Travel This Week: Will Airbnb Block Hotel Surge Pricing for Solar Eclipse?
Skift Take
Hotels used to be nearly the only game in town for accommodations during high-demand occasions, and they could charge whatever the market would bear. They can still charge guests whatever the market will bear but the question is whether companies such as Airbnb are changing the market and pricing dynamics.
The solar eclipse on Monday will test whether Airbnb, HomeAway, and other home-sharing sites are limiting the ability of hotels to charge surge pricing for one-off, high-demand events.
The map of the United States where people will have clear skies to view the total solar eclipse includes Wyoming, among nine other states. A search on Expedia shows some surge pricing for hotels on Sunday, the night before the big event. It's not often that the Best Western CottonTree Inn in Rawlins, Wyoming can charge a nightly rate of $500, the Days Inn Laramie can levy $800, and the The Sterling Hotel and Extended Stay in Casper can ask for $1,890 (with only two rooms left, as of this writing).
Bloomberg reported Airbnb had 50,000 people staying along the path of the total solar eclipse Saturday and Sunday compared with just 11,000 the previous weekend.
Rigby, Idaho's maxed-out Motel 6, the only hotel in the small town, population 4,000, "is charging $330 per night, over three times its normal rate, for a queen room this weekend," Bloomberg reporte
