Eclipse Travelers Outraged Over Last-Minute Hotel Cancellations

Daily Beast ^ | 4/5/24 | Amanda Yen

[DallasBiff]

Surprise hotel cancellations in Buffalo, New York, darkened dozens of visitors’ eclipse-viewing plans, ending their stays in one of the prime viewing spots for the April 8 solar eclipse before they even began. Multiple would-be guests told WIVB that their plans to stay at Buffalo’s Aloft hotel were abruptly canceled just one week before their planned trip due to overbooking by travel agencies and third-party sites like Booking.com. Some of the travelers had made their reservations up to two years before the planned visit, when they first learned that Buffalo would be in the path of the eclipse, a New Jersey travel agency said. Patricia Paterson, who planned a reunion with her siblings around the eclipse, described the cancellation as “infuriating” and suspected the hotel was trying to price-gouge because of the unusual tourism boost. “They can make a big buck for what they’re charging for one night about what we had booked for a three night stay,” she said.

[Inspectorette]

Same thing happened here on the Central Oregon Coast in 2017. People were outraged to find that their hotel reservations had been cancelled, forcing then to re-book at three times the original rate.

[Jim Noble]

The sun angle out my Burlington VT hotel picture window from 3:00-5:00 today was outstanding.

No clouds tomorrow please.

[Jim Noble]

Black ice martinis.

[BrandtMichaels]

There’s another Seinfeld episode right there - the rental car reservation contract.

[dfwgator]

There’s another Seinfeld episode right there - the rental car reservation contract.

[Lovely-Day-For-A-Guinness]

I think the merge of I-89 and I-91 at White River Junction is going to be an epic choke point after the eclipse.

I plan to avoid it at all cost.

[Gay State Conservative]

Yup...I-89/I-91/I-93 will probably all be bad.

[from occupied ga]

Agree it depends on the wording of the contract.

[FamiliarFace]

I made a drink that was like a rum punch, but added blueberry syrup (like grenadine but blueberry) and one drop of blue food coloring. Added a lemon slice to represent the sun. It was quite tasty.