You're correct that the search sucks.
http://poker.wikicities.com/wiki/Atlantic_City
http://poker.wikicities.com/wiki/Borgata
http://poker.wikicities.com/wiki/Taj_Mahal
As for places to stay that are cheap (perhaps someone should add that section to the AC wiki page), I've stayed in Absecon once -- tons of cheap places, some of them a bit tacky, but nowhere where i feared for my life or anything.