Oakland has all of the convenience meeting planners look for when sourcing a destination. The city across the Bay Bridge from San Francisco offers easy access to three major airports (Oakland, San Jose and San Francisco), has 40 hotels offering more than 5,000 rooms, and boasts the big venues large groups require, like the Oakland Convention Center connected to the Oakland Marriott City Center, offering 100,000-plus square feet of meeting space.
The folks at the Michelin Guide are doing something a bit unusual this season, teasing out a group of 17 new Bay Area restaurants that they say will be added to this year's California guide though we don't know if any of these new entries will be getting stars.