It’s expected to be a very busy weekend in Victoria as families travel by boat and plane to visit loved ones over Easter.
Most hotels are booked up with the rare room available here-and-there.
Hotel Grand Pacific is about 80 per cent full and they expect things to keep on that pace as we inch closer to the busy summer season.
“Phones are ringing, they have been ringing before Spring break and they’re continuing to ring for April, May and into the summertime,” says Reid James, the General Manager at Hotel Grand Pacific.
With such high demand and a labour shortage affecting industries across the board, hotels are feeling it too.
“Staffing levels are lower than what we have kind of worked with in the past, so it’s a lot of creative problem-solving in terms of how we can still give that great guest experience with the lower staffing level,” says Erin Banham with The Oswego Hotel.
Reid James backing this saying they also have struggled. “It’s been a challenging year for us, but were getting lots of resumes and we’re hopeful we can meet our needs for the summertime,” he says.
Destination Greater Victoria says over the past four years average daily room rates for the month of February have slightly increased.
In 2022, the average price was $170, compared to $114 in 2021, and $143 in 2020. They feel inflation is mostly to blame.
“Import costs for all hotels, no matter their star rating, are up. I mean everyone is affected by import costs such as insurance, heating, energy, that applies to every property,” says Paul Nursey, the CEO of Destination Greater Victoria.
But, the slight uptick in prices hasn’t seemed to change the minds of travellers.
“We see strong demand but still good supply, so there’s still room for people to come to Victoria this weekend,” adds Nursey.
Beyond this weekend, it’s expected the trend will continue as more people look to spend their spring and summer holidays on the Island.
Hannah Lepine
