KILLEEN, Texas — It's being called the Great American Eclipse, and viewers will have a front row seat right here in Central Texas.
Many people are making their way to Killeen to get one of the best seats in Texas.
There are 2,500 rooms in 40 hotels across the city, and city officials said this month that all branded hotels are sold out.
Officials are expecting the city’s population to double during next year's eclipse, and hotels are already seeing that reflected in their hotel occupancy.
Veronica Youngblood is a Sales Manager at the Holiday Inn Express in Killeen.
She told 25 News' Bobby Poitevint that they are fully booked for the eclipse and already seeing revenue from it.
"The cheapest rate we have for that date came through as a corporate rate, that was before we knew about it, it's like $94, then it goes up to something... $463," Youngblood said.
“The average rate is a hundred dollars more just for that month but the revenue alone is already at $40,000."
She and many other hotel staff in Killeen first found out about the eclipse when guests started making reservations years in advance.
“I was at the Hotel Indigo in 2022," Garcia said.
"She (a guest) called wanting to book a room for April 2024 — I said 'Are you sure you’re in the right year?',".
Diana Garcia is the General Manager at Courtyard by Marriott in Killeen.
She says people are still wanting rooms.
“We’ve had to turn away groups of people that have been trying to stay."
"We really haven’t seen something sell out like a year in advance like it has for this eclipse," Garcia said.
"I’ve been in the industry for about 10 to 15 years, in hotels, and have even worked in the South Padre Island area, and you usually see some sort of pick-up for this like for Spring Break, where it’s usual for every year."
"For something happening in Central Texas like this, this has been something out of the ordinary for us.”
For those still looking for a place to stay there are other options — there are tents, RVs and people renting rooms in their homes on sites like AirBnb.
