sleeping in Amsterdam

Do you have RS Amsterdam and London Guide Books yet?
If so, good. If not, I would suggest you get them both as they have lots of good information that you can use to find places to stay. We have used both of these books to our advantage. Happy travels.

I would post the question about A-dam in the "to the west" section. But, I really like B&B Batavia, about 10 min from Anne Frank house, easy walk, in a residential (mostly) building, owners live upstairs. Two rooms only so look at it quick. Breakfast in room. Have stayed there 3 or 4 times. The smaller room would be a little tight with 2 people as the bed is against the wall, but it still has a seating area (2 chairs, endtable), both have private bath.

While you should certainly take a look at the RS Amsterdam book, I found that many of his hotels were listed in several other guidebooks, and so were sold out for my dates. I also found, as you did, that many hotels in Amsterdam had 3 or 4 night minimums over the weekend (I was staying 4 nights, so not a problem for me). The problems are 1) Amsterdam is a very popular "weekend break" destination for Europeans (especially from the UK), so there is high demand year round, and 2) the hotels are small, so a place with 20 rooms that is listed in 3 guidebooks is always full. This leads to a third problem: the hotels in Amsterdam are guaranteed bookings, so they don't have to offer good value for money, can charge for WiFi, etc. Because of these factors, I found that the places with vacancies for my dates were either more expensive than I wanted, or shabbier than I wanted. I stayed at the Amistad and would do so again, but I see that they have a 4 night minimum on weekends - year-round. I wish I had a better answer than this: If you can't find a room in Amsterdam, consider staying in a nearby town and daytripping in. The trains from Amsterdam to towns such as Leiden, Utrecht and Haarlem run 2-4 an hour until midnight, then hourly through the night until the more frequent service starts up again around 5 or 6 AM. So, even if you wanted late nights in Amsterdam, you could still do them as a "commuter." For Heathrow, I'd post a separate question under the "Transportation" or "To The North" sections of this board; there are lots of Heathrow experts, but they won't be looking at a thread titled "sleeping in Amsterdam"

Sherry, We have stayed the the Beethoven Hotel, www.hotelbeethoven.nl twice. It is on the south side of town, about a fifteen minute walk to the museums. We have walked all the way from it to Centraal Station. The prices seem reasonable for Amsterdam.

We stay in Haarlem when visiting Amsterdam - less expensive and quieter and a quick train ride to Amsterdam.

I would recommend CitizenM in Amsterdam. it's a little out of town, but walkable back to the main town, or you can jump on the trams to get there faster. It is modern and very comfortable. It's clean, fairly priced and well worth a stay. The beds are super comfy and the staff (when i was there) was polite and helpful. There is a small cafe in the lobby and several computers with free internet access. I would def stay here again.

How many nights will you be in Amsterdam? I like the Quentin Arrive Hotel but they require a 3-night minimum stay. I've also stayed at Frederic's Parents' Place, one of the properties owned by Frederic Rent-A-Bike and recommended in Rick Steves' Amsterdam book. They didn't have a minimum-night stay when I was there 2 years ago.