Questions couples ask when one of them is in Amsterdam to work
One of us is here for a conference and the other is not. Does that change how we book?
Only in that the evening gets chosen from a programme rather than from a mood. Pick the date the week actually leaves free, which on a three day conference is usually the evening after the day with the fewest sessions, and write about it early rather than on the day. Everything else is the same as any other booking: date, hour, address, length, and one therapist between you or a therapist each.
Who should write the message, the one working or the one with the free day?
Whichever of you has the attention to spare, which is almost always the partner with the free day. What matters more is that one of you holds the thread rather than both. A conversation carried half on one phone and half on another is how two people end up in the same room with two different hours in their heads.
Does my partner have to know before I book it?
They have to have agreed to the arrangement. A booking for a room with two people in it is only taken where both of them have chosen it, and that is not relaxed for couples who have been together a long time. The date, the name, the length and the format can all be a surprise. That it is happening at all cannot be.
What is the difference between one therapist between us and a therapist each?
One therapist between you is 360 euros an hour, and the session moves between the two of you with one changeover, so each of you gets roughly half the length with the other close by. A therapist each is 720 an hour, and two sessions run side by side so you both get the whole length at the same time. The second finishes sooner in real time and needs more notice.
The working half of the week keeps moving. Can we change the date?
One change is free, provided the request reaches the thread more than twenty-four hours before the booked hour and the new date falls within fourteen days. The deposit travels across intact. A second move, or a move asked for inside the final day, is measured on the notice scale exactly as a cancellation sent at that moment would be.
How far ahead should we book for a Thursday evening?
Early in the same week is comfortable for one therapist and sensible for two. Twenty-three women each keep the evenings they chose, so the earlier the date is asked about, the wider the answer. A Thursday asked about on the Monday usually has several names behind it. The same Thursday asked about at seven that evening has very few.
What does a booking for two actually cost?
Two of you sharing one therapist is 360 euros an hour, 540 for ninety minutes, 720 for two hours, 1,080 for three and 2,500 for the eight hour block. A therapist each is 720 an hour, 1,440 for two hours, 2,160 for three and 5,760 for the block. One guest with one therapist is 180 an hour. Nothing is added for an evening, a Saturday or the journey inside the ring.
How much goes ahead before she travels?
Half the fee, on every booking made more than twenty-four hours ahead, every block, every booking with two therapists, every room at Schiphol or an airport hotel, every peak date, every session of three hours or more, and the first booking anyone makes with the house. Only a same-day hour or two at a city address, from someone the house has looked after before, is settled in full on arrival.
How is the deposit paid, and how is the rest?
Card first, with Revolut, Wise or cryptocurrency for anyone who prefers them. Bank transfer and PayPal are not used, and cash cannot serve as a deposit because a deposit is settled before she leaves and cash only changes hands in the room. The exact amount and the destination appear inside the confirmed thread. What remains is settled at the door once she arrives.
If we cancel because a meeting is moved, what does it cost?
It follows the notice you give. More than twenty-four hours before the booked hour, nothing is kept and the whole deposit comes back. Inside the final day but before she has left, half the deposit is kept as fee already earned and half is returned. Once she is on her way, the whole deposit is kept, unless the hour is taken by somebody else, in which case it is repaid in full.
What if there was no deposit on the booking?
Then there is nothing for the scale to act on. A returning client's same-day hour or two at a city address carries no deposit. Called off before she has left, that booking leaves nothing owed at all. Called off once she is already crossing the city, it costs the share of the fee her journey represents and the house asks for nothing beyond that.
How long after we confirm does she arrive?
Forty to sixty minutes anywhere in central Amsterdam, counted from the moment the booking is agreed rather than from the moment you first wrote. It is the same figure in Centrum, the Jordaan, Oud-Zuid, De Pijp and out towards the Zuidas. Plan against sixty rather than forty and the evening holds either way.
We are at a Schiphol airport hotel for the last night. Is that possible?
Yes, by arrangement rather than through the usual window. Airport hotel rooms are quoted separately, with the length of the journey agreed with you in writing before an hour is fixed, and the booking confirms with half the fee whatever the notice. Say it at the top of the first message, because the reply takes a different shape.
Can we book two evenings in the same week?
Yes, and some couples do, usually one midweek and one on the added weekend. Each evening is a separate booking with its own hour and its own deposit. If you want the same name on both, ask for both dates in one message, because holding two evenings for one woman is far easier when they are agreed together.
