Need a place to stay for the total eclipse? Austin still has hotel rooms

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Lots of people are expected to arrive in the coming days for the total solar eclipse, and surprisingly there are rooms available in the area if someone is still looking for a place to stay. However, people should expect to pay more than they normally would.

Wesley Lucas, the director of communications at Visit Austin, said Wednesday hotels located in downtown Austin are currently averaging 83% occupancy for Saturday to Monday nights. Outside of downtown, hotels are averaging 75% occupancy for those same nights. Eclipse tourists, though, are not the only ones booking up those rooms.

"We also have the CMT Music Awards in town that are affecting that demand, and of course, the [Statesman Cap10K] brings some folks in from out of town. So lots of things are contributing," Lucas explained. "We also have a few meetings and conventions that happen to overlap with the eclipse, so those folks will be probably checking in on Monday into those hotels. So lots of folks are going to be in town for many different reasons, but I think the eclipse is the big thing driving that demand and driving that occupancy."

It may seem surprising to some that hotels in Austin still have some availability despite the influx of eclipse tourists, and Lucas said there are a couple of reasons for that. For starters, the metro area has more than 50,000 hotel rooms, so there's simply more supply here. Additionally, Austin is the rate leader in the state, meaning room prices tend to track higher than other places.

Visit Austin reported the average daily rate for hotels is tracking 39% higher than this same time period last year.

"Folks who travel for eclipses typically stay in what we call a select service hotel property or in maybe a short-term rental, an RV park or a campground. That's typically the types of accommodations that are going to book up first," Lucas said. "Right in the center of downtown, we're right on the edge [of totality], so a lot of folks are going further west into the Hill Country into some of our neighboring communities. They're going to see those higher influx of folks and those complete sellouts — what we probably won't see here in Austin."

Visit Austin did not commission its own study to predict the economic impact of the eclipse tourism. However, the Perryman Group based in Waco conducted an analysis and estimated the Austin area will receive a direct economic impact of $74.6 million and a total economic impact of $200.9 million.

"To put it into perspective, it's probably about half of what we would see for Formula One," Lucas said. "Formula One's economic impact is usually around $400-450 million. Again, these are just estimations, so it certainly could be way more than that. We won't know that until a week or so after the eclipse takes place."

Lucas said tourists are already starting to arrive to view the eclipse, including a couple from Germany she met in the lobby of the Austin Visitor Center downtown.

She's directing anyone who still needs to book a place to stay or is searching for information about the different events happening in the area to go to the Visit Austin website.

The Austin Visitor Center, located at 602 E. 4th Street, is selling commemorative Austin eclipse glasses. Visit Austin is also planning to distribute a limited number of these glasses to some hotels ahead of the event Monday.