Hotels in the path of totality of the Great American Eclipse had revenue per room, or RevPar, boosted by 244 percent, a new STR report found.
The solar eclipse, on Aug. 21, also lifted RevPar for all US hotels by 17 percent with the analysis and data company saying eclipse travelers also improved hotels within a few hours’ drive of totality.
STR tracked occupancy for the 139,000 hotel rooms along the path of totality for the Sunday night, prior to the Monday eclipse, most of which were in non-urban areas.
Gains were most pronounced, the analysts found, in the smaller towns with fewer hotel rooms.
Cherokee, NC, which includes a Harrah’s casino resort, had an occupancy of 97.3 percent with an ADR of $138.90 and RevPar increase of 354 percent. The hotel handed out 3,000 pairs of eclipse glasses, a spokesperson said.
An hour west the tribe’s smaller hotel, Cherokee Valley River Casino, in Murphy, NC, was in complete totality. The town’s 608 rooms had an occupancy of 98.2 percent, up 178.6 percent year over year, while RevPar was up 343.8 percent.
The 300-room casino provided 1,700 sets of eclipse glasses and held a viewing party in its parking lot for anyone who showed up. Both casinos are managed by Caesars Entertainment and owned by the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation.
The casinos sold-out of T-shirts and other eclipse merchandise while food sales were up 50 percent for an average Monday, a spokesman emailed.
At Cherokee Valley River, an Asheville-based band, The Notch, performed Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon but took a break as the light dimmed.
As the sky became pitch black, stars twinkled, the glasses came off and hundreds of people started cheering and hollering in awe, before settling down to listen to the universe and the crickets chirping in the flowers.
About 2 ¹/₂ minutes later, glasses went on, the sun came roaring back and The Notch broke into “Total Eclipse of the Heart.”
According to STR, Hopkinsville, Kentucky’s six hotels had the largest RevPar gain at 1,644 percent while hotels in Idaho Falls, Idaho had the highest average daily room rate, or ADR, at $368.
The 15 largest cities in the path achieved an occupancy of at least 94 percent with Casper, Wyo., having a 766 percent bump in RevPar and an ADR of $261.96.