I've been trying to book a hotel in the San Francisco area during the period October 24 - 26, but almost all of the hotels are either booked solid or the rate is very high? What special is going on that week-end in teh Bay area?

ADA (American Dental)? It is a big convetion but I can't imagine it booking all the rooms.

Also, that weekend kicks off the San Francisco Jazz Festival. Might be some out-of-towners for that as well. Any other citywides besides the ADA?

I just checked and the expected attendence of ADA is 60,000. That's where the rooms went!

In addition to the "attendees" there will be 180 continuing education projects being staged and 625 tchnical exhibits.Thats several thousand support peeps too.To many in the dental profession this is the one and only chance to get away from their work.

You will find the biggest conventions (ADA, ABA, AMA, etc) will fill up rooms from SF to Berkeley to Milbrae to Pacifica and even farther. A meeting like this ADA one will probably have almost 80,000 or more attendees, spouses, speakers, support staff, etc.

Try Hotwire, Hotels.com, Priceline.

Re: the ADA convention--the deadline for booking hotels through the ADA is 9/26, and the deadline for making changes through ADA is 10/7. Maybe some rooms will be freed up after one of those dates if they are not all reserved. I've got a room booked, but am going to try Priceline when the dates get closer.