Where can I find a free or inexpensive database of hotels worldwide,
with their addresses and phone numbers?

Hi! Thanks for the question.

Since you want a database (in a text file) of hotels in the world, I
shall provide links to the files that meet your needs. I gathered the
list into a text file so you can use it. The list of hotels are
grouped into continents and categorized by countries. I uploaded the
files in an online storage website. You can get them through the
following links.

Africa
http://home.villagephotos.com/2003-9/26694/africahotels.txt

Asia
http://home.villagephotos.com/2003-9/26694/ASIAhotels.txt

Central America
http://home.villagephotos.com/2003-9/26694/caHOTELS.txt

Europe
http://home.villagephotos.com/2003-9/26694/EUROPEHOTELS.txt
http://home.villagephotos.com/2003-9/26694/EUROPEHOTELS2.txt
http://home.villagephotos.com/2003-9/26694/EUROPEHOTELS3.txt
http://home.villagephotos.com/2003-9/26694/EUROPEHOTELS4.txt
http://home.villagephotos.com/2003-9/26694/EUROPEHOTELS5.txt

Middle East 
http://home.villagephotos.com/2003-9/26694/MIDEASTHOTELS.txt

North America
http://home.villagephotos.com/2003-9/26694/NAhotels.txt

South America
http://home.villagephotos.com/2003-9/26694/SAHOTELS.txt

Pacific
http://home.villagephotos.com/2003-9/26694/PACIFICHOTELS.txt


I found the list from the World Hotel Yellow Pages website.

World Hotel Yellow Pages
http://www.worldhotelsyellowpages.com/frameset.asp?la=EN
 

Search terms used:               
world hotels database
      
I hope these links would help you in your research. Before rating this
answer, please ask for a clarification if you have a question or if
you would need further information. In case there are some problems
with downloading the text files, just notify me.
              
Thanks for visiting us.              
              
Regards,              
Easterangel-ga              
Google Answers Researcher

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Request for Answer Clarification by craig_new_york-ga on 27 Sep 2003 18:50 PDT

This is great. One question; North America is pretty small; was there
a problem with getting NA hotels?

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Clarification of Answer by easterangel-ga on 27 Sep 2003 22:17 PDT

Hi again craig_new_york-ga!

I'm glad you liked my solution. The problem with the North American
category, specially the US list, is its too big that the connection
with server stops after downloading for a very long time. I am already
using a DSL connection but the connection still stops when
downloading. This is the same for Canada. I think the problem is now
at the end of the World Hotel Yellow Pages website.

Thanks again!

Best Regards,
Easterangel-ga

The database is good for outside the US, which is a good start for me.

Note to researchers: craig_new_york-ga is "looking for a database
(e.g. tab-separated text file) that he can download, not a site he can
submit queries to."