Share on LinkedIn

WACO, Texas (KWTX) - The new AC Hotel by Marriott in downtown Waco and its parking garage opened just in time for visitors to book rooms.

Jennifer Bevington with the AC Hotel Marriott says that since they opened reservations a week before, people are quick to grab a room before they are gone.

“We’ve made about 100 reservations for the weekend, we’re sitting at about 50 percent occupancy right now, so we still have 50 percent of our inventory for those people who are still looking for a room.”

The hotel’s parking garage has 353 parking spaces that will be open to customers and the public.

Outside of the hotel, downtown streets were busy with newcomers who came to get the best view of the eclipse.

People from all over the country came to visit downtown this weekend, as spots like the Magnolia Silos and the Dr. Pepper Museum draw in the main crowds.

Jason Lau and his friends from Northern California say that they are happy they came before traffic was congested.

“We’re expecting 100,00 people to flock to this area soon right, but we actually came at a nice quiet time which was nice because we got to experience the small town a little bit.”

Sandy Bloem from Indianola, Iowa says that she’s excited to see an eclipse in totality.

“That moment of where it goes dark like the middle of the night because we’ve never experienced that, and we’ve had several people that have and they said, ‘it’s really cool you got to do it’, so this is our chance, the next one we’ll be too old to enjoy it.”

This weekend will only get busier but officials with Waco Tourism remind everyone to be patient and courteous when traveling on I-35.