COOL TOOLS FOR FINDING THE PERFECT HOTEL

            8 Cool Tools for Finding the Perfect Hotel


We recommend using at least two search tools, such as your current favorite online travel agency and one of the hotel shopping engines we've named here, to max out your chances of nabbing the perfect room or upgrade.

BackBid (backbid.com)

Best for: Travelers who like the idea of hotel owners competing for their business.

What it does: Hoteliers often hold back a handful of rooms to sell to last-minute guests, but they don't always fill them. You can book one of these rooms as they're released by logging on to BackBid, which enables hotels to sell rooms to travelers who already have confirmed bookings at rival properties.

DealBase (dealbase.com)

Best for: Travelers who want an independent source to vouch for the honesty of vacation package prices.

What it does: Many hotels tout packages that include perks, such as valet parking and a spa treatment, claiming that the package prices represent deep discounts over buying the components separately. DealBase vets each package for its true value.

HotelSweep (hotelsweep.com)

Best for: Travelers who prefer staying at independently owned properties.

What it does: Founded this year, HotelSweep lists more than 50,000 U.S. hotels, motels, B&Bs, and guesthouses, scraping listings off countless websites. (A British version, hotelsweep.co.uk, does the same thing for lodging in the United Kingdom.) One of the perks of the site is that it lists mom-and-pop properties—places that generally aim to attract budget-conscious travelers, but are too small to afford the costs of being listed with multinational travel agencies.

Hipmunk (hipmunk.com)

Best for: Culture vultures and nightlife fans who want to stay in the buzziest neighborhoods.

What it does: Previously a metasearch site for airfare, Hipmunk last year added hotels to its repertoire. One of its signature tricks is to allow a traveler to name his or her favorite interest, such as nightlife, shopping, and museum-hopping, and the site will filter its listings to only display hotels in neighborhoods with an especially high number of relevant venues, such as bars, boutiques, and museums.

Momondo (momondo.com)

Best for: Travelers booking hotels overseas who have been disappointed by the selection on U.S.-based travel agencies.

What it does: In 2010, Momondo, moved beyond being a flight metasearch engine and now lists hotels from major overseas hotel booking sites, such as Escapio and Hotelopia, which tend to be overlooked by U.S.-based travel sites like Expedia. It also includes an option to search for hostels.

Room 77 (room77.com)

Best for: Travelers whose priority is a room with the most amenities.

What it does: Room 77 is unique in researching room-by-room amenities and floor plans for hundreds of three- to five-star hotels in about 30 North American, European, and Asian cities. It then facilitates booking a particular type of room.

Room Key (roomkey.com)

Best for: Travelers who prefer the consistency and quality control of U.S.-owned chain hotels, and don't want to be distracted with information about other places.

What it does: Seven hotel chains—Best Western, Choice Hotels (Comfort Inn, Quality Inn), Hilton, Hyatt, InterContinental (Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo), Marriott, and Wyndham (Howard Johnson, Ramada, Days Inn, Super 8)—are listing their rooms together in a new search engine. Unlike major online travel agencies like Expedia and Priceline, Room Key limits its selection to chains, eliminating most of the uncertainty about what kind of hotel you might end up with.

YourRoomKey (yourroomkey.com)

Best for: Travelers looking mostly for American business-type hotels.

What it does: Finds the cheapest rooms at major-brand hotels located at America's largest airports and financial districts—and nearly nowhere else.

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