The arrival window on a booking made weeks ahead

The arrival window is the time she needs to cross the city. In central Amsterdam it is forty to sixty minutes, counted from the moment she sets out, and it is the same in every central district and on every evening of the week.

How it reads on an advance booking

For a guest who writes on the day, the window is what separates a confirmed booking from the knock. For a traveller who fixed the hour weeks ahead, it works the other way round: the hour is already agreed, so she sets out in time to reach the door at that hour. Roughly an hour ahead of the booked time, a short message from her says that she has set out. From that message, the evening is under way.

Why the window matters to the rules

The moment she sets out is also the point at which the cancellation scale changes for the last time. Before it, a cancellation inside the final day keeps half the deposit; after it, the whole deposit is kept, because her journey has begun and the evening is spent whether or not the door opens. The booking terms page sets out the scale in full.

Schiphol, outside the window

A room at Schiphol or at one of the airport hotels sits outside the central figure. It is arranged separately, and the journey time is agreed with the guest before anything is fixed. Nothing beyond Amsterdam and Schiphol is reached at all.

Using the window

For the guest, her message that she is on her way is the signal to get the room ready: a shower, the heating adjusted, a lamp instead of the ceiling light, the balance counted out and within reach. Keep the phone charged and on. A guest who cannot be reached during the window is the one thing that can undo a booking fixed weeks before. The booking timeline shows where the window falls on the day.