2-3 days in Amsterdam in city center

There are 100s of hotels and I looked at most. Traveling in end of May. I would like to be able to be in city center and be able to walk. Since only there for 2 days. Everything is almost $350 - $400 per day with taxes and fees added. Am I missing something or is that the going rates? Any recommendations? I am willing to pay but just wondering if I need to wait for prices to come down?

Amsterdam is a very popular city these days - to such a degree that they're actively discouraging tourists from coming over, limiting the supply of beds, and thus increasing prices - and May is a very good time of the year to visit. Still, those prices do seem to be on the excessive side, and if I do some searches, I indeed get higher prices for late May than for e.g. late July, which should be the more expensive time of year. Might be that there's a big conference or other event happening?

You might consider staying in a nearby city with frequent direct trains to Amsterdam, specifically Utrecht or Leiden, each of which makes for a very nice base of operations (much nicer than Amsterdam, imho), with most of the Amsterdam charm (including canals) and far fewer visitors. Particularly since hotels in Amsterdam which are actually nice are very rare indeed, and charge a very hefty premium for it.

I wouldn't expect prices to come down significantly, but have no personal experience to base that expectation on, so if someone comes along in a bit with actual recent experience, go with what they say.

Just for yourself?

for 2 people

You must be searching wrong or else you require a 5 star hotel. I went onto Booking.com and found a hotel in the city center which was $211 for 3 nights. Of course it had bunk beds. But there is a lot of room between that and $400 per night.

There are quite some good hotels with affordable rates (100-150 USD per day per room) in Amsterdam. Get good rates from time to time on the websites like Trivago, etc. A little bit further from the Center- Center, is cheaper.