While some sites are concentrating on integrating Google Streetview and other pieces of eye candy for users, here is one site that wants to do everything.
Launched 18 months ago, Hotel Map on LondonTown.com is currently in beta and is part of a wider destination portal for the UK capital.
Using a bespoke mapping product, rather than the omnipresent Google or Bing systems, LondonTown has plotted dozens of hotels on the map using Sim City-type graphics.
Once a user selects dates and price range on the right-hand side navigation, properties change accordingly depending on availability and rates.
Play with the slidebars and hotels change again. Each hotel has a star rating indicated and will also say if there is a discount available.
Click on an individual property and a box appears alongside the right hand navigation with basic details with details and booking options.
More details can be obtained, including image slideshow, rating by LondonTown users, full list of facilities, etc, with a another click.
So how is LondonTown getting the pricing and availability? Not through an intermediary - it has contracts and direct connects with each of the hotels listed.
Users can make a booking direct on the site on about 95% of properties - the remaining 5% sends a reservation message to the hotel to respond.
What else does the system do?
There is a search facility for streets, attractions and other activities, such as theatres and museums, with a link to the relevant content pages on the main LondonTown site.
Users can embed their own notes on the map (before printing), find restaurants, select favourite hotels to be stored in the system, have a London Tube diagram overlaid on the map and find the location of every car parking centre in the city.
There is also a live chat system (and it works) to put users in touch with an advisor.
Worth a play...