So which website do I use? I know there are a million out there, and I just want to get a decent deal, but what’s most important is that I get as close as possible to the actual address that I’m going to.
You could start by going to google maps and type in something like “hotels close to zip code”, then either use hotels.com/travelocity/orbitz/etc or even call the hotels directly.
My favorite is www.sidestep.com as they search all (or almost all) the other sites (like orbitz, expedia, travelocity, etc) and compares prices between all of them. It’s a meta-travel-site-search, I guess.
Venere.com has always been one of my favorite places to book a hotel. And it will narrow down your locations by the area of the city you want to stay in. For example, in Chicago (OP’s listed location) the location is narrowed down to areas of the city (Grant Park, the Magnificent Mile, Gold Coast etc…).