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I'm about to tell you all something that will find hard to believe: People in rural Washington and Oregon don't speed. I know, I know, it seems impossible. And yet, over the entire time I drove there, I did the speed limit, and nobody passed me. The only people I passed were trucks (which have a lower speed limit in those states, unlike here in Canada). There was certainly ample opportunity - lots of multi-lane roads or passing lanes. And yet, no one was speeding. I didn't really see any until I got near Portland. There weren't even any in Spokane. This is different from rural Alberta where I would be be doing 10 over, and I would constantly be getting passed by F-150s doing 30 over.
And everyone seemed fine with it. There was no aggressive tail-gating, no one reving their engine as they passed to send a message. People just... drove the way they were supposed to and everyone got where they were going without any fuss.
The second I entered Canada? Someone blew past me like I was standing still.
I wonder what would cause that. I think it's two things. First, people have likely been trained to not speed, probably because of the cops. I imagine enforcement and penalties are stiffer in these states than they are in Alberta. The other reason? I think it's the trucks. The fact that they have to go slower than the other vehicles means that everyone is expecting to be slowed down all the time by trucks. They're mobile traffic calming devices and they're all over the place.
Anyway, I think I've turned into one of those old guys who doesn't give a fuck because I largely drove the speed limit (for a value that may have been +5kph) during the whole trip, including the Canadian parts. People didn't like it? They could fucking well pass me. I wasn't in a hurry to get anywhere because I was on vacation. And it was a lot less stressful.
I got into Vancouver and then had to do a bunch of cloak and dagger to get into my AirBnB suite. The suite was in a luxury condo building in the centre of downtown Vancouver. I had to get the key from a key locker service I didn't know existed, but was all over the place. And now that I've seen them, I recall seeing them all over the place in high density areas. Basically they're a key bank for you to pass your key onto a house guest, or a maid, or whatever - anyone you couldn't meet face to face.
I was under strict instructions to not discuss AirBnB with any of the building tenants, and especially not the building staff.
Now as an aside, there's a few types of AirBnB listings:
So yeah, I've become part of Vancouver's rental problem. Now I don't think renting from AirBnB in general is a problem. Certainly the spare rooms, holiday rentals aren't - those rooms likely weren't being rented out anyway. The mother-in-law suites? Well, if you just bought a $1.5M house on a middle class income, renting that suite out for $100/night rather than $1500/month might make the difference in affording that mortgage.
But this place? This apartment condo in downtown Vancouver? It was exactly the type of suite that gets up people's asses and triggers class warfare. There is no question in my mind that this place existed solely as someone's one room hotel. From the generic art on the walls, to the basic Ikea cookware in the cupboards, and the fridge empty of even the most basic sauce. It was fitted out solely to be a hotel room. And because of that someone wasn't renting it.
( just one little picture... )
Any yeah, I rented it. I don't know which kind of suite I'm getting into until I'm in it. I do feel kind of bad about it though.
I don't think banning AirBnB is the way forward. I have no problem applying the hotel tax to AirBnB suites, and I'll certainly pay the extra cost for that.
Still, the solution to Vancouver's housing problem lay elsewhere. If things cost less, people won't be renting out their extra property like a hotel. And I'd be happy to stay at a proper hotel, except they're rarely in the neighbourhoods that I want to stay in. And that's just odd. One of my lottery fantasies is to open up boutique hotels in Vancouver and Calgary in places where they would be awesome, but there's no hotels at all.
Why isn't there a hotel in the Commercial/Broadway area? It's the largest transit hub in the city outside of downtown? Seriously, there's two sides to the AirBnB equation - one is lots of people who think that renting out their property like a hotel is in their economic interest. The other side is all the people who want to stay in Vancouver and aren't necessarily interested in the cluster of hotels downtown or by the airport. 9000 properties is the estimate I read. Nine Thousand. That's a lot of hotel rooms that could be getting filled. That's a lot of hotel employees that could be working. That's the sign of a big need not getting filled properly, so it's getting filled in whatever way it can.
Anyway, I picked the room for one reason - I wanted to see the American/Disney entry into the Honda Celebration of Light, aka the Vancouver Fireworks thing. I knew it would be a good one, and I've always loved these fireworks. Calgary tries to do something similar, and I've been a few times. It's just not the same.
What I didn't want to do was try to walk (I was still under orders to not overdo it walking/hiking), and transit was a big ole nope - not with 110,000 people all trying to leave at the same time. So I did my level best to find a place in downtown. Only this is the busiest event of the year during the highest of the high season for rooms. The shitty hotel rooms were starting at $400/night, and I saw fees over $1400/night. So that meant an AirBnB. Even there, people were well aware of what the market was like and I've rarely seen AirBnB fees that high. And there were a lot of people trying to get them. I tried several before the one I got, and they either got "cancelled" (I suspect they were taken off the market to be rented even farther under the table for higher fees), of people simply would not rent to me because other people got there first. The place I stayed at - it was the fourth place I got in touch with, and about the seventh I tried at all.
And it was worth it. I watched the fireworks, which were awesome, then I went back to my suite, waited for the crowds to disperse a little, then found a late supper.
