What we like about Travelocity is that the site gives you distinguishing features in a useful header for each hotel it finds. That includes one to five smiley faces for reader reviews, which you can click on and read. One or two reviews might not tell you much, but a dozen or more begin to sound authoritative.

You’ll quickly discover amenities, different room categories, as well as transportation info and costs. In New York, Travelocity came up with the Hotel Belvedere on West 48th Street in the theater district, at $162 a night. It’s an affordable hotel for outoftowners coming to see a show and experience Times Square, and not a bad one at that. There were 22 reader responses for the Belvedere, averaging four smiley faces.

On the other hand, Travelocity didn’t save much on a room at the Prescott in San Francisco, at $199.26. Still, Travelocity gets points for improving its search engine and providing more useful information than most of the competition. It’s a solid choice.

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