During the solar eclipse visible in select European regions on August 12, hotel and short-term rental rates have surged past $1,000 per night, sparking a huge rise in travel demand that the hospitality industry is capitalizing on.
According to data from business travel and hospitality firm Lighthouse Intelligence, analyzed in mid-July—about four weeks before the event—prices for hotels and short-term rentals in cities along the eclipse's path, including Reykjavik in Iceland, and La Coruña and Bilbao in Spain, have spiked significantly. In Reykjavik, the average hotel price during the eclipse week reached $1,012 per night, double the rate for the same period in 2025. Short-term rentals averaged $1,172 per night, a 178% increase year-over-year. In Bilbao, short-term rentals cost $1,088 per night, up 206% from last year, while hotel rooms averaged $315 per night, a 35% increase. Santiago de Compostela, located on the edge of the path of totality, emerged as the most affordable destination, with hotel prices at $193 per night, up 13% from last year.
"When facing a once-in-a-lifetime demand event, like the FIFA World Cup or a Taylor Swift concert, testing the market's tolerance for pricing is a common strategy for hotel operators," said Jonathan Gough, head of the content marketing team at Lighthouse. However, the latest data shows that the lowest available hotel prices in Reykjavik and the broader Greater Reykjavik area on August 12 have dropped by 46% and 51%, respectively, since mid-May, standing at $805 and $793 as of an August 10 query, indicating significant discounts as the event approaches. Gough noted that different hotel operators have adopted varying pricing strategies. "Iceland initially took a speculative approach to pricing for the eclipse. Room listings were three to four times the normal rate more than a year ago, and hotels have been scaling back prices over the past three months." In contrast, hotels in northern Spain kept prices normal during the spring, only raising them as bookings increased. "Demand on the day of the eclipse is truly extraordinary. La Coruña saw demand more than five times the normal level," Gough said. "When a city with limited room supply faces a once-in-a-lifetime event, price becomes the deciding factor in who gets a bed for the night."
Short-term rental growth analytics platform AirDNA reported that the high proportion of available short-term rentals within the eclipse path is providing a significant boost to the sector in Spain and Iceland. In Iceland, nearly 64% of its approximately 9,000 available short-term rentals are located within the path of totality. In Spain, about 21% of its 365,400 available properties are within the path, according to AirDNA data released on August 11. Lighthouse's Gough said the eclipse provides a "strong" but "concentrated" boost to tourism in the days surrounding the event. In Iceland, demand for short-term rentals within the path rose 40% year-over-year, compared to a 13.2% increase in the rest of the country. In Spain, where summer temperatures have already exceeded 104°F, demand for the night of August 11-12 within the path dropped 1.6% year-over-year, while demand in other areas of the country fell 9.1%, according to AirDNA. Gough cautioned that this trend is not a "game changer" for the hotel or short-term rental sector, especially as heatwaves and extreme weather events are prompting travelers to rethink their vacation plans. "Events like a solar eclipse can fill rooms for a night or two; the climate-driven shift in where Europeans now want to spend their summer months will be a far more lasting trend," he added.
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