Does the house pick who comes, or do we?
You do, if you want to. Every name is on the roster with her age, her languages, the district she starts from and her photographs, and two people can go through it together in five minutes. If you would rather give the date and the hour instead, the reply tells you which names are free at that hour and the choice is still yours.
What if the evening has to run in a language other than English?
All twenty-three profiles carry English. Beyond it the roster covers Spanish on six, French, Italian and Portuguese on three each, Russian on two, and Czech, Romanian, German, Hungarian, Dutch, Serbian and Ukrainian on one apiece. Say which language would suit the room better and the reply tells you which names that leaves for your date.
Who is in charge of what happens during the session?
The therapist. She decides what her session includes, states her limits at the start of the visit in her own words, and they stand for both of you until she leaves. She may decline a booking at any stage and may end a visit at any point. Pressing at a limit she has already named ends the visit there, with the fee for the reserved time still due and nothing added beyond it.
Should we expect to be asked for identification at the door?
It may be, and it applies to everyone in the room. Whoever booked and their partner both have to be twenty-one or over, so a photo document can be asked for on the doorstep, read once and handed straight back. Nothing is copied, scanned or photographed and no detail from it is written down. The age statement puts the whole of it in writing.
What should the room be like before she knocks?
Warm, with the heating turned up a good fifteen minutes beforehand, and lit by a lamp rather than the ceiling light. Towels are hers, so nothing has to be found. Beyond that, the one useful habit is that neither of you lies down between the confirmation and the arrival, because two tired people on a bed at nine in the evening reliably fall asleep.
Are there dates where everything is harder to arrange?
Yes. A large conference week, the run from Christmas to New Year, King's Day, Pride and the dance festival in October all crowd the same evenings, and every one of them carries a deposit whatever the notice. If your trip lands on one of them, ask about the date as soon as the trip is confirmed rather than once you have arrived.
My partner's conference overran and we want to cancel tonight's two hours. What does that cost?
Two hours with one therapist between the two of you is EUR 720, so EUR 360 was settled when the hour was agreed. A message that lands inside the last twenty-four hours while she is still at home leaves EUR 180 with the house as fee already earned and sends EUR 180 back. Written the day before, all EUR 360 would have returned. Written once she was already travelling, the whole EUR 360 would have stayed, unless somebody else took the hour, in which case it comes back entire. If you can show the real loss was smaller than the sum retained, only that smaller sum is retained. Cancelling never leaves you owing damages.
We booked Thursday, then a client dinner landed on Thursday. Can we push the evening to Friday?
Yes, and the first move is free. Write into the thread more than twenty-four hours before the agreed hour, name the new date, and keep it inside the following fortnight: the advance half travels to Friday untouched and nothing extra is asked for. That covers the ordinary way a working week rearranges itself. A second move, or one asked for on the day, is measured exactly as a cancellation sent at that minute would be, and whatever the scale does not retain follows the booking to its new date. The practical advice is to fix a date early and keep the free move for the meeting nobody saw coming.
It is our first week here and we want a therapist each on Friday. How much is sent before she comes?
Half, for two separate reasons: it is a first booking with the house, and it is a booking with two therapists, either of which asks for the advance half on its own. Two hours with a therapist each is EUR 1,440, so EUR 720 is settled once Friday and the hour are agreed in the thread, by card or, if you prefer, by Revolut, Wise or cryptocurrency. The remaining EUR 720 is one payment at the door, whichever of you hands it over. Nothing is added for travel inside the city, and the figures in each profile are the whole of what an evening costs.
When there are two of us in the room, who sets what the session includes?
She does, and having two guests present changes nothing about that. Her limits belong to her, she names them at the start of the visit in her own words, and they stand for both of you until she leaves. She may decline a booking at any stage, before it is agreed or after, and she owes no explanation for it. She may also end a visit whenever she chooses. If either of you presses at a limit she has already stated, the visit finishes there: the fee for the reserved time stands, nothing further is added, and the terms put the same thing in colder language.
Is she going to want identification from both of us on the doorstep?
She may, and it applies to whoever opens the door and to everyone else in the room. The person who arranged the evening and their partner both have to be twenty-one or over, so a photo document can be asked for on the doorstep. It is read once and returned in the same movement. No copy, scan or photograph is taken, and nothing from it is noted down. If she cannot settle the question of who is in the room, she leaves before the session begins, which the age statement sets out in full.