One of the leading hotel sites, Orbitz, has just announced that it is rolling out new search tools this week. These new tools are aimed at taking the mystery and the surprise out of internet hotel reservations, or so the company says.

For a long time, travel agencies have allowed consumers to sort hotels by price range and luxury rating. However, Orbitz is adding a host of new filters that will allow people to compare by what matters most to them. Thus, people are a lot more likely to find a hotel that fits them best.

For example, a family that is headed to Disney World might want to view hotels that have swimming pools at a half dozen Magic Kingdom hotels side by side. Business travelers on the other hand, who are bound for cities that are unfamiliar to them, may want to view a hotel’s surroundings first.

The CEO of Orbitz, Barney Harford, is the one that is pushing this new search tool out the door. Since joining Orbitz back in 2009, Harford said that his focus has been hotels, hotels, hotels. He made it a lot easier for smaller hotels to display their rooms on Orbitz and is also using new technology that provides consumers with a large array of information on hotels and their environments.

Right now the CEO of Orbitz is working very hard to try and close the gap between them and market leaders Priceline and Expedia. In order to do this, Orbitz is going to need to give consumers things that other sites do not give them. They are going to have to make their sites user friendly and be able to appeal to both business and holiday travelers.