Vancouver’s new hotel policy will help accelerate development and offset a severe shortage, says Mayor Ken Sim.

City council recently approved the new policy to help meet growing tourism demand as major international events loom, including the 2026 FIFA men’s World Cup loom.

Council approved amendments to the existing policy in an effort to create a more diverse hotel supply and solidify Vancouver’s status as a premier destination for both business and leisure travel. The move follows direction from a 2023 council motion and complements changes made during the 2024 Broadway Plan review, according to the city.

“Tourism plays a huge role in Vancouver’s economy, and having enough hotel rooms is key to bringing in major events and welcoming visitors from around the world,” said Sim. “With thousands of hotel rooms already in the pipeline, we’re nearly halfway to meeting our goal of 10,000 new rooms.”

The revised policy help speed up the regulatory-review process and make it easier to build more accommodations in the city’s key commercial areas, he added.

The updated policy resulted from collaboration between city staff and stakeholders, including the Vancouver Hotel Development Task Force, Destination Vancouver, and the BC Hotel Association.

“Vancouver has consistently attracted interest from international hospitality brands and independent hoteliers, but we haven’t been able to fully capitalize on that potential,” said Royce Chwin, president and CEO of Destination Vancouver. “The result is that we’ve had a net loss of hotel rooms since 2002 and it’s increasingly difficult to meet demand.”

Current market conditions enable developers and tourism industry groups to address the gap, according to Chwin.

“Otherwise Metro Vancouver risks losing up to $30.6 billion in economic output by 2050,” he said. “We’re fully in support of the City’s efforts to spur new hotel development and look forward to our continued collaboration.”

Key components of the new hotel policy include:

• Encouraging hotel development in the downtown core, including time-limited relaxations of restrictions on mixed hotel-residential projects in the central business district.
• Expanding upon 2024 Broadway Plan updates by permitting additional building height and density for hotel projects.
• Allowing greater density for hotels along commercial high streets citywide.
• Enabling existing hotels to renew and expand operations.

City council has also directed staff to continue working with the Hotel Development Task Force and monitor the implementation of these changes. As Connect has reported previously, future considerations may include regulatory adjustments to support pod hotels and micro-suites, updates to district schedules to enable more development flexibility, and exploring the seasonal use of student housing as temporary hotel space.

Photo: City of Vancouver

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