Hotels fill up as car enthusiasts flock to Central Coast for Car Week
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (KION) Car Week and Concours d'Elegance are back after a year hiatus, and car enthusiasts are flocking to the Central Coast to check out the events.
As the final days of Car Week approach, the scramble to find a hotel to stay in on the Peninsula is still well underway. The difficult part for some visitors is that hotels are requiring a multi-night stay.
"We only wanted to come down for one evening, and it was a little challenging to find a hotel that would accommodate somebody for a short period of time, but we did find a hotel in Carmel. Probably a little pricier than normal," said Kurt Weidner, who is visiting from Novato.
Throughout the Peninsula, many hotels- like Portola, Tides and Casa Munras- are all booked, some a year in advance, even with the pandemic. A spokesperson for the Pebble Beach Company, where the main event takes place, said in a statement that it is almost entirely domestic travelers.
The best advice we got? Look early and months before Car Week.
"That's really the key, knowing that people are traveling now," said Tony Wisniewski, the Senior Marketing Manager for Carl Zeiss. "This is a large show. You need to make sure that you catch your room early enough that you can get something at a reasonable price."
Others lucked out by looking for a place to stay outside of the Peninsula.
"We're staying in Salinas because that's the only place we could find for a reasonable price," said Phoenix, AZ resident Phaulner Monroid.
Ranbir Chawla from Loveland, CO, said, "It's just easier to stay a little bit outside of town and drive fifteen, twenty minutes."
Hotels were not the only way to go. Some chose to stay with friends, while others went the AirBNB or Verbo route. And if you think lodging was hard to find, some said finding transportation was just as bad.
"We were trying to rent a car around here, and it was a pain to rent a car," said Jame Rimmer and Lydia Peacock from Denver, CO.
UBER is also an option for getting to and from each of the Car Week events.
