Why can't I get a hotel room in Silicon Valley on December 6?

November 29, 2006 5:45 PM

Why is nearly every hotel on the peninsula between San Francisco and San Jose fully booked for December 6 and ONLY December 6?

I am supposed to attend a small Christmas party in Belmont, CA on December 6th. I live in San Jose and was looking to get a room in the area so I wouldn't have to worry about driving back that night.

I started looking around over the weekend and everything was either twice its normal rate or fully booked. It is so strange. I googled like crazy and there is no conference in town I can find, no Apple event, no Stanford graduation, etc. I've called and asked the hotels and they don't know why they are booked up that night.

Hotels in SF and in San Jose have availability and are charging their normal rates (not that it helps me, I was just trying to see how widespread this was).

There are some rooms available in cheap-o places, but that's about it. I've pretty much given up finding a place (unless someone here has an in at an inn). I'm now just really curious if anyone knows what's going on in Silicon Valley in the middle of next week.

Anyone here in the know?

posted by aaronh to travel & transportation (13 comments total)

That first weekend in December is notorious for being a big corporate holiday party weekend. Many companies now rent blocks of rooms for their people to use and avoid the dangers of drinking and driving. Maybe?
posted by FlamingBore at 6:04 PM on November 29, 2006

Of course now that I look at a calendar I see that the sixth is not on the weekend. Ignore me.
posted by FlamingBore at 6:06 PM on November 29, 2006

No, it's not a bad guess - and pretty much the same as mine. The only thing I can imagine is Google or Yahoo or Apple or someone is having a huge Christmas party and all of the attendees are thinking the same way I am.

Still, even if that were the case, I find it bizarre that that particular Wednesday night is the only night of the month that looks like that.

That's why I was hoping someone here would have some hard info.
posted by aaronh at 6:12 PM on November 29, 2006

There is a Primus concert on the 5th and the Sharks play Colorado on the 7th?
posted by Pollomacho at 6:20 PM on November 29, 2006

No idea how big it is, but there's the Lehman Brothers 2006 Global Technology Conference in San Fran from the 5th to the 7th.
posted by Paragon at 6:24 PM on November 29, 2006

Yeah, I'd start looking at concerts as to the cause.
posted by chef_boyardee at 6:34 PM on November 29, 2006

When you're calling hotels looking for a room, ask them, I'm sure if there's something big going on they'll know and will be happy to tell you.
posted by blm at 7:12 PM on November 29, 2006

From the question: I've called and asked the hotels and they don't know why they are booked up that night.
posted by onalark at 7:15 PM on November 29, 2006

From the question: I've called and asked the hotels and they don't know why they are booked up that night.

D'oh! Sorry, I'm an idiot.
posted by blm at 8:39 PM on November 29, 2006

There's nothing going on at Apple, and nothing going on at Yahoo. I can't think of anything big going on either.
posted by drstein at 8:47 PM on November 29, 2006

There's nothing going on at Apple, and nothing going on at Yahoo. I can't think of anything big going on either.

There's tons of big companies in the Valley. Both Oracle and Electronic Arts are in Belmont, for example. All it takes is one of them having a sales conference or something for all the hotels in the areas to get booked.

Your best bet is to continue to ask around until someone lets you know. If its a business conference, they tend to book hotel meeting rooms too.
posted by vacapinta at 11:30 PM on November 29, 2006

There's nothing going on at Apple, and nothing going on at Yahoo.

Google's holiday party is this week, so scratch them off your list too.
posted by fishbulb at 3:25 AM on November 30, 2006

I can't believe I've stumped AskMeFi. That's a first.

The hotels don't seem to know (Sofitel says they haven't booked any meeting rooms that day) and I've done more and more searching for each of the cities on the peninsula also looking on the 5th for things that might run a couple of days.

People at work suggested Oracle as well but there is nothing public I can find, either.

Even if I never know the answer, I can certainly see a hole in the web search universe that could stand to be filled.
posted by aaronh at 12:12 PM on November 30, 2006