Vancouver City Council approves new policy to address hotel room shortage

VANCOUVER – Vancouver City Council has approved a new hotel development policy to help address the city’s significant room shortage. 

With 13,000 hotel rooms city-wide, and a net loss of over 500 rooms between 2020 and 2022, Vancouver risks falling behind on visitor accommodation, a news release says. According to Destination Vancouver, the city needs 10,000 additional rooms by 2050 to keep pace with demand or it could risk losing $30.6 billion in economic output, $16.6 billion in GDP, 168,000 full-time jobs, and $7.5 billion in tax revenue across all three levels of government.

In August 2024, Vancouver’s average daily hotel rate downtown hit $422, nearly double the Canadian average. Summer occupancy was also over 90 per…