diff --git a/backend/services/scraper_backends/playwright_local.py b/backend/services/scraper_backends/playwright_local.py
index 0d0ff1a..7ce33a1 100644
--- a/backend/services/scraper_backends/playwright_local.py
+++ b/backend/services/scraper_backends/playwright_local.py
@@ -636,13 +636,15 @@ class PlaywrightLocalBackend(ScraperBackend):
                             logger.warning(f"Page load timeout, continuing: {e}")
                             page_loaded = False
 
-                # 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 = ""
+                # Check for blocking. Skip when the page never loaded — page.content()
+                # blocks until any in-progress navigation (e.g. Cloudflare redirect)
+                # completes before raising, adding minutes of hidden delay per attempt.
+                content = ""
+                if page_loaded:
+                    try:
+                        content = await page.content()
+                    except Exception as ce:
+                        logger.warning(f"page.content() unavailable: {ce}")
                 is_blocked, reason = self.detect_blocking(content)
                 if is_blocked:
                     logger.warning(f"Blocking detected: {reason}")
@@ -679,6 +681,12 @@ class PlaywrightLocalBackend(ScraperBackend):
 
                 logger.info(f"Page {page_num + 1}: found {len(hotels)} hotels, {len(all_hotels)} total unique")
 
+                # Page 1 failed to load and returned nothing — the browser is in
+                # a broken/challenge state; trying page 2 just wastes another 60s.
+                if page_num == 0 and not page_loaded and not all_hotels:
+                    logger.warning("Page 1 load failed with 0 hotels — skipping page 2")
+                    break
+
             return ScraperResult(
                 success=True,
                 blocked=False,