Was in Lake Placid and Vermont last year, just in the off season and I used Hotwire to book hotels the night before turning up, think I paid under $100 each time for central hotels. If you don't mind the last minute approach you can save quite a bit of cash, I know of people that have used a hotel's free lobby internet to book a room 5 mins before check in and got a great rate (booking over internet was cheaper than booking directly at the front desk).