Vancouver olympics
 

as the event gets closer has anyone heard about room accomodations? we continue to look, but still have not found any availabilty.

thanks

I haven't looked but CTV had a report on the news this past week that a lot of people are renting out their homes or taking in visitors - maybe there's something on CTV's website.

Here's an article from the Seattle Times on this:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...erside22m.html

Lots of Americans are saying near Bellingham WA. There is train service from there and probably bus as well. Many of the trains are sold out. I hear amtrak will be adding a second train but I am not holding my breath.

I think you may be looking at renting out some of the many suites that are being made available by the locals.

Hotels are pretty much non-existent at this point. From my understanding, you can negotiate your price on some of the suites as you'd be dealing directly with the owner, but no promises. Enjoy!

Apparently the BW Granville has rooms for at least some of the dates, with a 3 night minimum and rates starting at just over $500.

On the local owner "rentals"...be very carefulif you are not going through an official licensed VANOC housing company.

When we tried to rent this way for previous olympic experiences we found the places not nearly up to the standard of cleanliness as we had hoped for. Yet as we hired expert cleaners the people found a way to keep our $1,000 cleaning deposit.
We were also were not afforded the level of privacy that we had been promised. It felt like when were were out that they had been in. You also have zero recourse in terms of any financial debates or disputes. Going to small claims court from your country to another country could become a drag. Be careful. Maybe pay more but you have some recourse, standards of cleanliness and at a minimum a corporation to go after that may not want the eye of the public all over them should they go sideways. Private home owners are just that...private home owners.

Good Luck, Have Fun!

Be very careful about private rentals, there are a lot of scams out there. This is a link to a web site with some rentals. http://www.rent2010.net/ You can post an ad for free in the looking for accommodations section. The prices have come down over the last month. Lots of people were getting very greedy and asking outrageous amounts of money now they are realizing that the games are getting closer and they have had no takers. A lot depends on where you want to stay as well. Whistler would be almost impossible to get into. Vancouver is still pretty pricey, Richmond isn't too bad and with the new rail transit it only takes 25 minutes to get downtown.

It's true that the transit from Richmond takes 25 minutes - if you get a train right away. There was an article in the paper last week here telling us to expect 2 hour delays on transit during the Olympics, including the Canada Line from Richmond to downtown Vancouver. You might wonder how this can be, but there were similar lineups on the first day the Canada Line opened.

Please believe this time estimate.

I have attended a few olympics and what is normally a 15 minute metro or bus ride is increased significantly due to the volume of people trying to get to the venues. Security checks also cause delays and you have people who simply need help navigating the landscape. You just have lots of folks to move and that takes time.

Whistler is not an option for staying at this point. From what I have been told by folks with tickets in hand and no accomodations, things are going up and getting scarce. As with other olympics you will get the private home/condo rental and I already gave my two cents about that however, if you just want a place for a few nights and if you are not a meticulous clean person...go for it!

p.s. do not do a cashiers check on a private rental...no.matter.what. Also check the crime report for the area advertised...google the home owners and get a blood sample and so on so forth...LAUGH!

Have Fun, Good Luck!