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Vancouver Olympics Update

I have written previously about what you might expect to pay to stay near the Olympic Games in Vancouver and I hope you booked your room even if it was at a high rate. Because now the Washington Post is stating that ALL the rooms in or near Vancouver are sold.

They suggest visitors will have to be creative. Like think camping, sharing a room with a stranger - even a large cruise ship will be docked on the wharf to accommodate guests. I don't even want to guess what the rate would be for that but you can find out pretty quickly I am guessing.

As always, looking for a house to rent (always a stand-by for Olympic Games) will be another possibility. As I wrote for the Obama inauguration also, you can think about renting an RV and simply driving out of town every night - though I am not sure what the parking will be like much less the traffif jams in Vancouver, so this may be a last resort.

If you are still thinking about going there, my advice would be to look up a travel agent in Vancouver and follow their directions.

Vancouver Olympics 2010: What to Expect in Room Rates

 It should not shock anyone to realize that special events bring higher room rates for hotels. When the special events are likely once-in-a-lifetime events, the rates may seem out of reality. The Olympic Games are no stranger to gouging by businesses in and near the events either - unless they are help in a city like Los Angeles, where there are SO many hotels that it would be impossible NOT to find a reasonable rate if you really looked.

But when they come to smaller cities or are scattered around different cities, it is not as easy to get a decent rate. This would appear to be the case for Vancouver B.C. in the next Olympics. Not a small city but not a Chicago or Montreal either. So one should expect somewhat pricey accommodations (don't get mad at the hotels, get mad at the people who PAY the higher prices!) around the Olympic time and that is what I see now.

A tour company in Canada is suggesting 5-6 hotels and motels and it appears that hotels are going for about $300 per night and up. Some of the ones listed here (like the Ramada or Howard Johnson) have '6-7 night packages for pretty much $2950 (What a surprise. They are ALL quoting $2950!) which works out to about $400 + per night! In contrast, the same Howard Johnson on Expedia is $137 in July 09 and the same Ramada Inn is $155.

If you read my book discussing how and when to book reservations, you would recall that hotels dangle rates they would LIKE to get until they reach a point where either panic sets in and they slash rates or they sell out and become unavailable. If I intended to partake of the Olympics and faced the dilemma of booking early (at high rates) or waiting to see if rate come down, I would wait and watch rates. But I would also search for hotels/motels about 5-10 miles out of town and seeing if their rates are more amenable to me. If I had to pay $3000 for just a bed, I would look into 2 other options as well. Short-term apartment rentals (where at least you could dine in and save another $1000) or house swaps. There HAVE to be people in Vancouver who want to get away from the area during the Olympics and if you have something worthwhile to offer (like you live in New York, Miami, San Francisco for instance) or a large house to swap, you might be able to just pay your rent or mortgage as normal and save thousands.

Travel Tip: New Travel Rules Means New Documents

On June 1, 2009 new regulations regarding travel documents will become law. In a nutshell, travel ANYWHERE outside the U.S. will require a passport and no longer will a driver's license suffice to go into or get out of Canada. Most people are already aware of this. But did you know you may be able to get by without getting a passport?

According to an article in Newsday, there are more ways to travel out of the U.S. without a passport than I was aware of. For instance, there is a Passport light, called a passport card. Costing less than half what a passport costs, this card can be used to gain entrance into Bermuda, the Caribbean, Mexico and Canada and lasts just as long as a passport - 10 years. The drawback is it is only for land or sea entry - not flying. (How do you 'drive' to St Thomas?)

Certain border states (like New York) can issue an 'enhanced' drivers license also. Which allows for driving entry into Canada and Mexico but of course not air travel. Also not valid in all Caribbean nations so you would need to check specific countries for applicability.

There is also something called a Nexus card for pre-screened customers. Drawbacks include extensive paperwork, interviews and fingerprinting and is valid for only 5 years. One advantage is that there are now some entry lanes into Canada that are 'Nexus' priority lanes. However, every person in the car needs to have a Nexus card, not just the driver.

You can read the details plus gain more information by reading the Newsday article and its subsequent links. Being informed is half the battle. The other half is being prepared.

