If you’ve had trouble finding a hotel room in Vancouver during the FIFA World Cup, fear not: thousands of nightly bookings are opening up, with more potentially on the way.
President of the B.C. Hotel Association, Paul Hawes, says FIFA’s accommodation bureau has released between 70 and 80 per cent of its bookings in Vancouver between June 11 and July 19, which represents around 15,000 hotel nights.
In room block contracts, Hawes says there are dates FIFA can release rooms back to hotels.
“We understand, depending on the contracts as well, there is at least one more release date that is coming up between now and [the FIFA] World Cup, but it is very much standard practice,” said Hawes.
“This is a larger percentage of rooms that are going back into general inventory.”
While it is unclear why FIFA released the bookings, Hawes says it is not raising any red flags for them.
“This is just another piece of business in what is an already busy time of the year.”
“[FIFA] is getting multiple group requests for rooms each day for Vancouver, so that is positive. They shared the fact that Vancouver is… outperforming most of the other host cities.”
Hawes says the releases, also happening in other host cities, allow everyone to come and experience the games.
“With New York and Vancouver being the top performers, I think we are probably the least impacted, but that is speculation at this point.”
Vancouver will host seven matches during the FIFA World Cup, with a total of 350,000 visitors expected in and around the city.
City estimates, released earlier this year, show Vancouver has roughly 13,000 hotel rooms.
Jairo Yunis, director of policy at the Business Council of B.C., says the council is closely monitoring accommodation prices in Metro Vancouver.
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“We’re already seeing some of the accommodation prices go upwards of $2,000 a night for some of the game dates,” said Yunis.
“When accommodation gets that expensive, visitors don’t just absorb the costs, they shorten their trips….shift plans to go to Seattle or Los Angeles, who are also hosting cities.”
He says that switch costs local businesses.
“The restaurant that they would have eaten at three nights in a row, that loses some of that money, the brewery that they would have visited, the local shop they would have bought something from. Those are kind of the basics that we need to get right.”
Yunis says the world’s attention is about to be on Vancouver, and the economic opportunity is significant.
“If we want to showcase our city… we have to make sure that visitors have the most pleasant experience that they can have. We want them to leave with the best possible impression so they can come back and spend more money.”
1130 News Radio reached out to FIFA for more information, but the organization declined to provide a statement.
The first match at BC Place is on June 13. Team Canada will play on June 18 versus Qatar.