Overwhelmed

Where have I been? I've been in Trip Advisor Hell, and I'm still there. The Husband and I have been lucky enough to have the grandparents to stay offering babysitting services, so we have decided to scamper off to Vietnam. All very well and good if you don't have a small problem with managing an accomodation addiction. I have 3 hotels and 1 cruise thing to arrange (that job seems to have been delegated to me), and there is a choice of maybe 1 or 2 zillion hotels to choose from. Not only is there a large number of hotels, but the prices range from like USD$15 per night and upwards. So I turned to my trusty ally http://www.tripadvisor.com/ to help narrow down the search. And has this helped??? No, suddenly I'm confronted by bad reviews of hotels I thought looked fine, excellent reviews of cheap little dodgey places. The variables have increased manifold, suddenly I'm considering location, bed hardness, shower curtain cleanliness, breakfast buffet range, Trip Advisor rankings....and worse, price. I then got carried away on a tangent of trying to find that perfect best deal, the USD$15 per night with garden views, rooftop pool and boutique feel - naaah, doesn't exist, I should bloody know because I have checked them all!!! And then after making a couple of sensible mid price range choices, The Husband throws in a curve ball. He says 'This is one of the only holidays I get each year, make sure the places are ok". Does that mean my budget has crept above the USD$40 mark I was aiming at. So my last city, I'm going cold turkey and looking at a place that has a bad Trip Advisor ranking and bad comments. But it looks nice and like the kind of place I think The Husband meant. But I have a backup option also booked (yes I know), and this one fares better on Trip Advisor. What to do? The Sister wisely asked me tonight if we were using a travel agent for our bookings. Now there's an idea!!!!