socrates

Unfortunately you didn't state why, or who you were trying to reach so I wasn't sure which one to provide but here is the Guest Relations Manager's email: [email protected]

servus

Thanx a lot. I need to write an email to the reservation department. I guess the Guest relations desk can forward my message. Thanx again!

socrates

You could also use: [email protected]

Factotum

I just came across this thread while doing a search on Amsterdam and was just wondering how you made out with your hotel reservation? Just for kicks I punched the dates into Expedia and all I can say is... WOW! I know at times it's tough to find a decent hotel rate in Amsterdam but this is absolutely ridiculous! Even the 2-star Delta Hotel - which I've never stayed at but have passed by a number of times on the Damrak amidst loads of dodgy hotels between Centraal Station and the Dam, and certainly on the outside doesn't look like any great shakes - has the gall to charge $607 per night for a double room! (Compare to a still-expensive $187 for the first night of the stay.) Yes, they must definitely be milking the trade-show attendees, since nearly everyone shows a $100+ jump in price between Tuesday and Wednesday.

If you haven't reserved anything, the Marriott still has some rooms left for $397 but there's nothing at all at the Renaissance. About the only hotel in the area with reasonable rates is the Hotel Schiphol A4 ($124 single; $138 double). There are still a couple places in the city center where you can book an Expedia prepaid stay for under $300 a night, but the best deal all around seems to be the Hilton Schiphol Airport at $163 - halfway decent rate and an easy commute into town.

SkiAdcock

I've got a room at the Marriott for $395 (still not happy about it). I think I also booked a room at the Hilton (about same rate) as a back-up. Will cancel that just before the show, but hold the res in case any biz colleagues need it.

As I mentioned, there's a trade show (IBC) that fills up ALL the hotel rooms in town, even the no-name ones, and the hotels (because they know this) all jack up their prices. My room rate drops to $315 the day after the trade show ends (which is still high).

I'm on the exec level at $395; to get the same room I've had for 5 years would cost $455 (they've recatorgized it as a junior suite).

The only way I can pull off the outrageous price tag is that I have more than 1 client sending me to the show, so I divvy up the expenses btwn them so they each pay less, but it's really borderline close on pulling that off this time, given the high hotel rate. I'll probably have to eat some of the costs myself.

And insult to injury, because the rates are so high, I decided to connect on UA in IAD so I'd arrive in the am (I go in a day early to the show) & have time to do things/feel like I justified the hotel rate. Of course that means the first part of the trip is domestic - and no champagne on the plane, unlike when I route through LHR. Bummer. Next year I might book somewhere else the first night & go back to my LHR connection.

Or - win the lotto, never attend this trade show again, & just go to AMS for pleasure at a time when rates aren't so high (of course if I won the lotto, I probably wouldn't care ).

I thought of the Schiphol Hilton, but I have a lot of late night events w/ this show & don't want to have to commute back late at night (more due to the inconvenience sake than safety).

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Sharon

[This message has been edited by SkiAdcock (edited 05-18-2003).]

Factotum

I wouldn't be too happy about that rate either. Personally, that's more than I'm willing to pay at any hotel that is not the Burj al-Arab. In any event, though, $395 for an executive level room at the Marriott beats $607 for a regular double room at the Delta Hotel.

Staying at the Hilton Schiphol Airport may not sound exciting but for $163 per night vs. $395, you save $1624 over a 7-night stay. Even from the West Coast that's enough to come back to Amsterdam for a whole week later in the fall, airfare and hotel and all (maybe even 2 weeks if you use priceline). Of course, you have clients footing at least part of the bill, so it's not quite so straightforward...

If it's your clients who want you to go to this trade show, rather than split up the bill in such a manner as you can only hope they will be comfortable paying, I would make it clear to them from the outset that if they want you to attend the show that the going rates for business-class hotels are in the $300-$400 range - where there is availability at all - and they should expect to have these expenses billed to them. At a time when hotel rates are inherently unreasonable, why should you be stuck with the task of magically transforming the rates into something the clients will consider normal? Show them the printouts from Expedia, Travelocity, et al. - it's your clients' right if not their duty to know what they're asking of you. It may just cause them to reconsider and save you a lot of hassle.

Oh and one last thing - if you've been a repeat guest at the Marriott for the last 5 years, and the staff knows your face, you might try asking why your favorite executive room has suddenly become a junior suite. You just might get a break (though with hotels packed to the gills that's a big "just might", since they could probably call it a Presidential Suite and have no shortage of people willing to pay, but if you're known around there it's worth inquiring about).

[This message has been edited by Factotum (edited 05-18-2003).]

SkiAdcock

I've been there every year for this show for 5 years, but I don't know that it's enough to get me any special recognition. However, I am going to find my room # from last year & put in a request in advance for that room & see what happens. Maybe I'll be lucky & get it anyway (hope springs eternal).

