Originally Posted by
mark03
I'm planning to use VodF this year for my first trip to the Netherlands, in April. Would also be interested to hear follow-up from JimDDD if he still patrols the forum...?
One update for 2013: VodF has a new website where you can log in with your membership number and search for lodgings on a google-maps interface---very cool! Perhaps coincident with this, it looks like they have stopped mailing the directory booklet overseas. At least, they didn't send one to me, and they only asked for 10 euro in member fees. The only downside I see, is that I may not be able to find those special places that fietslogies refers to in his post above. (The online search interface is only by location.)
One thing I would like to get a better idea of, if any of you have personal experience, is how far in advance I need to book for April. I get the idea this is "high season" in at least part of the country (tulips). But what about outside of South/North Holland, e.g. Friesland? I really like to leave my itinerary as open as possible, but worry about lodging in some of the more popular tourist destinations, e.g. Hindeloopen.
I rejoined VodF for 2013, and have received the updated host booklet and map in the mail. It's in a considerably different format than the 2012 version. I understand that they've just reprinted the booklet, which may account for your delay in receipt. I haven't yet used their new website interface.
I made considerable use of the VodF network in my August-September 2012 Benelux Battlefields Bikeabout, and found it excellent. I would usually start calling ahead, looking for accommodations, in the late morning for the same night. Often I'd find a place on the first call; sometimes I'd have to call two, three or four hosts before I located an opening; but in every instance I found a bed for the night. I'd usually be passing through villages and smaller towns in the central and southern part of Holland, and have no knowledge of how difficult it might be to find a crib in the more heavily touristed, coastal areas. Hosts were universally quite welcoming (in all cases I was their first American guest, so my novelty value may have played a role) and accommodations ranged from good to excellent. Some of the hosts charged me a bit more than the statutory 20 euro; but it was still a wonderful deal, and I didn't argue.
One difficulty is paying the 10 euro donation. US banks aren't set up like their Netherlander counterparts, and have no idea how to process a euro accept-giro. About the only way, to the best of my knowledge, to pay up electronically is by wire transfer, the fees for which far exceed the donation. They don't accept cash, so just slinging a banknote into the mail is not an option. Money orders as we know them in the US don't exist in Holland - I spent considerable time discovering this. I ended up giving cash the and my invoice to my second host, on her promise to pay it for me (if one has a trusted friend in the Netherlands I suppose one might mail them the cash, too). On inquiry it is revealed that VodF takes PayPal; I am awaiting an email from them, confirming just exactly to which email address one should send the funds. Once that's resolved I'll post a followup here.