A tip on researching hotels
 

Just posted this in response to someone's post on finding pictures of Italy online & thought other people might find it helpful.<BR><BR>Google.com has an images search that is fabulous (for the other post, I'd pointed out that you can type in the name of a city and find great pictures, or even a specific monument). <BR><BR>One trick I've used many times is to type in the name of a hotel I'm investigating. So often, I pick one that doesn't seem to have much info available & that other Fodorites haven't visited. I just go to the image search & type in the name of the hotel (and the name of the city if I get too many responses). <BR><BR>Almost always, this returns several good pictures of the hotel. Almost always, it's accompanied by a review (frequently from former guests that they've included in their personal websites as a travelogue). <BR><BR>Is everyone else already doing this? Let me know if not & you try it with success!

Andrea,<BR><BR>I just tried this and it's great! I thought I was fairly good at finding things on the internet, and this is a feature I had not used. Thanks for the tip. <BR><BR>Lisa

Andrea, google is one of the best search engines and I do use it regularly, not only for travel related questions.<BR><BR><BR>

Excellent idea. Drop all other search engines and just use google...it is the best.

That tip worked like a CHARM - we've been researching hotels in Spain, and we have chosen several hotels based on recommendations, but it seems like all the ones we choose only have one review, no matter how many places we look online. I typed in the names of our hotels in the imagse search and ALL of them came up with at least 5 pictures and reviews!! I will definately do this from now on!

I have done this for several trips as I never really trust the narrative that is posted with the hotel - it's the hotel themselves telling you how wonderful their place is. I always prefer personal recommendations.