As president and CEO of the Niagara-on-the-Lake Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Niagara-on-the-Lake, Minerva Ward says planning for the solar eclipse has been on the radar for over 18 months.
And like the Town of NOTL, the Chamber approached the event almost organically.
“We knew that there are people who are eclipse-chasers,” Ward recently told The Local. “We started to see a bit of a spike in bookings for this weekend that far back. We knew there would be a natural demand for accommodations, so we deliberately did not do any marketing based on this event.”
Being on the path of totality, NOTL is an ideal location to watch the eclipse. But Ward explains the town's small size required a different approach than its neighbours to the south. NOTL just doesn’t have the capacity to take in the amount of tourists planning to visit Niagara Falls.
Ward points out that the areas in Niagara Falls most commonly visited by tourists are situated away from residential areas. That’s not the case in NOTL, where the popular Heritage District is also a part of the town where many residents live.
“We have promoted the private sector events that are happening,” explained Ward, “eclipse parties and tours, anything that is being offered by our tourism industry during that time. We were messaging to people already planning to come here rather than marketing to people to come into Niagara-on-the-Lake during that time.
The Chamber’s website lists eclipse events at Ravine Vineyard, Wayne Gretzky Estates, Bella Terra Vineyards and Reif Estate Winery. As well, both Grape Escape Wine Tours and Niagara Cycling Tours offer eclipse-oriented activities on the Chamber site. A lot of those experiences have long been sold out.
“This should bring good business to our tourism sector during this time,” said Ward. “We’ve seen people adding days on both ends of the eclipse, coming earlier and staying longer, for sure.”
Over at Vintage Hotels, an eclipse party is planned for the Garden at the Pillar and Post.
“We couldn’t have a more optimal place to share with our guests as a result of staying at any of our properties,” said Michelle Miller, vice president of corporate revenue. “We’re using our wine trolley on a loop from each property to get them all to the garden so they don’t have to drive. The Monet Garden will be exclusive to our hotel guests.”
Those staying at a Vintage Hotels property will enjoy ‘cosmic snacks’, including ‘sun chips’ (not the familiar brand by the same name) and solar eclipse cocktails. They have also arranged for additional TVs to carry the NASA live stream of the event for those more comfortable viewing the eclipse from indoors.
Though Miller says interest in the weekend began about a year ago, the bookings at the four Vintage Hotels, including Queen’s Landing, the Moffatt Inn and The Prince of Wales, started pouring in around Christmas time. By the time January hit, Miller and others were in awe.
But unlike the stories of $1,000-plus per night room rates in Niagara Falls, Miller insists rooms at their four properties in NOTL were not marked up as such.
“Rate integrity is important to us,” said Miller. “Typically we have a promotional offer in April. I didn’t need to open that rate for April 7 and 8 because we filled our hotel rooms at our rack (or normal) rate pricing. We are 100 percent booked for those nights.”
NOTL’s bed and breakfast and short-term rental properties are also very busy this weekend. Though John Foreman, president of Stay NOTL (formerly the B ‘n’ B Association), doesn’t have firm numbers, the demand for accommodations at properties operated by the organization’s 80 members has been high.
Foreman says many of Stay NOTL’s members use dynamic pricing, which adjusts rates according to demand at peak times. But like Miller, he insists that rooms in B ‘n’ Bs and vacation rentals have remained reasonably priced.
“In Niagara Falls, hotels can drive up the rates because they have volume,” he says. “Most of our members who own B ‘n’ Bs have three rooms. So dynamic pricing really doesn’t kick in for them. Family members have taken all my rooms at my property (Apple Tree Historic Bed & Breakfast).”
With April’s weather being typically unpredictable, the month is usually still quite slow. Bookings during this month tend to be on weekend evenings only.
“Many places don’t take bookings most Mondays, because we need some break,” Foreman said. “With the eclipse happening on Monday, though, I think it’s likely that a lot of people booked three nights this weekend.”
Jason Clements of Niagara Holiday Rentals says all 29 properties managed under that umbrella are fully booked this weekend.
“At some of our locations the owners of the properties are staying there this weekend,” explained Clements.
Like Miller at Vintage Hotels, Erica Lepp says that the 34 units she rents out began getting snapped up around Christmas.
“They started coming in at a rate of two or three in one day,” Lepp marvelled. “At the time, I didn’t even know about the eclipse. Those people got in at off-season rates. One of them cancelled about two weeks ago. I decided to try quadrupling the rate, thinking it wouldn’t take. It was booked in under an hour.”
Lepp says even at the resulting price the property was rented far below the numbers heard coming from the Niagara Falls hotels.
Lepp is getting ready for an even busier day Tuesday,, as all but two of her bookings will be checking out that day. She and her cleaning crew will have their work cut out for them.
“This is one of the busiest weekends I have ever had,” Lepp raved. “I rarely have a weekend where every one of our houses is checking out at pretty much the same time.”
