Those of us who have been traveling for some time know that a good hotel deal does not simply consist in value for money as far as hotel amenities and quality over price goes. A good hotel deal includes things like, how close is it located to the areas where you are most interested in, how safe is the area around it, what other people are saying about the hotel and what your particular needs are when it comes to offered services.

Furthermore, various factors as well as hotel services and features that are not usually mentioned can be very important. For instance:

• existence of free or low priced hotel parking for your car
• free gym and spa
• free wifi or cable based Internet access
• late checkout flexibility
• bed size
• room view
• free or cheap airport shuttle service
• whether you're staying alone
• whether you're travelling for business or pleasure
• whether a romantic setting, atmosphere and feeling is important
• hotel area noise
• finally the standard question: is breakfast included?

Note, that you should not trust hotel booking sites or even the hotel's own site on whether any of the above amenities or services will actually be available during the time of your stay. For instance you may arrive at a hotel advertising a great swimming pool or fitness area only to find out that the pool or fitness area is closed down for repairs, maintainance or construction work. It is always best to call the hotel directly and verify that certain features that are of great interest to you will indeed be available during the time of your stay.

Based on all of the above, the process I am currently using to get the best Hotel deal possible is the following:

1. Decide on the general area of the hotel based on the following:
   • How close is the hotel to the reason for the trip. e.g. if the reason is tourism then it has to be close to the touristic attractions you're interested in or if it is for business then it should be close to where your business is.
     • Use Google maps and Google Earth to decide that
   • How safe is the area?
     • Google for crime issues in the city and area of interest. Check wikipedia.org as well for city and city area related articles.
   • How quiet is the area?
     • Check Google maps and Google Earth for obvious sources of noise and commotion. For instance, stadiums, large busy streets, construction sites.
   • How interesting is the area in general?
     • Use Google maps, wikipedia and tripadvisor.com
   • How good are the services offered in the area? For instance, restaurants, shopping, entertainment, etc.
     • Once more, use Google maps and tripadvisor.com
2. Use tripadvisor.com to find all hotels in the area that:
   • Have very high tripadvisor user ratings
   • Are of the star class of your preference
   • Have official and user posted pictures that you like
   • Use tripadvisor's rate finder to see if the hotels you like are affordable based on your budget
3. Once you are down to 2-3 candidate hotels, use all of the following hotel booking sites in order to get the best rate possible. Always check the hotel's website itself as it is often there that you get the best deal or other extras that are simply not available in most hotel booking sites. Then decide, consulting your wife, or companion (if there is one) as well as all of the good hotel deal factors mentioned in the beginning of this article.
   • http://hrs.com This site offers great rates and most importantly it usually does not require prepayment for hotel bookings
   • http://venere.com Many hotels in Italy and usually the best rates for them
   • http://hotels.com Great hotel selection and a lot of hotel pictures. MAny good deals as well.
   • http://booking.com Great rates in general
   • http://lastminute.com Great rates. Most importantly has available rooms when everyone else does not.
   • http://expedia.com Great rates, can get flight/car/hotel packages
   • http://priceline.com Great rates, especially for American hotels
   • http://hotelscombined.com Great meta-search engine combining search results from multiple hotel booking sites (many of the in this list as well)
   • http://orbitz.com Great hotel deals, flight/car/hotel packages, great search interface
   • http://cheaptostay.com
4. Once you have selected and booked your hotel make sure you do not forget to book its airport shuttle service, if it is your intention to do so.