I’m no stranger to snagging a last-minute hotel on a whim, whether it’s for a quick road trip or an impromptu city getaway. But the tradeoff for spontaneous travel often means paying ...

Hotwire, a vacation booking site, is perhaps best known for scoring travelers below-market rates on hotel stays — with a catch, of course. If you want one of its "hot rates" (what Hotwire calls its ...