It was already in 2022 the most expensive city in Canada with an average hotel price of 234.12 C$ (€160.50 at 31/07/23) according to a report by real estate firm Avison Young. Vancouver is suffering from limited hotel capacity. And it's not likely to get any better. Over one year, the price of overnight stays has risen by 44.3%. Only Toronto saw an even bigger increase, at 53.8%. However, the average price is lower than in Vancouver, at €150.70 in 2022.
Vancouver hotels, the most expensive in Canada
Revenue generated per available room in Vancouver jumped by 117 % from one year to the next, reaching €117. Once again, this is a record, as it is €14.50 more than in Toronto and almost twice as much as in Calgary. The average occupancy rate was 72.9%, the highest in all of Canada.
This situation is linked to a sharp upturn in demand. At the same time, hotel capacity in Canada's third-largest city and the Pacific's main metropolis has fallen. While other Canadian cities continued to expand their hotel capacities, Vancouver's supply contracted. The metropolitan area has lost around 2,000 rooms since 2010, including 1,500 in Vancouver itself.. Covid also played its part, with some 500 hotel rooms converted into housing by BC Housing and the municipality.
This August sees the inauguration of Azur Vancouver, a 104-room luxury hotel. It follows the Marriott Vancouver Deltaopened in December 2022 (124 rooms). Le Spencer Building Carrier Hotel will open its doors at the end of 2024, in a historic skyscraper. A local investor, Marcon, is also proposing to build in the city centre what will be Vancouver's largest hotel project. A 32-storey tower in the historic city, with 578 rooms.
This situation is worrying the Vancouver Tourism Agency. In a study entitled "Economic Analysis of Hotel Supply and Projected Demand in Metro Vancouver, 2023 to 2050", published by Destination Vancouver, the absence of new investment in the hotel industry in Metro Vancouver will result in significant losses for the provincial economy.
Shortage of rooms by summer 2026
The study calculated the cumulative economic impact between 2022 and 2050. This would translate into :
– 21 billion euros in lost production.
- 11.4 billion in lost GDP.
- more than 168,000 direct and indirect job losses.
- 5.1 billion in lost tax revenue for the various government departments.
" Metro Vancouver's infrastructure is not up to the task of positioning us as a global metropolis" says Royce Chwin, President and CEO of Destination Vancouver.
If the supply of hotel rooms remains at current levels, demand will outstrip supply as early as 2026 during the summer months for Vancouver city. By 2028, it will be greater than the supply in the metropolitan area. And in 2040, every month of the year in the metropolitan region will suffer from a shortage of bedrooms.
For several years now, Destination Vancouver has been calling for an acceleration in hotel investment. To no avail, apparently. For the moment, the report only mentions 1,100 additional bedroomswhich have already received or are awaiting the go-ahead from the authorities. This is not enough to replace the loss of capacity.
" This is crucial to the competitiveness of our destination." continues Royce Chwin. " The lack of hotel rooms will make your stay in Vancouver even more expensive. The city will also be less competitive in attracting major conferences, major sporting events and group travel.. If Vancouver doesn't prepare for the influx of visitors, they will simply go elsewhere." he explains.
