Journal · 2026-03-27
What a King's Day Message Usually Leaves Out
Messages for King's Day start arriving in March, and most miss the same few details. What to add so the booking is settled in one reply instead of five.
The first messages about King's Day arrive in March, a month or more before the date. They are almost always friendly and almost always incomplete. It is not a failing on the guest's side; people write when a thought occurs to them, and a trip that is still weeks away has not settled into its details. But on a peak date, when the hours are claimed early, a message that needs five exchanges to become a booking loses ground to one that needs a single reply. Here is what King's Day messages usually leave out, and why each detail matters.
The date, stated as a date
"King's Day" is clear enough in most years, but not all. When the twenty-seventh of April falls on a Sunday, King's Day moves to the twenty-sixth, and a visitor who writes "King's Day evening" and means the twenty-seventh because that is what the guidebook said may be planning for the wrong day. Write the date as a number, and the reply will confirm it.
The hour, on the Amsterdam clock
Visitors writing from another time zone sometimes give the hour in their own time without realising it. A message sent from the American east coast asking for "nine in the evening" may mean nine by the local clock over there, which is three in the morning in Amsterdam. State the hour and add "Amsterdam time". It takes two words and removes a real risk.
The length
Many first messages ask for "a booking on King's Day evening" without saying how long. An hour, ninety minutes, two hours, three, or the eight hour overnight all have different figures and different deposits. On a peak date every booking carries half ahead: EUR 90 for an hour, EUR 135 for ninety minutes, EUR 180 for two hours, EUR 270 for three, EUR 625 for the overnight. Say which one you want.
The district, even without an address
Most visitors writing in March have booked a hotel, but some have not, and some have booked one they may change. An hour can be fixed against a district, with the address and the room number added later in the same thread. What is hard to fix is an hour with no location at all, because the arrival and the journey depend on it. Name the part of the city, even if the exact building is not settled.
More than one name
Many messages name one woman from the roster. On King's Day evening, that woman may already be booked, or may have decided not to work that day at all; each of them keeps her own dates. A message naming two or three women you would be glad to see is usually settled in one reply. The reply says which of them are free at your hour, and you choose.
Whether it is a first booking
It helps to say so. On King's Day it makes no difference to the deposit, since every booking on a peak date carries half ahead, but it tells the reply what to explain and what to leave out.
A language you share
Every woman on the roster works in English, and many list other languages as well, which each profile shows. A visitor who would be more at ease in another language can check the profiles before writing and name women who share it.
How many people
A booking for one guest and a booking for a couple are different arrangements with different figures. If there will be two of you, say so, and say whether you want one therapist between you or a therapist each. If you are staying with friends in a shared room, say that too, because the room will need to be yours for the hour.
A complete message
Put together, a complete King's Day message reads something like this: the twenty-seventh of April, nine in the evening Amsterdam time, ninety minutes, a hotel in the Jordaan with the room number to follow, one guest, first booking, and two or three names. The reply confirms the name, the figure and the deposit, and the booking is settled. The booking page sets out the order in which the messages run, and the peak dates guide explains why King's Day carries half ahead.