COST TO SEE ECLIPSE IS $KY HIGH Hotel rates to the moon along US ‘zone of totality’
If you think seeing a total eclipse of the sun will be a cheap thrill, you’re mistaken.
On Monday, April 8, the US will experience its first total eclipse since 2017 — and the cost to witness it is already soaring.
The “zone of totality,” where you can see the sun vanish completely, goes from Mexico’s Pacific coast on a northeasterly path through Texas, Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine before passing through Canada’s maritime provinces.
And on that path, your money can already vanish.
The whole cycle of the eclipse takes 2½ hours, but totality, when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, turning day into night, lasts just under four minutes.
In Killeen, Texas, Fairfield Inn by Marriott is offering rooms for $809 on April 8. A week later, the same accommodation runs $103.
On the upside, those who splurge for eclipse pricing will not be lonely in Killeen. It is located in Bell County, where the population of 400,000 is expected to double and one of the judges there, David Blackburn, has already issued a local disaster declaration. The county’s schools will be closed on April 8, and residents are asked to stock up on food and gasoline.
A pricey sight
In Terre Haute, Ind., best known for the federal death cell, the Holiday Inn Express normally comes in at $135 a night but is booked out on Sunday night before the eclipse and costs $459 for those who stay to party.
Further northeast, Cape Girardeau, Mo., has a one-bedroom Airbnb at $1,350.
In Cleveland, virtually every hotel is sold out Sunday night, but Airbnbs are available. A one-bedroom apartment downtown is priced at $3,500 for just one night.
Further northeast, in Burlington, Vt., rooms at the South Side Inn are usually around $120. But during days surrounding the big event, they’re a stunning $1,585 per night. Two weeks later, it’s less than one-tenth the price at $120.
That high tariff encourages would-be guests to angle for the good rate.
“A couple claimed they were coming to town for their daughter’s wedding that weekend,” South Side owner Greg Nixon told The Post. “They wanted a room [at the standard price]. We told them that we couldn’t do it. I felt terrible. But, on the way out, the man said, ‘Actually, there is no wedding.’ He was lying. He totally had me.”
Serious eclipse-hunters can’t take chances on missing the action. Joe Rao, a former meteorologist on 1010 WINS radio, has seen 13 eclipses. He will not miss this one.
Can’t miss ’em
“I have hotel reservations in Texas, Plattsburgh, Syracuse and Arkansas; plus we have relatives near Cincinnati,” Rao told The Post. “One day before, I’ll figure out the best place, go there and cancel the others.”
Eclipse chaser David Makepeace, a media producer, claims to have blown some $250,000 on seeing 26 eclipses, including trips to Antarctica, the Libyan desert and an atoll off Australia which cost $24,000 for a group, arriving on a chartered oil-rig service ship.
Asked what makes the cost worthwhile, Makepeace said, “You cannot prepare yourself physically and emotionally for what you will see. It’s a big, existential moment.”