AAA online triptiks are good for identifying hotels near a particular spot. I use
www.aaamidatlantic.com, but I'm sure they will have similar services in other regions. You type in your destination, click on the "show lodging" button, and all the hotels pop up on the map. You can then see which ones are the closest, pick the one you like, check availability, and book online. Very nice.
Yahoo and google have similar services, but more primitive.