Hotels are the life blood of my business trip in Europe. Without them, I'm sleeping in the car with my field teammates (not a pleasant thought). Many hotels in Europe do not register in common travel databases that many corporate travel offices use. They are either too small, don't advertise widely, don't like large groups or are not members of international chains. Much of my time is in Germany where we have had some good luck finding emaculate hotels for under 80 euros a night. However, you almost have to be in the town itself to find them and be driving or walking by. Some "good" German hotel chain connections are "NH" www.nh-hotels.com, "Best-Western" www.bestwestern.com, and "Accor" www.accor.com. Best-Westerns and Accors are much like the US, hit or miss but largely honest and if you want to pay a smaller amount and have it help you gain Diamond status, a decent bet. Hiltons, Marriotts et al. tend to be overpriced as they pay more in labor for an English speaking staff. Smaller hotels do not offer this but almost everyone in Germany knows someone who speaks English and can pinch hit for you or them. NH hotels, the three I've seen, are definatly a business travelers hit. All three were new or renovated recently with WiFi. They tend to have a good size restaurant and bar and located just off the beaten path to be convienient and out of the noise of nightlife. They are in the major German cities but maybe 1 or 2 locations each (Berlin has 5 by the way).
If you can, you may be able to forerun your hotel locations and find smaller german hotels. You might want to try www.bookings.de, www.traveltry.com or a bed and breakfast site www.bestlodging.com. If you must stay in a small town, these sites will enable you to expand your search beyond what hotels.com can bring.
Sidestep.com, for those who haven't found it yet can be a godsend at times as it will find many smaller hotels that lack the money to advertise widely. There are rankings from 1 to 5 stars (I recommend no less than 2 as it will usually ensure some quality to them but buyer beware).