re: What website is the best for finding the best deals on hotel rooms?

I generally check two sites. Express deals at Priceline, or Hotwire Hot Rates. Similar concept.

I will sometimes go to Express deals and see what the rate is and then bid 15-20% lower on Priceline to see if I can get a lower rate. Otherwise, I will take the Express rate.

The only drawback is that you don't know exactly which hotel you will get in advance, unless you're in a very small market and the choice is obvious. So if it's important that you know exactly where you'll be staying, then you'll have to pay more money.

The reason for Hot/Express deals is that the hotel websites usually guarantee that you'll get the lowest advertised price on their website. When they are trying to fill rooms, they give deep discounts on the rooms and sell them on Hotwire/Priceline with the caveat that they can't show the name.

I have found that both Hotwire and Priceline are usually pretty good with their rankings, although both are not perfect. In the days when these sites were just getting started, you might get a pretty crappy Ramada Inn that is trying to pass itself off as a 3 1/2 star hotel. That doesn't happen much anymore.