It’s 6:30 pm on a Friday evening. I’m relaxing in my most comfortable red bean bag chair with a good magazine and a glass of wine, when my best friend calls me out of the blue to tell me she’s getting married – tomorrow – in Las Vegas (to a hunky Elvis impersonator,of course), and she absolutely has to have me there as her maid of honor. Of course I’m delighted, but there’s just one little problem….
I’m in Louisiana – and I have never been to Las Vegas (unless you count watching “Vegas Vacation”…) Where am I going to stay? How will I find the right hotel on such short notice? Will I be forced to find my own Elvis impersonator just to crash at his place?
I hang up the phone with promises to be there (and bring her favorite blue suede heels), with a feeling of dread at the prospect of going to one of those ‘name your own price’ sites to quickly find the right hotel (I don’t know why but those sites just confuse me!) I race to my laptop in a panic to do the only thing I know to do –
I Google Quickly Find Hotels
And like an angel to a dying man, a perfect match appeared on my screen:
(Can we say Hallelujah?!)
I typed in “Las Vegas” and chose the closest zip code to where she was getting hitched (Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel – right on the strip) and voila!
A plethora of hotels up and down the strip sprang up for me to select from.
Now, since my girlfriend offered to pay for my hotel, I won’t pick a 5 star (I’m so thoughtful, aren’t I?), but I am a single chic and I’ll be all alone in Sin City, so I don’t want to stay in some dumpy with avocado green shag carpet that hasn’t been cleaned since the 70’s!
Good thing Hotels By Map color codes each hotel by 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 star ratings and lets me choose to see only the ones I want. When I roll my mouse over the pushpins it shows me their rating, address, and cost per night. I can even click on a little tab and pull up the hotels by lowest price and see where they are located and get their phone number. And the best part of it all is that I can click on the hotel link to see what amenities they offer (I have to have a pool); and when I find the best place for me, I can book my room right then and there!
It was that simple – in less than 20 seconds I had all the info I
needed right in front of me to quickly find the right hotel and book it – all in one easy step. All I can say is that this site has saved my life
– now I have enough time before I leave to Google everything Elvis
(so I can actually have something to talk about with the groom!)
From now on, this will be the only place I go when I’ve got places to go!