Hotelwatchdog search engine rounds up hotel deals

Airfarewatchdog.com, the source for hot airfare deals, has expanded into the hotel market.

Name: Hotelwatchdog, www.airfarewatchdog.com/hotels

What it does: It’s a hotel search engine that gives you a Top 20 list of hotels based on price, TripAdvisor ratings, and key attractions, restaurants and night life.

What’s hot: I love the Top 20 approach to search results. The prices are clear, and you don’t have to click through to a second page to see photos of the hotel. You also can click through to see the complete list of hotels. Even better, the search remains deal-focused; beneath each hotel name you’ll see stats such as, “This hotel’s price is 64% less than rates at other nearby, similar hotels” or “This hotel’s price is 21% off its 45-day historic average.”

What’s not: There’s a pop-up box in the lower right-hand side of the page that invites you to sign up for hotel value alerts by email. That’s fine, but even though I entered my email, the box continues to pop up with every page refresh. Annoying.