Juliet C

Hi

We arrive in Vancouver end of June, I know this has probably been posted a number of times but I was hoping someone could suggest somewhere to stay for the first 2-4 weeks while we find somewhere to rent.

There will be my husband, 2 year old daughter and myself initially, somewhere reasonable quite, clean and pretty cheap would be good!! a kitchenette and free parking would also be a bonus!

Hotels in Vancouver are currently quoting approx £2000 for two weeks, half that cost would be ideal.

There may be a possibility we have to stay longer if we can't find somewhere to rent quickly.

A hotel,motel, B&B or short lease apartment would be ideal, we will be bringing a travel cot for our daughter.

Juliet C

nativenewyorker

Hi

We are also landing at the end of June. We are staying at Vancouver short stay apartments in North Vancouver. They are close to public transport, look very nice on the website, the lady who owns them is very pleasant and they only cost $88 dollars per night! www.vancouvershortstay.com

Hope all goes well for you.

Sally

Juliet C

Thanks Sally I shall have a look at this, maybe see you there!

Juliet C

Oh meant to say, good luck!

nativenewyorker

Thank you!
Just out of interest, you're not flying from Manchester on the 25th are you?
Sally

Juliet C

Yes, OMG, are you?

nativenewyorker

Yes - Thomas Cook flight, what a small world

Juliet C

How funny!!, you will know us, we'll probably have either a screaming or sleeping two year old with us when we get off!! dreading it!!

I've emailed the apartments you mentioned, fingers crossed they look very good.

witchileiz

You could also try CraigsList for short term rentals - as well as longer term rentals:
http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/

Don't forget the nasty tax on the hotel rentals too - we visited a few years back and stayed first in a downtown hotel (nasty tax shock at payment!), and then in a private short term rental in Kits for the rest of the time (much nicer and noooo tax!).

Juliet C

I've been looking at Craiglist as its been mentioned before, in fact I'll probably use that when we look for long time rental but I am a bit wary of using it from the UK, if it was just us two it would not be an issue but as we have the little one I need to be a bit careful.

Thanks for the warning re the tax, I suppose I'd better get used to that!

Rich_London

Hi Juliet,

We're staying in a managed suite (i.e. they come in twice a week, clean, change linin etc) in South Granville at the moment. We booked for 8 nights originally and when we started looking for a longer let on somewhere else we thought we would see if the couple that owned this suite wanted to do us a deal as we could see on line that they didnt have anyone in after us. They said that not only would they do us a deal but that if we stayed for more than a month, i think 31 days or more, they (and so also we) wouldn't pay HST tax or the MRDT tax on that accommodation. We would also get the tax back on the 8 nights we already paid for! This seems to only work with "proper" places who put things through the books if you know what i mean.

There is a certain value staying somewhere where they come and clean etc but if you dont do that then yeah craigslist seems to be the way forward. We went with this in the end because we found a small place in kitsilano on craigslist for $1000 per month all in which was cheaper than we could have dreamed, especially for the location. If i were to do this again i would book one week in a nice B&B somewhere like South Granville or Kitsilano so you can relax when you arrive, in that time try and visit as many of the neighborhoods you can and then focus your attention on craigslist. As it was we spent weeks moving arround hotels and B&B's before coming here which was nice but expensive....

We're staying in a one bed suite at this place at the moment:
http://www.bbvancouver.com/

I've been recommended this site for longer term rentals though havent used it my self.
http://www.uniqueaccommodations.com/

Good luck!

Rich

Juliet C

Thanks Rich, I am amazed how helpful everyone has been on this forum!!

Juliet C

Hi Sally

We booked with these, thanks for your help

Juliet C

nativenewyorker

Not a problem. Hopefully see you there

lwilli63

We also stayed here when we landed last year. Needless to say the photos look way better than in real life. The owners are very pleasant and helpful but at the rate they are raking in the rent they should be re-invetsing some of it to upgrade the tatty furniture. We also had to give the place a good clean when we moved in. On the plus side the apartment was adequate and it's in a great location; be sure to visit the "Soupmeister" in Lonsdale Quay (10-15 min walk) he makes some great soups.