diff --git a/backend/services/scraper_backends/playwright_local.py b/backend/services/scraper_backends/playwright_local.py
index 660ec84..698f4c4 100644
--- a/backend/services/scraper_backends/playwright_local.py
+++ b/backend/services/scraper_backends/playwright_local.py
@@ -536,9 +536,10 @@ class PlaywrightLocalBackend(ScraperBackend):
             result = await self._scrape_once(
                 location, check_in, check_out, adults, pages, dest_id, location_params)
 
-            # Soft-block signals: an explicit challenge, or a "successful" load
-            # that yielded zero hotels (page 1 never rendered results).
-            soft_blocked = result.blocked or (result.success and not result.hotels)
+            # Soft-block signals: an explicit challenge, a "successful" load
+            # that yielded zero hotels, or a failed load (page.content crash,
+            # timeout with no HTML) — all warrant an IP rotation when proxied.
+            soft_blocked = result.blocked or not result.hotels
             if not soft_blocked:
                 return result
 
@@ -635,8 +636,13 @@ class PlaywrightLocalBackend(ScraperBackend):
                             logger.warning(f"Page load timeout, continuing: {e}")
                             page_loaded = False
 
-                # Check for blocking
-                content = await page.content()
+                # Check for blocking — page may still be navigating after a
+                # timeout, so wrap in try/except to avoid crashing the attempt.
+                try:
+                    content = await page.content()
+                except Exception as ce:
+                    logger.warning(f"page.content() unavailable (page still navigating): {ce}")
+                    content = ""
                 is_blocked, reason = self.detect_blocking(content)
                 if is_blocked:
                     logger.warning(f"Blocking detected: {reason}")