Pay a visit to WebHostingTalk. If you are looking at VPS then you can check here for general information and here for offers. For shared hosting then you can check here for offers.
Hostgator was purchased a while back by a company called EIG. They are very well known for taking good hosts (which Hostgator was one) and running them completely into the ground, while simply inflating the pocketbooks of their investors. Sad really.