Olympic Housing News

[SpongeG]

Vancouver 2010 Olympic organizers setting up low-cost hostels

Vancouver Olympic organizers will set up one or more temporary low-cost hostels in Metro Vancouver to accommodate up to 400 youth travelers and people seeking employment during the 2010 Games.

The hostels will operate from Nov. 15, 2009 to March 15, 2010 and charge a "modest fee," Vanoc announced today.

Vanoc has posted a request for expressions of interest from organizations with expertise in running hostels and will provide $250,000 for the creation and operation of the facilities.

The hostels are to be located in Vancouver or surrounding municipalities, provided the location is within walking distance to direct public transit to the downtown core.

Vanoc said the hostels will be needed to minimize any pressure on existing homeless shelters or low-income housing. It based the projected demand on experiences at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.

"We know from the experience at past Games that as the Games approach, many people, especially young adults, come to the Host City to look for temporary work or to enjoy the atmosphere and fun, and won't have arranged a place to stay," said Vanoc executive vice-president Donna Wilson.

The Vancouver Central Hostel on Granville Street, which charges $31.50 a night for a dormitory bed this summer, will charge $40 a night during the Games. About 50 per cent of the 136 beds are already booked for the Games period.

At the Salt Lake City Games in 2002, one hostel boosted its rate from $12 a night to $200 a night.

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/2...912/story.html

Vancouver homeowners not jumping at city's Olympic rental program

VANCOUVER -- For the last week Vancouver city has been been accepting applications from homeowners who want to rent out their homes during the 2010 Olympics. No one yet has applied.

On the other hand, at least a dozen long-term tenants who worry their landlords may try to evict them to take advantage of high Olympic market rates have registered for special protection.

And a renters advocacy group says it is hearing of a new demand from "mom-and-pop" landlords and private condo owners: sign a short-term rental contract ending in January or give us higher rents during the Olympics.

"People, when they find a new place to rent, are being asked to sign fixed-term five-month rental agreements," said Martha Lewis, the executive director of TRAC Tenant Resource & Advisory Centre. "It is concern for everyone."

With the vacancy rate in the Lower Mainland over the winter hovering under one per cent and stories abounding about the lack of Olympic-period accommodations, it's been a landlord's market.

But in Vancouver, that may be about to change.

On June 1 a deadline passes in Vancouver after which renters can't be evicted for the Olympic period in order for landlords to capitalize on higher rents.

In early April city council agreed to charge homeowners a $106 temporary accommodation license if they want to rent during the Olympic period.

At the same time, it set a deadline of June 1, after which no landlord could obtain a temporary accommodation permit for a unit previously occupied. The rule ends March 31, 2010.

The city also set up a "temporary accommodation tenant registry", where renters can list their names and addresses. City staff will check the list against Olympic-rental applications and won't issue licenses for addresses on the registry.

On Tuesday the city said it quietly opened both the application process and the tenant registry last week. It doesn't expect a lot of attention until next week, when the June 1 deadline for rental eviction notices expires.

Lewis said the changes are good news for renters who already have a home. But they won't help people who sign the fixed-term agreements.

"We tell people not to sign them and to simply look for another place," she said.

Most of the complaints TRAC has received are for units in Vancouver and Burnaby. Lewis said Burnaby has not made any effort to protect renters.

Leslie Boldt, a Vancouver spokeswoman, said the city is also working with the Building Owners and Managers Association to get the message out that renters are protected from Olympic-period evictions.

Vancouver council has also asked the province to change its Residential Tenancy Act to prohibit Olympic-period evictions, and to open a full-time advocacy office downtown or along Broadway for the 12 months around the Games.

jefflee@vancouversun.com
http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/2...756/story.html

maybe people plan to do it under the table?

[Yume-sama]

How the heck can people who have to stay at hostels even afford Olympic tickets?

Or maybe that's why they can't afford a place to stay...

