Challenges Finding A Hotel With Google Hotel Finder

This month, Google announced a new travel tool for its Hotel Finder. They now allow users to draw their own custom map area to find hotels by price, ratings, amenities and brand. For a place like New York City, I see a helpful drop-down menu with neighborhoods like “Chelsea,” “SoHo,” “Greenwich Village,” and “Queens.” Yet, for mid-sized cities like Buffalo, NY, I do not see the same neighborhood breakdown, although I can still draw a custom map of the general area I wish to visit – be it near the airport or right downtown.

Problem #1: I Don’t Know The Neighborhoods.

I’ve been to New York plenty of times. I’ve gone through Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. Yet, for my next trip, I’m planning to go to Madison Square Garden. I’ve never been there before and while I hear the location is “central,” I’m not sure exactly which neighborhood it falls in. On the Google Hotel Finder interface, it’s not so easy to search near a particular location.

Problem #2: I Can’t Get The Amenities I Want.

The amenities options are chaotic, at best. I’m messing around with numerous drop-down menus, “more” buttons, and it takes many more clicks to accomplish what I want to do. The user interface at www.Find-A-Hotel.net is much more intuitive. The left-hand column lets me easily search the amenities that matter most – free breakfast, free wi-fi, free parking, an airport shuttle. You can also select fitness centers, pools, handicap accessible rooms, business center, pets allowed and non-smoking. People who are really out for a deal can search by hotel promo like: free kid stays, free room upgrades, spa/golf/gaming credits, added value, or steep sale prices.     

Problem #3: The Information Is Disorganized.

When I click on a hotel, a giant window opens in front of the map. There are so many tabs and scroll-down bars, I don’t know what to do! On the other hand, Find-A-Hotel.net has a very linear layout that makes hotel searching easy. At a glance, I can see a snapshot of the prices, addresses/areas, top amenities, review ratings, and types of rooms available. Clicking on the hotel name will give me access to more in-depth information, but I can quickly scroll down to compare hotels or adjust my search criteria to receive a different set of results.  

In the end, there are two things I want from find a hotel websites: the lowest prices and the easiest search. Find-A-Hotel.net has the best of both of these requirments!