Hamptons see record demand despite soaring gas prices

A restaurant owner in the Hamptons said he has been experiencing record demand despite soaring inflation.

Michael Pitsinos, owner of the restaurant Naia at the Capri boutique hotel in Southampton, NY, told Cavuto: Coast to Coast on Monday that this Memorial Day weekend will be the busiest in three years, despite soaring gas and hotel prices. Memorial Day weekend is expected to draw millions of drivers despite higher gas prices, according to the American Automobile Association AAA. The American Automobile Association predicts that 39.2 million people will travel 50 miles or more from home over the holiday weekend, which is an increase of 8.3% from 2021, but is still below pre-pandemic levels in 2019 when 42.8 million people travel by car.

Gas prices have been hitting new records for about two weeks due to the crunch in the US, according to AAA, which noted the stretch of record-high prices as the pump is unprecedented. Andrew Gross, the national spokesman for AAA Inc., told Fox News Digital last week that drivers should expect higher prices throughout the summer, especially if the war in Ukraine rages on.

The national average for gas on Monday was $4.59 a gallon, a slight increase from the previous day and nearly fifty cents higher than the previous month, according to AAA.

People are more than willing to pay a premium and go out east, despite the high gas prices and the increase in hotel costs, said Pitsinos on Monday.

He did admit that the clientele in the Hamptons tend to be more affluent and aren't as price-sensitive as the average consumer.

Pitsinos noted that people still come to his venue - even for a few hours - for a mental escape despite higher costs. Pitsinos said that the world had enough for the past three years and it will be the first summer of COVID 19 without any restrictions. Inflation cooled for the first time in a month in April but rose more than expected due to supply chain constraints, Russian war in Ukraine and strong consumer demand.

The Labor Department said earlier this month that the consumer price index, a measure of the price for everyday goods, such as gasoline, groceries and rents, rose 8.3% in April from a year ago, below the 8.5% year-over-year surge in March. The price of the product increased by 0.3% in the one month period from March.

The figures were higher than the 8.1% headline figure and 0.2% monthly gain forecast by Refinitiv economists.