Hoteliers will be shielding their eyes from the sun on April 8, but they won't be turning away from the influx of guests during the event.
An increase in demand for hotel rooms has hotel teams busy with extra preparations, both from operations and revenue-management perspectives.
The solar eclipse falls on a Monday and will cross North America, passing over Mexico, the U.S. and Canada.
It will begin over the South Pacific Ocean. The first location in continental North America that will be in total eclipse is Mexico's Pacific coast at roughly 11 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time. It will then continue into the U.S. in Texas, through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. From there, it will enter Canada in Southern Ontario, through Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Cape Brenton, according to NASA.
The eclipse will end in continental North America on the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada, at 5:16 p.m. Newfoundland Time. The next total solar eclipse won't happen for 20 years.
Purvi Patel, general manager of the Days Inn by Wyndham San Antonio Northwest/Seaworld in San Antonio, said her city is anticipating close to 5 million visitors.
At the time of the interview, Patel said her hotel was already over 50% booked for the event. Demand for it began picking up in the fourth quarter of 2023.
"A lot of people do a lot of last-minute [bookings]; we are a ways out, but we are going to be 100% full for sure. We usually don't sell out until the last minute," she added.
Concerts scheduled the weekend before the eclipse are also boosting demand, and international travelers are coming to town and booking stays as early as April 4, she said.
Patel said demand is coming from couples and solo travelers looking for adventure. Many who are coming in from Europe are also solo travelers, she said.
"We are not seeing so much of families yet, I think because [the eclipse] is a school day. If it fell on Sunday, I think we would have seen more families," she added.
Patel said room rates at her hotel did increase for the eclipse but "we are not price-gouging."
"It is a high-demand event, so it has really helped us and [the] overall business," she said.
Patel said she is excited to welcome guests and introduce them to her refreshed hotel that includes new guestrooms, featuring the "Days Inn by Wyndham - Dawn" design.
Coincidentally, the brand's updated design takes inspiration from the sun, featuring bright and airy rooms with sun-centric art from local areas and vibrant pops of yellow as well as new beds and other furnishings.
All guestrooms in the hotel and half of the bathrooms have been renovated.
Gilbert Arredondo, senior vice president of revenue strategy for Remington Hospitality, said his portfolio has 20 hotels in the direct path of the eclipse.
A majority are in Austin and Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas. Remington also has some hotels in Syracuse, New York, as well as a cluster in Indiana that are in the totality path.
Arredondo's team at Remington holds monthly field calls with all of its hotels and started setting strategies with each 15 months ahead of the eclipse.
"We started to level set, talk about what it's going to be like. We used [data from the 2017 eclipse] as a reference guide. We didn't know how we're going to perform. Is it a Super Bowl? Is it a concert? Is it a convention? What is it? We didn't understand the demographic," he said.
Arredondo instructed the hotels to buy solar eclipse glasses for staff and guests right away.
He said it's important to collaborate with marketing teams to ensure keywords such as "eclipse viewing party" plus the name of the hotel pop up together when guests are searching online.
Essex Hotel Management has a handful of hotels in New York state that will be in demand from eclipse travelers, including: the Courtyard by Marriott Rochester Downtown; Hilton Garden Inn Corning Downtown; the Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott Geneva Finger Lakes; two hotels in Lake Placid; and one in Plattsburgh.
Kimberly Tanner, director of sales at the Courtyard Rochester, said the hotel is within walking distance of museums and learning centers, including a planetarium that will be hosting events.
The hotel is not yet sold out for the event, but there has been a steady pattern of guests booking Saturday, Sunday and Monday, she said.
It's predicted that 300,000 to 500,000 people will be visiting Rochester for the eclipse, she added.
Joshua Srolis, general manger of the Courtyard Rochester, said room rates for the eclipse this year won't be as high as what the hotel priced for the PGA Championship in 2023, but it's still "a pretty good jump from normal."
Programming
Arredondo said the difficulty with the solar eclipse, compared to a Taylor Swift concert or Super Bowl, is that it's less than 10 minutes long.
"It's really short. How do you facilitate around those 10 minutes? I think hotels that can do that will see some great results," he said.
Remington's independent Lakeway Resort and Spa in Lakeway, Texas, has set up a dedicated website for the eclipse describing the amenities and activities it will have.
Programming includes a silent disco in the hotel's ballroom and eclipse-themed activities and a movie night. Additionally, it will have an eclipse-themed buffet.
Guests will be handed eclipse glasses at check-in for viewing at its pool and terrace area. Non-guests can purchase an "Eclipse Pass" granting pool access, one cocktail, a commemorative cup and eclipse glasses.
"Our strategy around the resort pass, is that with the timing of eclipse right around lunchtime, people would probably come to the resort a few hours early and possibly either do lunch before the eclipse or after. That's where the buffet also comes into play; that's also open to the resort pass," he added.
Some of Remington's branded hotels are programming around the eclipse. Its Indianapolis Sheraton has a rooftop pool where it will host an eclipse party.
Tanner said her hotel hosted a client event for its top accounts and had the solar eclipse task force as a speaker.
"We gave all our clients an eclipse poster and glasses and then each guest room will have an eclipse poster and two to four glasses as well. There's a special artist that has done a ton of different posters for the regions [named Tyler Nordgren]," she said.
The hotel will also supply all its staff with the glasses and there will be a team party before the eclipse starts.