When WRAL's Brian Bowman made the trip to Atlantic Beach Friday, he expected hotel clerks to tell him there were no rooms available. Much to his surprise, some of the nicer, moderately priced hotels still had rooms. Unfortunately, many of the rooms were only available for one night.
There's still a place in the sand for you on North Carolina's coast. Don't expect it to be there for long. Thousands of vacationers like Chuck Snider made the trip to the beach hoping to find a place to stay when they arrive.
"We expected it to be booked," Snider admitted. "They did have several rooms left. They are available."
For many tourists, this weekend is the first time and maybe the only time they will get to the beach this year. If you still plan to come, there may be rooms left. But don't expect to stay in one place for the whole weekend. A few have space, but only for one night. You can expect to pay around $90 and up for a typical oceanfront room.
"I (had) a few rooms available for Friday night and a few for Sunday, but I don't have any left for Saturday at this point unless we have a cancellation," said Holiday Inn sales coordinator, Wanda Cooper.
Rental agencies say they have condos and houses available for the whole weekend, but they are going fast. They say the best thing you can do is call ahead before heading to the beach. If you do, they'll do their best to get you into a room through the weekend.
"A lot of people were running three nights minimum-- Friday, Saturday and Sunday night," said rental agency owner Mary Duane Hale. "Some of the hotels have taken less or fewer days-- two nights or three nights."
Many of the moderately priced hotels are running between $90-$150 a night. The prices are set to go up June 1st.
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