The real trick is checking those apps right after the hotel's normal check-in time passes. A lot of places would rather sell a room for cheap at 7pm than have it sit empty all night. I once got a fancy downtown suite in Seattle for less than a budget motel because I waited until 8pm to look. The hotels are just playing a different game with their own empty rooms.

Remember my disastrous coffee shop meetup?

Hah, that's one way to lose a security deposit.

Remember trying to get a CD-ROM drive to work in DOS?

Wait, it melted into the GRAVY? That's so much worse than I imagined!