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VANCOUVER — There's nothing quite like becoming an Olympic venue to give a city an inflated sense of its own worth.
Ask Vancouverites what they think of the Games and the rosy glow of civic pride turns quickly into thoughts of hard cash. In a city known for its red-hot housing market, the first reaction of many residents is not to bid for tickets to cheer on Team Canada, but to get the heck out of town and make a killing renting out their pad.
It looks like bargain-hunting visitors will have their work cut out for them, if prices remain where they are. According to ads placed on the mushrooming number of websites devoted to 2010 rentals, a two-bedroom condo in trendy Yaletown - handy for downtown venues - will set you back about $36,000 for the month of February, 2010. If you don't mind a lengthy SkyTrain commute from the suburbs of New Westminster for a property that can house 12, you'll need to stump up $45,000.
A luxury home in the mountains of West Vancouver is currently in the $2,500- to $4,000-a-night range.
Chris Dyck is hoping to rent out his home in Richmond, B.C., for $30,000 during the 2010 Olympics. (John Lehmann for The Globe and Mail)
And that is just what is already on the market. According to Blake MacKenzie, guest services manager at Emrvacationrentals.com, inquiries from prospective visitors currently outstrip listings. "We've had countless calls from homeowners interested in renting out their properties," he said. "But many are waiting in the expectation that they will get more money nearer the Games."
So should opportunistic homeowners expect to cash in?
"Most properties in Vancouver are sitting at the $400 per bedroom per night rate," said Mark Szekely, site administrator of Rent2010.com. "Which seems to me a level which may prove comparable to hotel rates."
"There are 75,000 hotel rooms, and an estimated 300,000 visitors," Mr. MacKenzie pointed out. "Anywhere along the SkyTrain or the rail lines - as far out as Abbotsford and Mission [which involve a journey time of a little more than an hour] - as long as the price is flexible and reasonable, may be good options for families on a budget."
Those farthest flung, he says, could even be rented out to Vancouverites looking for somewhere to live while their own place plays host to Olympic visitors. (They will, after all, have the funds.)
The caveat, Mr. MacKenzie said, is that those on the fence should act soon. "I expect [visitors] to start locking in their bookings soon after Beijing is over."
Many homeowners, however, are holding out for a full 21-night stay, boosting their income to levels that could make a serious dent in their mortgage payments.
"I didn't think my wife would be keen, but when we saw we could charge $30,000, she figured it might just be worth it," said Chris Dyck, an accountant with an 1,800-square-foot property in Richmond. They were encouraged by reports from one of Ms. Dyck's co-workers. "A relative of a friend answered the door to their place in Whistler, and someone offered them $35,000 on the spot," Mr. Dyck said.
He doesn't think the price is unreasonable. "It's a huge inconvenience for us to move out of our home, and we should be properly compensated."
Jackie Sali, who rents out her three Whistler properties year-round using Gowhistlerbyowner.com, usually keeps her rates at the lower end of the area's price range to ensure bookings. But she has increased her rates for the Olympics and so far has a one-bedroom apartment booked to a Games worker from mid-January through to the beginning of March for $31,850.
Originally she planned to stay in her village studio apartment while she worked as a volunteer, renting out the larger home she owns in Creekside. "But I started talking to other people in Whistler about why they weren't putting their properties up for rent and they were saying they didn't want to miss the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of being part of the Olympics," she said.
A torch-runner at the 1988 Calgary Olympics, Ms. Sali said she is now more likely to rent out the studio and move her family up for the games. "Money isn't everything," she said.
Retired Ontario businessman Alan Norton has been attending the event on and off with his family since the Montreal Games in 1976. Most hosts, he said, have been notable in their hospitality. There was the Lake Placid couple who delivered breakfast each day, the Calgarians who gave his family the use of a car at no extra charge, and the elderly Athens couple who left them fruit and pastries every day.
Beijing has proved no different. "We are seven adults and a five-month-old baby this time," Mr. Norton said before he left. "We have rented a condo three kilometres from the main stadium and on a subway line for $4,000. The owner is picking us up from the airport, buying a car seat for my baby granddaughter and giving us all brand new sheets and towels."
For 2010, he's hoping for a three-bedroom place somewhere between Vancouver and Whistler. "I think $500 per night is a reasonable price for us."
When it comes to hospitality, though, Mr. MacKenzie is not convinced that Vancouver will follow the example of previous host cities. "I think it's a little different here," he says. "The rapid real estate price rise means that many people are looking for ways to help their mortgage.
"They're not interested in making sure the guests really enjoy their stay. It's not about being an ambassador for Vancouver."
*****
WHERE TO STAY IN 2010
Greenside Chalet, Whistler
Cost: $95,000 a month
(one-month minimum)
Bedrooms: 4
Size: 3,500 square feet
The pitch: Located on the first green of the Nicklaus North Golf Course, this chalet is in an exclusive residential enclave minutes north of Whistler Village.
Bayridge Avenue house, West Vancouver
Cost: $3,500 a night
Bedrooms: 5
Size: 5,000 square feet
The pitch: This sunny Craftsman home is two blocks from the ocean and close to the highway linking Vancouver and Whistler.
Marinaside Crescent condo, Yaletown, Vancouver
Cost: $1,350 a night
(three-month minimum)
Bedrooms: 2
Size: 1,200 square feet
The pitch: This luxurious condo's master bedroom has an LCD flat-screen TV and a four-piece ensuite. This oceanfront unit offers views of False Creek. Source: Emrvacationrentals.com
*****
Olympic feeding frenzy hits local restaurants
Vancouver's restaurant industry is rife with rumours of Olympics 2010 deals. Everyone seems to know an owner with a six-figure deal set in stone - although when pressed for details, names and numbers suddenly become hazy.
Players Chophouse, opposite BC Place stadium, signed up Bell Canada for its hospitality headquarters way back in September last year. The exact figure is "confidential," marketing and sales director Wendy Derzai says. "But I can tell you it is very, very high."
Most restaurateurs say they have been approached by multiple organizations, looking for anything from hiring the room only, to full, exclusive food and beverage service for 17 days straight.
"Whether I provide the service, or they dry hire the room, the fee is the same," says Neil Wyles, owner of the Hamilton Street Grill, a Yaletown steakhouse. "I built in wages and gratuity compensation for my staff, [and] an expectation that whoever is here will break every glass and plate in the place, the room will need repainting, half the booths will be repaired."
Glowbal Restaurant Group's Emad Yacoub says his caterers are already booked for 2010, while his restaurants are still in negotiation. "I want to split the deal across my restaurants," he says. "Rather than book out an entire restaurant for the duration of the Games, I would rotate smaller groups, providing their VIPs with a variety of meal options, and we can still service our regular customers."
He is also moving his seafood restaurant, Coast, from Yaletown to downtown to make room for "a hip sports bar called Mix."
In Whistler, André Saint-Jacques of the Bearfoot Bistro is waiting for the Beijing dust to settle before finalizing any deals. His executive chef, Melissa Craig, will be cooking a charity dinner in Beijing after winning this year's Gold Medal Plates Canadian Culinary Championships and is in high demand on home turf.
"We have been approached by many, many people," he says. "We are looking at everything from a complete buyout for the duration, to smaller three-day deals or keeping the 40-seat wine cellar separate for our regular clients. We've been approached for private dinners in some of the bigger executive homes here and corporate catering events." Nothing is decided, he says. "In the end, I don't know what we'll do. Money talks, you know?"
Fiona Morrow
