WWWScope

If search is only 5% solved then searching for a hotel is most definitely in the 95% of unsolved problems. Below is a screenshot of the Google Search results for New York Hotel.

The extent of the problem is clear from the fact that the first organic search result isn’t even in New York.

Microsoft’s Live.com does slightly better:

The “Top local listings for hotel near New York, NY” link takes us to the Live Local map view, which at least presents us some relevant information.

Google has a similar feature, but it requires a click on the Maps navigation link.

The map view is useful, but isn’t really enough. What if we want to find out more about the hotels, for instance?

That’s where Google Base comes in. Garret Rodgers from Googling Google discovered a new version of Google Base, which he called the new version of Froogle. I think the real point of it is to improve search performance on structured (and possibly semi-structured) data. Look at the search results for new york hotel:

The new interface lets you view the results on a map, while at the same time refining your search by review, review date, review author, etc. Now this isn’t quite at the “filter by hotels with good views and WiFi” stage yet, but it appears to be headed that way.