Yeah, I always try to book by 6-7PM. Booking at 11PM generally winds up with a lot of failure.
The problem when I'm booking hotels is that:
1) I'm driving a long distance west of the Mississippi, and the stop points are very discrete and far between--so everybody wants to stop at the same point. For example, Austin to San Diego--El Paso is a bit short for the first day, so you go to Las Cruces which is a lot smaller and more likely to have fully booked up.
2) I'm doing a tourist thing which puts me in with a lot of other people.
The problem when I'm booking hotels is that:
1) I'm driving a long distance west of the Mississippi, and the stop points are very discrete and far between--so everybody wants to stop at the same point. For example, Austin to San Diego--El Paso is a bit short for the first day, so you go to Las Cruces which is a lot smaller and more likely to have fully booked up.
2) I'm doing a tourist thing which puts me in with a lot of other people.