Let's cut to the chase; when you're shopping around for hotels, you want the best location, the best star-rating and the best service for the lowest possible price. Usually, that means opening up about 10 browser windows and comparing the deals. Well, not any more. A new search-engine I've just discovered does it all for you in seconds. 

The website, according to Mike Elgan of Computerworld , is basically using Google Maps technology. It mashes it up with a hotel-finder to give you a complete list of hotels in the area you choose, ordered by price. It's called, wait for it, Map Channels Hotel Directory.  Thankfully, the service it provides is way better than the uninspired name.

When you first get to the site , you put in your destination, check-in date and number of nights. The radar on the map to your right begins spinning and shortly thereafter, a list of hotels starts appearing on the page. Give it time to work, as it finds cheaper hotels it slots them in until you get a complete list of what's available, the rating and the price. 

I also suggest changing the listing to DETAILED, which gives you a complete write-up of each hotel and pictures. That can be really helpful because some of these bargain hotels look right at home in a horror flick. But others, well, you'll be surprised at how cheap the good hotel rooms can go for.

IMAGE GALLERY is an even better option if you're a visual shopper. This basically gives you photos of the hotels with a room rate beneath. And, you can also order your lists by rating or name, and change the currency, too.

Give it a try, let me know how it works out for you. But I know I'll probably leave Hotels.com, Priceline, Travelocity and Orbitz alone for a while. This saves me a lot of time and trouble. Happy travels.