The $320 nightly room rate Vanoc is charging journalists at Whistler in 2010 is scaring-off some media organizations, says Whistler Mayor Ken Melamed. This, he says, will force some media to commute from the Lower Mainland, where room rates will run between $95-$177 per night; others, meanwhile, may skip the resort—and its Oly events—altogether.
The $320 nightly room rate Vanoc is charging journalists at Whistler in 2010 is scaring-off some media organizations, says Whistler Mayor Ken Melamed. This, he says, will force some media to commute from the Lower Mainland, where room rates will run between $95-$177 per night; others, meanwhile, may skip the resort—and its Oly events—altogether.
To arrive at the $320-a-night rate, Vanoc says it took the average room rates for the last three years (February is peak season in the notoriously expensive ski town), adjusted it for inflation, and added an “Olympic premium” of 16 per cent.
Meanwhile, the Pique, Whistler’s free weekly newspaper, says Vanoc still hasn’t firmed-up accommodation for media and essential workers in the resort community, and is resurrecting the idea of using cruise ships in Squamish—45 km south of Whistler—to meet their needs. $320 sleeper anyone?