I know that this is kind of last minute, but foes anyone have any suggestions for hotels over Super Bowl Weekend. Three friends and I would like to go from Friday Jan. 31 to Monday Feb.4 We're not football fans just N.O. fans. We'd like to stay in the Quarter but are pretty flexible. Thanks, Kim

Kim, I think there is still availability out there, mainly at B&Bs and hotels outside the city. The NFL has contracted most of the hotel rooms. For B&Bs, check out www.bbnola.com. The site has a list of 40 or so B&Bs and a "special events" availability calendar. Good luck!

Kim - having been to several Superbowls, I would advise you to grab a fallback reservation for those dates at an OK property as close to the French Quarter as possible... You may be several miles outside of N.O. to start because of the NFL and Travel industry policy of blocking every room they possibly can.

The dam of room availability breaks immediately following the championship games that determine which cities are in the SuperBowl... during the three days that follow championship Sunday, some holds are released for a very short time while everyone jockeys from the participating cities to get rooms and fans and travel agencies from other loser cities dump holds. We have been very successful in upgrading our locations during this frenzy... remember...get a back-up room and be patient and focused...

Someone just mentioned to me the other day that this year Superbowl weekend is TWO DAYS before Mardi Gras. May make the entire hotel availability different in 2002.

Super Bowl date is now Feb. 3 and Mardi Gras is Feb. 12. The parades originally scheduled for the weekend of the 3rd were moved to the last weekend of January when the Super Bowl date changed.

I found a room using bbnola.com, as the previous poster suggested.

I reserved the "W" hotel in the French Quarter for $129 last week. There are only two of us in the room, but we don't plan on spending much time there during Sper Bowl weekend...Let's Go JETS

You got the W for $129 during Super Bowl in early February? Make sure you got the right dates since the game was moved.

I highly doubt that Vinny was able to secure a room for $129 during Super Bowl. If he did, then someone at the W is probably being fired as we speak! I tried using several online booking systems and couldn't find any availability in the city for under $400 a night and even then it was very limited.

Since my team (49ers) is doing very well I think I want to visit during the Super Bowl. Are the hotels really all booked by the NFL?