Air B&B recommendation for Vancouver

[Hdog76]

We are 5 adults and 4 kids needing 2 nights pre cruise in Vancouver. Arriving to Vancouver at night (after 9pm). Anyone have a place they recommend?

[1025cruise]

You might want to ask on either the West Coast Departures board or the Canada/West Coast board.

[martincath]

You could try asking Mods to move to West Coast, it is 'more correct' to post there since this is a pre-cruise stay and therefore a Departure rather than a Port of Call, but you probably won't get any extra eyes on it... CC just doesn't have enough of the traveling public to make it the best resource for more niche questions - and since this is purely a 'review accommodation' question, the bigger the site the better... TripAdvisor forums would likely get you more results.

 

As a local, can't help - no need to stay in AirBnBs! But I will clue you in on the pitfalls of the concept locally - it was illegal to have ANY short-term rentals (<30days) until less than two years ago, but we do have a local licensing agreement in place now. However it is very tightly regulated, as our housing market is a nightmare for renters - every AirBnB home is literally removing someone who actually lives here from being able to live here. Individual rooms within homes are no problem - pay $50, state that you have a fire safety plan in place and your condo board has not banned short-term rentals if it's an apartment, and you're good to go. But whole home rentals are an entirely different ballgame - they remain unlawful unless it is the Hosts legally-declared primary residence. The license fees now pay for a small group of inspectors, who primarily target homes based on neighbour complaints - so if your Host is illegally operating and the inspector checks them out, they are shut down immediately and you unfortunately have zero recourse through AirBnB (because the Host lied the agreement is null & void, so no insurance).

 

How can you ensure that the Hosts you're considering are actually legal? No way to be 100% sure but there are ways to tell if they are definitely NOT legal - anyone with 2 or more properties listed, and anyone with a single property available for 6 months or more of the year CANNOT be legal (you need to reside for 6 months + 1 day to qualify as your Primary Residence). With 9 people, chances are a house in the 'burbs is going to be your only viable option - and the good news is houses don't need to worry about Condo Bylaws so if you do restrict yourself to single-listing Hosts with <6 month availability, odds are very high that it will be a legal rental. The downside of course is that the 'burbs means a lot of travel to get to the tourist sites, most of which are in the heart of downtown just like the pier is.

 

Local transportation will be a factor too - if you're in the 'burbs you may have a fair walk to nearest bus or SkyTrain, and neither of those work well with luggage anyway for embarkation day. With 9 bums to put on seats and cruise luggage, a minibus would be about the only rental vehicle that would definitely fit you all comfortably - and they're rare enough it would probably be cheaper to rent two SUVs, or a minivan and a car, and have 2 adults drive folks around. Problem with car rentals is the kids - car seats of some type are legally required to age 9/4'9" tall (full breakdown of seat type for age/weight/height here). Alaska has similar rules too - any vehicle with seat belts must use car seats there, even schoolbuses - so you're going to have to schlep them around or buy them on arrival anyway unless you've been very careful in selecting your excursions. If you use taxis or limos, locally they do not legally require car seats - there is a 'professional driver' exemption - but you still have the Alaskan ports issue and of course the safety of your kids to consider!

 

So here's an alternative that would put you downtown, in a hotel, with food prep and laundry available to you and the ability to just walk around/rent bikes to get to most all of the popular the touristy stuff: a couple of suites in one of our 'condo hotels' or two family rooms in the YWCA Hotel. The latter have 5 beds each, and the kitchens (while shared) are huge and fully-equipped so it would be easy to prep dinners for all, let alone more casual brekkies/picnic lunches - and the Y is in a great, central, downtown location. Condo hotels we have a few of - Rosedale on Robson is close to the Y, while Times Square Suites and Sunset Inn & Suites are up nearer Stanley Park, so more convenient for that or English Bay but less so for Chinatown/Yaletown/Gastown.

 

If you're avoiding car seats, personally I'd recommend SkyTrain in from the airport for safety - it runs until after 1am so there's no issue with your 9pm arrival, but this plan would also strongly suggest a downtown core location as the Canada Line only runs there from the airport. The other lines are for suburban commuters and have zero space to put your luggage, so technically you're breaking transit bylaws if you put suitcases on seats or in the aisle (Canada Line has fewer seats, extra legroom, space under every seat for even big cases as it was designed for travelers with bags and uses different trains). Buses are the same as the commuter trains. Late evening enforcement is very unlikely, so you may be willing to risk it...

 

Sorry if this seems to be going way off topic from your question - but these are definitely factors which a lot of folks fail to consider that could seriously bite you in the butt.

[Bearvet]

We were in Vancouver July 2018 and were told airbnb's were illegal.  Hotel prices were crazy high and we learned about the YWCA on cruisecritic.  It was clean and in a great location (we didn't rent a car).  It was just my husband and myself, so we booked a double, but I insisted on a private bath 🙂 It was less than half the cost of most hotels.  They offer rooms that sleep 5 people and it looks like they also accommodate groups. https://ywcavan.org/hotel  I wouldn't hesitate to stay there again!