I’m a big fan of the online hotel reservation services … whether for business or pleasure, they’re great for travel research. And once you’ve scoped out the hotels at your destination, the service will kick out a confirmation number with just a few clicks. But truth be told, online hotel reservation services can fall short once in a while … like this past weekend …

We were in Washington DC area for a large youth soccer tournament. Our hotel reservations for Friday and Saturday were placed through the tournament’s lodging vendor. But we left Sunday night open, not knowing whether my son’s team would be playing on Monday.

By Saturday afternoon it was clear that we’d have Monday free. So we started talking about what we might do. After the team’s last game early Sunday afternoon, we decided to head off on a mystery trip (sans any hotel reservation), to points eastward.

Armed only with my mighty old Sidekick, we plotted out a route to the Maryland coast using Mapquest’s “to go” PDA service. My wife drove the battle wagon and I manned the ‘Kick. While we figured that there would be plenty of vacancy signs on the Ocean City hotels and motels, I attempted to do some advance work on what might be available.

And that’s where I ran into a brick wall.

I couldn’t get the online hotel reservation services to play nice with the Sidekick. I gave up after trying Expedia, Travelocity, and TripAdvisor. All three of these sites were too complex to render simple pages for the (relatively) underpowered PDA. After striking out with the big hotel reservation systems, I rolled the dice and did some Googling on Ocean City hotels (all while the ‘Kick’s Internet connection faded in and out as we headed east on Route 50 through Chesapeake farmland).

Even though I found a semi-helpful website, I still couldn’t get the big picture. I guess I should have known when the stars stopped at three. If I had real access to the big hotel reservation sites (okay yeah, so maybe I really should travel with a laptop and a serious cellular hookup), I would have known what to expect.

Moral of the story? Do that hotel research ahead of time, whenever possible.

On a super positive note, we had an awesome voyage on the ferry boat from Lewes, DE to Cape May NJ. If you’re ever on your way up or down the east coast and want to ride along the coastline (rather than inland), the luxurious Cape May/Lewes ferry is the way to go. Once you park your vehicle onboard, you’re free to relax, dolphin watch, and enjoy the beautiful ride across the mouth of the Delaware …

Tags: hotel reservations