The arrival window, laid against your walk home
The arrival window is the forty to sixty minutes between a confirmed booking and her knock at a central Amsterdam door, the one fixed figure in a night out.
From a confirmed booking to her knock at any central Amsterdam door is forty to sixty minutes. That figure is the same in every central district and at every hour of the evening and night. It is called a window rather than a time because city journeys vary by a few minutes either way, and a range is more honest than a promise.
Counted from confirmation
The window starts when the booking is confirmed, not when you send the first message. Between the two there is a short exchange: your message, a reply naming who is free and the figure, your yes, and a deposit where one applies. On a quiet night that takes a few minutes; on a busy Saturday, allow a quarter of an hour.
Laid against your own journey
For a booking made on the way back, the window is only half the calculation. The other half is how long it takes you to leave wherever you are and reach your room. The two have to be laid side by side so that you arrive first. Plan your journey generously, add ten minutes in the room, and confirm the booking forty minutes before that. The timing guide works through the arithmetic for a dinner, a show and a bar.
Naming an hour instead
You do not have to ask for the next available hour. A booking can name a time, and she sets out to meet it, which is often calmer for a long dinner. See named hour.
Schiphol
The window applies to central Amsterdam only. A room at an airport hotel is arranged separately, and the length of her journey there is agreed with you before anything is fixed.