Man I was stressing hard about hotel prices for my New York trip last month. Everything looked crazy expensive just for a basic room. So I decided to figure out this whole search engine thing properly.
First thing? I dumped all my usual habits. Stopped going straight to that one big hotel site I always used. Figured hey, maybe those flashy ads aren’t showing me the real deals. Grabbed my coffee Saturday morning, cracked my knuckles, and dove in.
Started simple. Just typed “New York hotels” into a regular search bar. Total chaos. Got millions of results but mostly big chain ads or spammy looking sites. Useless. Needed a better way.
The Experiment Phase
Next weekend, I got systematic. Pulled up a couple of different search engines side-by-side. Wanted to see what each one actually showed me.
- First search engine only showed mega chains – Hilton, Marriott, the usual suspects. Felt like ads.
- Tried another one and it actually pulled in some smaller, local places tucked away. That looked promising!
- Third search engine gave me a mix, but the prices weren’t clear upfront. Had to click through each one. Annoying.
Played with dates like crazy. Searched Tuesday check-in vs Friday. Huge difference! Dropped over $50 a night just by shifting two days earlier. Who knew?
Filtering Like a Maniac
Found the filters buried in the search engine settings. Started ticking things off:
- Neighborhoods I actually wanted. Screw Times Square prices.
- Got brutal with the star rating. Do I really need 4 stars? Settled for “clean and safe”.
- Killed breakfast. Easy savings right there. NYC has bagels everywhere!
Still felt prices were high. Remembered that “incognito” window thing people talk about. Tried it as a last resort. Honestly? Not sure it made a huge difference, but a couple places did seem slightly cheaper. Maybe. Or maybe it was just me hoping!
The Booking Moment (and Almost Screwing Up)
Finally found a spot near the subway in a decent area. Price was right. Felt good. Went to book…
ALMOST FORGOT THE TAXES! Seriously, that checkout price jumps up. Checked the total again. Fine. Took a deep breath and hit confirm.
Walked away feeling like I cracked some code. Saved a bundle using just search engines. Took work, clicking around, and getting comfortable with filters. But beats paying extra just for laziness.
