Hotel site lets you choose amenities

Let a former travel agent help you find a hotel you might not know existed on Blue Hippo Travel, www.bluehippotravel.com.

--

What’s hot: If you’re a sucker for lists (and I am), head straight for the left navigation bar, which has links to several travel magazine hotel lists including the Travel + Leisure 2009 “It” list; Conde Nast Traveler’s “Hot List 2009;” National Geographic’s “Stay List Caribbean 2009,” and more. The “Choose Amenities” tool sets this website apart. Go crazy putting together odd combinations and see what hotel recommendations you turn up. There are options you might never have thought of: taking a seaplane to your hotel, an outdoor bath tub, Wi-Fi at the beach, fall foliage, heli-hiking, watching movies under the stars and more. Feel like driving? There’s a tool for that too. You can even combine a list with your chosen amenities. It’s like a game to see which hotels can deliver the most outrageous combos.

What’s not: It’s hard for me to take a cute website seriously. The first time I looked at it, I was turned off by the appearance. But looking deeper, I saw the website is handcrafted by former travel agent Laura van Hoff, who is upfront about where the 110,000 hotel inventory comes from (Sabre and World Choice Travel, a private-label version of Travelocity), and what you might find missing (some boutique hotels late to the online booking game). If you can look past the amateurish hippo, you might be surprised by Van Hoff’s efforts, even as you find yourself lost in a maze of tempting getaway options.

-- Jen Leo