I might do it again next year (a friend might be at a conference during the relevant time frame, and it would be nice to play guide), but if I do, I'll be trying to get a deal way earlier than I did this year.
And everyone seemed fine with it. There was no aggressive tail-gating, no one reving their engine as they passed to send a message. People just... drove the way they were supposed to and everyone got where they were going without any fuss.
The second I entered Canada? Someone blew past me like I was standing still.
I wonder what would cause that. I think it's two things. First, people have likely been trained to not speed, probably because of the cops. I imagine enforcement and penalties are stiffer in these states than they are in Alberta. The other reason? I think it's the trucks. The fact that they have to go slower than the other vehicles means that everyone is expecting to be slowed down all the time by trucks. They're mobile traffic calming devices and they're all over the place.
Anyway, I think I've turned into one of those old guys who doesn't give a fuck because I largely drove the speed limit (for a value that may have been +5kph) during the whole trip, including the Canadian parts. People didn't like it? They could fucking well pass me. I wasn't in a hurry to get anywhere because I was on vacation. And it was a lot less stressful.
I got into Vancouver and then had to do a bunch of cloak and dagger to get into my AirBnB suite. The suite was in a luxury condo building in the centre of downtown Vancouver. I had to get the key from a key locker service I didn't know existed, but was all over the place. And now that I've seen them, I recall seeing them all over the place in high density areas. Basically they're a key bank for you to pass your key onto a house guest, or a maid, or whatever - anyone you couldn't meet face to face.
I was under strict instructions to not discuss AirBnB with any of the building tenants, and especially not the building staff.
Now as an aside, there's a few types of AirBnB listings:
- People renting out a spare room. I rarely use these because I like my privacy.
- Mother-in-law suites. My go-to place on Victoria drive is one of these.
- People renting out their primary residence while they're on holiday. These are fun because the place is homey and lived in.
- People who are renting out places that they own solely to make money through AirBnB. Basically taking housing stock out of the market so that they can run a casual hotel.
So yeah, I've become part of Vancouver's rental problem. Now I don't think renting from AirBnB in general is a problem. Certainly the spare rooms, holiday rentals aren't - those rooms likely weren't being rented out anyway. The mother-in-law suites? Well, if you just bought a $1.5M house on a middle class income, renting that suite out for $100/night rather than $1500/month might make the difference in affording that mortgage.
But this place? This apartment condo in downtown Vancouver? It was exactly the type of suite that gets up people's asses and triggers class warfare. There is no question in my mind that this place existed solely as someone's one room hotel. From the generic art on the walls, to the basic Ikea cookware in the cupboards, and the fridge empty of even the most basic sauce. It was fitted out solely to be a hotel room. And because of that someone wasn't renting it.
( just one little picture... )
Any yeah, I rented it. I don't know which kind of suite I'm getting into until I'm in it. I do feel kind of bad about it though.
I don't think banning AirBnB is the way forward. I have no problem applying the hotel tax to AirBnB suites, and I'll certainly pay the extra cost for that.
Still, the solution to Vancouver's housing problem lay elsewhere. If things cost less, people won't be renting out their extra property like a hotel. And I'd be happy to stay at a proper hotel, except they're rarely in the neighbourhoods that I want to stay in. And that's just odd. One of my lottery fantasies is to open up boutique hotels in Vancouver and Calgary in places where they would be awesome, but there's no hotels at all.
Why isn't there a hotel in the Commercial/Broadway area? It's the largest transit hub in the city outside of downtown? Seriously, there's two sides to the AirBnB equation - one is lots of people who think that renting out their property like a hotel is in their economic interest. The other side is all the people who want to stay in Vancouver and aren't necessarily interested in the cluster of hotels downtown or by the airport. 9000 properties is the estimate I read. Nine Thousand. That's a lot of hotel rooms that could be getting filled. That's a lot of hotel employees that could be working. That's the sign of a big need not getting filled properly, so it's getting filled in whatever way it can.
Anyway, I picked the room for one reason - I wanted to see the American/Disney entry into the Honda Celebration of Light, aka the Vancouver Fireworks thing. I knew it would be a good one, and I've always loved these fireworks. Calgary tries to do something similar, and I've been a few times. It's just not the same.
What I didn't want to do was try to walk (I was still under orders to not overdo it walking/hiking), and transit was a big ole nope - not with 110,000 people all trying to leave at the same time. So I did my level best to find a place in downtown. Only this is the busiest event of the year during the highest of the high season for rooms. The shitty hotel rooms were starting at $400/night, and I saw fees over $1400/night. So that meant an AirBnB. Even there, people were well aware of what the market was like and I've rarely seen AirBnB fees that high. And there were a lot of people trying to get them. I tried several before the one I got, and they either got "cancelled" (I suspect they were taken off the market to be rented even farther under the table for higher fees), of people simply would not rent to me because other people got there first. The place I stayed at - it was the fourth place I got in touch with, and about the seventh I tried at all.
And it was worth it. I watched the fireworks, which were awesome, then I went back to my suite, waited for the crowds to disperse a little, then found a late supper.
I might do it again next year (a friend might be at a conference during the relevant time frame, and it would be nice to play guide), but if I do, I'll be trying to get a deal way earlier than I did this year.