I like the Marriott for all the reasons one likes Marriotts overseas when on bizness - king-size beds, dual phone lines, outlets in the wall next to the desk so no crawling under anything, no local access charges (well, that may be unique to this hotel), etc - and this particular one is near the Leidesplain, where a lot of the evening events for this trade show occur & is near to other hotels/restaurants, so it's a good central meeting place.

I've also found the staff in the executive lounge to be fabulous. And the bkfst & cocktail hour munchies/drinks help offset some of the food fees for the show.

I'd like to say to my clients putting me up in a $300-400 room is the price of doing bizness, but they stay at the no-name motels for $200, so it's a bit harder to get away w/ that. All my clients in the industry are very small, hence tight on $$. Most don't really complain about this (although one made a comment last year but still paid), because the expenses are split & they realize they're paying less than if I was there for one only & they had to pay full freight. It's really that one I'm thinking about - plus, w/ the dollar dropping against the Euro, it doesn't help. So, to stay at the hotel I want for convenience, get points, etc, I'm staying there & may if I have to, eat a bit of the expenses (such as I'm doing on the airline ticket to get the H fare). If the Amsterdam Hilton had been less, I would have switched to that but it's about the same.

My clients would say thanks for saving us $$, too bad about the inconvenience if I stayed out near the airport. They're all in town themselves.

I'm just irritated w/ the hotels for taking such large advantage of the trade show folk. The exhibitors have been screaming about it & suggesting to IBC that they move the show to another European country. I like Amsterdam but I'd be ok w/ moving it as well. IBC said they're negotiating to get the rates down, but obviously they haven't been successful this year.

PS - People I really feel sorry for is some biz person(s) who wants to stay there for reasons totally unrelated to the show. He or she is quoted the 'special event' rate even if they're not there for the special event - no exceptions.

PSS - One extra client at the show & I could lower the price each pays & probably less of a hassle, so if any of you work in the broadcast, streaming media, or entertainment industry & need excellent p.r. help at the IBC show - not to mention reduced expenses - please feel free to contact me.
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Sharon

[This message has been edited by SkiAdcock (edited 05-19-2003).]

Factotum

Yeah, if you've been going to that Marriott for 5 years but only for that one trade show, the employees probably won't even remember you. (I've always found the front desk staff at that hotel to be very cold and impersonal anyway.) Good idea about requesting the specific room number though.

I do love the location on the Leidseplein... The first time I came to Amsterdam I was apprehensive about the Marriott being so far from Centraal Station, but I quickly learned that wasn't even worth considering. This place is one of very few hotels I've ever stayed at where I've literally thought nothing of popping out for a midnight snack. Usually I at least think how unpleasant it's going to be walking along the deserted streets looking for something that's open.

I didn't realize your clients were also coming from out of town to attend the show. I understand then why you would seek to keep your expenses in line with their expectations. Just unfortunate the rate is so high, I guess.

The business traveler who's in town on non-trade-show business is a sorry soul indeed, but I really feel sorry for the leisure travelers who book mid-September trips to Amsterdam thinking they'll do good by waiting for the end of the summer high season. Little do they know...

SkiAdcock

An update & tell me if you think this is weird (read on).

A colleague couldn't find a hotel so I called Marriott to find out if they had availability during the trade show (they do & rate jumps 146Euros during the nights of the show).

But in the process of checking for him I discovered that the rate before & after the show had dropped from what I was originally quoted on my res, so I asked them to give me the lower normal rate for the first night, go up to the higher unavoidable rip-off rate for the next 6 nights, and then down to the lower normal rate for the last night - dates of stay remained the same & same confirmation #.

When I received the email confirmation (I wanted something to have in my hot little hands in case there was a problem at check-in), I noticed it said non-refundable rate under cancel policy along w/ 6pm DOA.

I called back & asked what that was about since I hadn't been told anything was non-refundable.

Ok, here's the weird part - and remember this is on ONE reservation - the first night at the lower normal rate has a DOA 6pm cancel, the higher rip-off rate has a 14-day cancel policy or those 6 days become non-refundable-not just the first night of the 6 days at the higher rate-the entire 6 days, and the last night at the lower normal rate has a 6pm DOA cancel policy - but the middle 14-day non-refundable overrides the other 2. So in effect I have 3 cancel policies on 1 res/1 conf #.

Is it me or is this screwy? Anyone else had any experience w/ something like this? Socrates, any words of wisdom?

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Sharon

[This message has been edited by SkiAdcock (edited 07-08-2003).]

JIMCHI

Makes sense to me. If you don't go on the trip, but call to cancel, you won't be charged for the first or last night but will be charged for the middle nights. I've run into this before. I have a reservation at Marriott's Harbor Beach in FLL in November. If I cancel within 30 days I forfeit the charge for the entire stay, not just one night. I've also had it happen like you have, where part of a stay has one cancel policy and another part has another.

