The service is currently only available for hotels in the United State. You start by entering a town and state in the form on the Google Hotel Finder page.

Google then displays a list of hotels in that city. You can modify the shape of the region with a click on edit shape to include or exclude hotels in the listing. Just drag the white dots to a different location to change the size of the area that you want to be included when looking for hotels in that particular region of the country.

Once you are done you can go back to the list to see the changes you made reflected there.

Each hotel is listed with a thumbnail screenshot, name, description, hotel class, user rating, average price per night and how that price compares to the typical price in the selected region.

Some hotels unfortunately lack some of the information, it is possible to exclude most of those by making configuration changes in the sidebar.

Here it is possible to change the check in and check out dates, pricing or class and user rating criteria.

As far as price goes, you can use a slide to set a minimum and maximum price per night, and how the hotel’s price should compare to typical prices.

Hotel class allows you to select a minimum hotel class and minimum user rating that all hotels must have to make it on the list.

The listing can be sorted by hotel class, user rating, price per night and compared to typical information but bot by hotel name. Another thing that is missing is a search filter to display specific hotels faster.

A click on a hotel displays additional information taken from Google Places. This includes photos, reviews by Google users, address and phone numbers as well as the hotel’s Internet address and additional information that the owner of the hotel has added to Google Places.

You can click on the domain to be taken to the hotel or click on Book to book the hotel. The booking links often display advertisements (e.g. to hotel booking sites such as Priceline, GetaRoom, Agoda or Booking.com) but also always a link to the owner site to book right there.

Would I use Google Hotel Finder exclusively to find a hotel to stay in when visiting the United States? The answer to that question has to be no. User reviews on Google Places are notoriously easy to manipulate, and while you could say that this is also the case on sites such as Tripadvisor, the latter often have lots of reviews per hotel instead of just a handful that Google Places offer.

It is nevertheless a nice maps mashup, and the ability to sort hotels by price and price comparison is rather nice. The strongest feature is the ability to select the region that you want your hotel to be in detail. Google highlights popular regions on that map which is another plus.

You can try out Google Hotel Finder here on this page.

The article is divided into three threat levels and an introduction with some interesting background information and links. The first threat level mentions data encryption and certain aspects that have to be taken care of. It mentions for instance the fact that it is possible to read the contents of the RAM if the laptop is or has been powered on shortly before entering customs. It also advices to delete all temporary data on the system like browser cache, cookies and so forth.

Lastly it mentions the possibility that spyware could be installed on the computer while it is kept by the federal agents. The next step would be a full encryption of the system which has the advantage that everything is encrypted meaning no one can access it by simply plugging in the laptop’s hard drive into another computer. This could, on the other hand, make border agents suspicious because they might think you are hiding information that they are after.

The last threat level mentions steganophy which means hiding data in other data, for example an important text document in a music track. It also refers to the use of encrypted containers on encrypted partitions. It also mentions electronically sending the data once you reached your destination or storing it on smaller memory cards that are placed in devices that do not look suspicious.

The best solution in my opinion is the secure transfer of data. This ensures that nothing can be found on the laptop that could arouse suspicion It would also mean that the traveler does not have to lie if someone asks questions about the contents of the laptop.

Others suggested sending the data by overnight shipping which still leaves the chance that the package will be intercepted and analysed but has the advantage that the user cannot be questioned for the password of the (hopefully) encrypted drive.

They may also send the data to other agencies and even private entities “for language translation, data decryption or other reasons”. This policies do not only affect foreign visitors of the United States but also United States citiziens.

The data has to be destroyed after the review and private entities have to send the data back to the agencies. Everything that has been documented however does not have to be deleted.

“They’re saying they can rifle through all the information in a traveler’s laptop without having a smidgen of evidence that the traveler is breaking the law,” said Greg Nojeim, senior counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology. Notably, he said, the policies “don’t establish any criteria for whose computer can be searched.”

This in effect means that even if you cause no suspicion you can have your electronic devices and papers seized and will have to wait a long time before you can get them back. Think of business plans, private videos and photos, electronic diaries not only of “how to build an a-bomb in seven days” type of material. Frightening it is.