Airbnb bookings for the solar eclipse reach astronomical levels

THE MOONDNA would not start to move between Earth and the sun until the morning of April 8th. But the business impact of this month’s , which started over the Pacific Ocean, cut a path across North America and ended in the Atlantic, was already plain to see. According to Jamie Lane of Air, a travel-data firm, on a typical Sunday night in April around 30% of homes listed for short-term rental on Airbnb or Vrbo in areas in or around the eclipse’s path were occupied. A remarkable 92% of listings within the zone of totality had been booked for April 7th. Demand for homes just a few towns outside this roughly 180km-wide strip had barely changed.The eclipse was visible from a handful of big or biggish cities, including Dallas, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Buffalo and Montreal. CoStar, a hotel-data provider, reckons that occupancy rates in those places were up anywhere from 12 percentage points (in Montreal) to 67 (in Indianapolis). The remaining rooms appeared to be available only at elevated prices. Ahead of the eclipse the reported that nearly half of Super 8 motels in its path with rooms still available were charging at least twice the standard rate.