My Rocky Mountaineer hosting experience is taking shape and I have six nights from seeing the Celebrity Eclipse group embark on their Alaska cruise and arriving back on Sunday 7 July. I will be staying in Vancouver as part of the group in two different hotels either side of the cruise.
My plan was to stay in Canada so I started searching for reasonable priced accommodation within shouting distance of public transport in Vancouver but couldn’t resist the temptation to cross into the States for some retail therapy. Here are some links to previous posts about how I go about choosing accommodation –Where to stay!
The cost of a room about 20 minutes walk to the cruise terminal to be in place to meet the transfer coach and my disembarking customers in Vancouver is costing a whopping £353 for one night. With that in mind I suppose I set myself a target to get as much bang for my buck for my personal holiday. I scoured Hotels.com and for a change looked seriously at the reviews and not finding anything of great value, I was about to abandon the idea of Vancouver and spend 6 nights in Washington State.
I then had a light bulb moment and went onto AirBnB for the first time in my life. I selected my filters which included a private bathroom, WiFi, T.V and being close to public transport to get around Vancouver. The choices were vast and they all looked great value. I settled on a suburb of Vancouver called Surrey for three nights close to buses and the Sky Train and will be in Canada for Canada Day.
The last three nights are going to be in Mount Vernon WA close to shops and restaurants and half way between the border and Seattle. I will be in America for 4th July so getting the best of both worlds really.
The cost of a car to hire (see earlier post) Getting your car sorted
which for some reason was much better value for 7 nights than for 4 or 6 nights is costing £166 and the six nights AirBnB is a total of £255. This makes the cost of the night in Vancouver only £70 less than having a car and accommodation for 6 nights. I wonder when the impact of the simplicity of AirBnB will impact the hotel sector. I know prices are set by demand and for commercial reasons but they don’t do enough to attract the leisure traveller in my opinion.
I think from now on I will search AirBnB for options first and I like that you pay 50% now and the balance later when many hotels give a better rate to pay in full. I miss just having to guarantee your reservation and pay locally at check in or check out.
USA Road Trips by Max 
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