I use it for hotels all the time. If you know the areas of town with the nicer hotels, you can specify both the area and the minimum number of "stars." I've stayed at Hyatts and DoubleTrees and such for $50-$70 quite often. Beats paying the same price for Motel 6 by a long shot.

One hint...try areas around convention centers. If there's no major convention in town, there's a zillion empty rooms and they want to fill them at pretty much any price.