Peak dates in the Amsterdam calendar
Peak dates are King's Day, Pride, the Amsterdam Dance Event, Christmas to New Year and large conference weeks; each booking on them carries a deposit.
A handful of dates fill Amsterdam's hotels months ahead, and a visitor who chose a trip to coincide with one of them will find the city busier in every sense. On this site those are called peak dates, and every booking that falls on one carries a deposit of half the fee.
Which dates count
King's Day at the end of April, when the city turns orange and the canals fill with boats. Pride in early August. The Amsterdam Dance Event in October. The stretch from Christmas to New Year. And the weeks of large conferences, which vary from year to year; the house names them when asked.
What changes on those dates
The rates do not change. What changes is how early an hour needs to be secured, since more visitors are writing at once. A message several days ahead is sensible. Getting around the city also takes longer on King's Day and during Pride, so a booking in the evening, once the crowds have thinned, tends to run more smoothly than one in the middle of the afternoon.
If the plan changes
A peak-date booking follows the same notice scale as any other. More than twenty-four hours' notice returns the whole deposit, and the cancellation entry covers the rest. A shutdown ordered by the authorities on the day would count as force majeure and turn the deposit into credit.