Skydriller,
I've been told exactly the same thing.
I go to the USA a few times each year, and my normal system is to arrive, pick up a rental car, and then head off towards my final destination, which may well be a couple of hundred miles away.
Where I spend the first night depends on the weather, traffic, how tired I feel etc.
Now I just put down the name of a large airport hotel, even if I have no intention of staying there.
I wonder what the U.S government would make of their immigration officers advising visitors to lie on official documents.