SEARCH ENGINE:IT CAN BE HARD to take a cute website seriously. The first time you look at www.bluehippo travel.com you might be turned off by its appearance. Look deeper, though, and you'll see that the site – hand-crafted by former travel agent Laura van Hoff – can help you find a hotel you might not know existed.
If you’re a sucker for lists, head straight for the left navigation bar, which has links to several travel-magazine hotel rankings, including the Travel + Leisure It list and Condé Nast Traveller Hot List 2009.
Blue Hippo’s 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, autumn foliage, heli-hiking, watching films under the stars and more. Feel like driving? There’s a tool for that, too. It’s like a game to see which hotels can deliver the most outrageous combinations.
Van Hoff 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 were 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.
LA Timesservice