[SpongeG]

Family spent $30,000 US to book space on North Vancouver-based Olympic cruise ship

A family of five plunked down $30,000 US this week to spend six nights on the Norwegian Star cruise ship in North Vancouver during the Olympics next year.

Edmonton businessman Dennis Laliberte hopes that's the start of a groundswell of profitable Games-related bookings over the next nine months.

"The Canadian market has been pounded with the notion there is no accommodation available during the Olympics," he said after a tour of the Norwegian Cruise Line vessel. "People are going to find out about us and once we get inside that July period this summer, we're off to the races."

Laliberte's Edmonton-based company — Newwest Special Projects — has paid more than $10 million to charter the ship and market it as a 1,119-room floating hotel during the Games.

He said tour operators have already taken up 10 to 15 per cent of the rooms, which range in price from $1,050 US to $6,600 US a person for a three-night stay.

Prices include meals, 24-hour room service, airport transfers and a shuttle service from the Vancouver Wharves dock in North Vancouver to the SeaBus ferry terminal.

On-board services will include a spa, fitness centre, 13 restaurants, an indoor pool and an 1,100-seat showroom where live Olympic broadcasts can be shown.

The ship's casino can't be operated while in port but Laliberte said he will try to get provincial approval to allow the gambling operation during the 20 days the vessel is here.

He said he first got the idea for Olympic cruise-ship accommodation last summer after considering similar ventures that operated during the summer Games in Sydney and Athens.

"We went back and forth with a number of cruise lines but settled on NCL because of the product," Laliberte said. "It has a freestyle-type atmosphere that we felt would really fit with the Olympics."

He said he only needs to achieve 50 or 60 per cent occupancy to make a profit and noted even people without tickets to Olympic events have expressed an interest in staying on the ship for three nights.

"We have people who have booked for 16 nights and they have no Olympic tickets — they're coming," Laliberte said. "Even some Vancouver people are interested in staying on board for three nights during Valentines Day and Chinese New Year."

He said as far as he knows, his company is the only one offering cruise ship accommodation for the general public in Vancouver during the Games.

The DEAP Group has proposed similar schemes for North Vancouver and New Westminster but Laliberte said he's been told those plans are dead. DEAP Group principal Greg Peart said he's still trying to push ahead with those proposals.

bconstantineau@vancouversun.com

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/F...218/story.html

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by Yume-sama

How the heck can people who have to stay at hostels even afford Olympic tickets?

Or maybe that's why they can't afford a place to stay...

just here to party in the party city during the games! soak up the atmosphere

"We know from the experience at past Games that as the Games approach, many people, especially young adults, come to the Host City to look for temporary work or to enjoy the atmosphere and fun, and won't have arranged a place to stay," said Vanoc executive vice-president Donna Wilson.

[Yume-sama]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

just here to party in the party city during the games! soak up the atmosphere

I asked my parents if they'd like to come to Vancouver during the Olympics, and stay with me, for that reason.

My Dad about had a heart attack. "IMAGINE THE TRAFFIC!!!"

[OhioGuy]

From Seattle's NBC affiliate, King5:
'Floating hotels' headed to Vancouver for Olympics (video news link)

[Yume-sama]

Some other cruise ship news. Holy crap at the price of the one package

VANCOUVER, B.C. - The Norwegian Star cruise ship will dock in Vancouver to serve as a floating hotel during the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Three-and four-night packages will include meals, city tours, airport transfers, nightly entertainment and other extras.

Package prices start at US$2,836 for two people sharing an inside stateroom and climb significantly. One four-night package in a suite with a city view costs $19,740 for two.

Guests who choose not to attend Olympics events in person can watch live satellite coverage of the Games on board.

And if they want to cut themselves off from the city entirely, that is also possible.

"Unlike other venues in Vancouver, there will be no lineups at the Norwegian Star's 13 restaurants, eight lounges, luxurious spa, indoor pool and fitness centre," said a news release.

The ship will stay in Vancouver's harbour for 20 nights during the Games, from Feb. 10 to March 2.

http://www.canoe.ca/Travel/News/2009...734786-cp.html