SkiAdcock

It doesn't make sense to me - having multiple cancel policies on one res, but that's just me. I understand either/or (ie, 6pm DOA OR 14-day cancel) but both is confusing.

And it's not even mentioned properly on the cancel policy: it just says non-refundable, 6pm DOA. That to me implies 6pm DOA cancel or it's all non-refundable - not the center part & not 14-day cancel (which is nowhere mentioned on the conf email).



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Sharon

Factotum

It's kind of like buying an airline ticket that combines two different fare bases - say, getting a non-refundable discount fare for an outbound flight but due to peak travel being stuck paying full "Y", which is refundable, on the return.

Your point about confusing cancel policies is well-taken. Many "special" hotel rates - not just Marriott's - have the "cancel by 6PM date of arrival" rule written in as boilerplate text, but also include another note about the reservation being non-refundable or non-changeable. When you combine two different rates it only compounds the problem. Maybe having 3 different reservations would have been less confusing, but then you're trading ambiguous rules for other kinds of administrative overhead. I honestly don't know what to do about this. If you asked the travel industry to come up with a solution to these kinds of problems they'd probably just apply the most restrictive rule to the entire stay, which isn't fair either.

socrates

Deleted

[This message has been edited by socrates (edited Mar 23, 2004).]

SkiAdcock

Thanks all for explanations. Guess I thought it was weird because I had never encountered it before but guess better to find out now than if by chance I cancelled less than 14-days out & get hit w/ very large bill.

I do think, however, if it's not that uncommon there should be more details on the cancel policy. Since 14-day didn't appear anywhere on the email confirmation I wouldn't have known about it had I not spotted the non-refundable & called to ask what that was about (which when I was on the phone doing the original res & subsequent rate change was never verbally mentioned either).

BTW - I find it amusing (well, not really) that 395Euros is a non-refundable rate! They're already raising the room rate by 146Euros for goodness sake.

And as mentioned before, I have sympathy for the poor biz or leisure traveler who's there & not attending the 'special event' who gets hit w/ the special event rate anyway.

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Sharon

SkiAdcock

I'll do a more formal report later, but greetings from the Amsterdam Marriott Exec Lounge.

Here for the IBC trade show & the Mariott, like all other hotels in town, have jacked up their rates by $150 (grrrr) to $395. But that aside...

The health club has been revamped & is quite nice now. Two treadmills, two ellip trainers, 4 bikes, Life Fitness weight equip, showers, sauna, etc. Plus you can get facials, massages, etc. Think it's open 24hrs but not sure.

Exec lounge is nice; it's comprised of 2 rooms (no doors inbtwn) - in the smaller room is where they have the munchies/drink. In the morning cereal, cheese, salmon, juices, fresh fruit, yogurt. In the eve, cheese, salmon, dif hot meal (yest chicken wings), nuts, some snacks like olives, tortilla chips & salsa, etc. Beer & wine & soft drinks free. Charge for hard liquor. 3 sets of ceiling/floor windows w/ views overlooking the square. USA Today, Intl Herald Tribune, and local newspapers in the lounge.

There's free internet in the exec lounge from 6am to midnight, which is much faster than the baud rate from the hotel room. They do have fast internet connection for 19.95 Euros (includes tax). I think that's a bit high personally.

They renamed the one restaurant they have to Quoy. Haven't looked to see what kind of food. They have Characters Bar & Grill. For the Americans reading this, reminds me of the "Cheers" bar. Plus there's a Pizza Hut on-site.

I'm in rm 223 this year. You definitely want the rooms ending in *23, as they're very very big & overlook the Leidesplain square. Wish I was a bit higher up, but I'm not going to complain.

I knew I wanted the big room but couldn't remember what they #s were, & they looked up my stays here for the past sev years & figured it out, and said they'd update my hotel room request profile at their property so I'd get it next year. I thought that was nice/cool.

If you're on the exec level, there isn't a phone charge to the room (so I've been told) for local, 800, etc. Otherwise there is, and the rate ranges from .50Euro to 2.00Euro/minute, depending on what you're calling.

2 small bottles of still water for free in the exec rooms; munchies & booze in mini-bar for a fee. Their choice of wine, both in the exec lounge & in the mini-bars, has gone down (Copper Ridge & Gallo respectively - ick).

There's a gift shop on the first floor that has all the papers, plus stuff you can buy. Just noticed near it by the elevators, they had a big water thing w/ cups & towels - maybe for folk who go running outside?

There's a biz center onsite.

Quite a few tv channels in English, as well as Dutch, Arabic, etc.

Think room service is 24/7, but haven't tried it yet this trip.

More later.

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Sharon

[This message has been edited by SkiAdcock (edited 09-11-2003).]

[This message has been edited by SkiAdcock (edited 09-15-2003).]