of year, when demand sucks. Find a website that talks about them, and wait for it. there's usually a europe sale several times per year (I'm out at $875 this time )

2. Book hotel separately, and use a variety of sites. Booking.com (or lately, bookforless.com) out of the UK has treated me well too. Don't get too hung up on location. It's easy to get around, and the premiums can be high for little.

cheapest flights I could find are around the $800 range as well. I checked bookings.com. they do have some good prices. Saw a few deals around 400-500 euros for some hotels though not 4 star. then again most 4 stars i see dont look like that much better. but even with $800 + $550 (approx 400 euros) i'd be paying $1350. heh its tough