Vancouver Hotels for the Winter Olympics

Though still over a year away, the Olympics marketing packages are in full swing. And the news is "more of the usual" for consumers - prices for hotels and motels are skyrocketing. (Maybe they should introduce a new Olympic Game - Finding a Hotel Room at a Reasonable Price. The winner would get - well, a room at a reasonable price AND  a souvenir medal?)

This article informs us that rooms are going for 3-4 times normal rates. But is that a surprise anymore? Special events in cities have driven up local motel and hotel rates for years. Think Super Bowl. Indy 500. Olympics. So maybe paying $300 for a room that presently advertises for $89 is NOT a surprise to you. It certainly isn't for me but I work in a hotel and though we have never jacked up our rates 3 or 4 times over normal, I have seen other hotels do it during sold out periods. It's not a lot different from rates at Fisherman's Wharf hotels being double in summer what they are in December.

I think people pretty much expect that EVERYTHING from hotels to food to car rentals to souvenirs are going to go sky high during an Olympic event. I mean it is not like the Olympics will be back next year, or every 4 years even. This is probably Vancouver's ONLY shot at hosting the Olympic Games. 'Make hay while the sun shines' may not be a phrase that warms the cockles of your heart (or wallet) but it is every bit what hotels and businesses tell themselves when an opportunity arrives.

Remember, when business is HORRIBLE (as it is right now for the travel industry) people can walk into a local motel and hear a rate of $79 and offer $59 and perhaps get it. No one ever feels sorry for the owner who is trying to eke out a living during a bad time and has to sell rooms at below normal prices. And while no good hotel person suggests it is fair to charge $900 for a room generally selling for $100, rooms are an auction (commodity) item now and whomever wants to pay the most to get the room will gladly pay the fare and take the room. If no one will pay that much, the room won't sell at that price and will come down until an equilibrium is achieved.

Travel to Canada

Because many Americans have visited Canada regularly (those on the West Coast and in the Northeast seem to venture in and out of Canada almost at will) I think there is a perception that Canada is almost an extension of the U.S. They speak English (except in Quebec), the money looks like ours and is usually worth nearly the same as an exchange and we seem to just breeze through the border for a quick trip to British Columbia (I've been there a half dozen times) often. With the Olympics coming up in 2 years, Canada is going to get even more travelers from the States, so I intend to be blogging about Canada and offering advice about Canadian travel until then.

One of my early travel tips to Canada has to do with using the internet, cell phones and Air Cards. I came across a warning about using an AT&T AirCard from a blog post about overseas roaming charges in general. It is an informative post itself - but the bi-story about the son who racked up a $19,000 bill on AT&T while using the Internet really hit home.

Along with the relaxed feeling we gain from easy entry into Canada seems to come with a reassurance that everything works like it does in the US. Turns out not to be true - AT&T (and perhaps MOST cell phone companies) consider Canada as INTERNATIONAL travel. So you can easily rack up a bill of hundreds of dollars just roaming the Internet if your service is through an access card because you are now paying International fees. The above story shows the son used the internet 21 times only (to send photos and emails mostly) and yet was charged thousands of dollars. 

Another Great Idea Goes Out of Business

We all know that the advent of jet planes was a death knell for train travel in the U.S. but pockets of sanity occasionally arose and brought back the nostalgic life of traveling by rail car. Trains are still popular in Canada, the Wine Train in Napa County still runs (though I suspect it loses money) and a few years ago, someone brought back luxury trains in Colorado, called the Grand Luxe Railways.

Traveling on 4-12 day journeys to the West, South and Mexico (in 2009), Grand Luxe brought back what was to some (like my grandfather) a way of life long gone. (I still remember my Grandpa coming in from Utah on a train and one of my very first trips was a train trip to LA on the Starlight Coast.) But now, kiss it goodbye, as Grand Luxe announced a few weeks ago that it was ceasing operations.

Olympics 2010

With the China Olympics barely behind us, I suppose it is NOT time to think about the next Winter Olympics. Except that it represents a great opportunity for those in the U.S. and particularly those on the West Coast. And that is they are in Vancouver B.C. in 2010. Tickets just went on sale on Oct 3rd (at least the first 'phase' did) so I am blogging about Vancouver 2010 as a public service message.

If you are thinking of going, Americans apparently have to purchase tickets from a particular site and Canadians use a different site. I admit I only discovered this by following Peter Greenberg, award winning travel writer and author. His blog post says it much better than me, so I'll let his post get the credit.