29 Hotel Projects. 5,800 Rooms. What Vancouver's Hotel Boom Means for Your Site.
Charles Song
5 min read
Governmental Plan
Introduction
Vancouver is in the middle of a hotel supply crisis — and the city is finally doing something about it. Peak season occupancy rates are exceeding 90%, average daily rates are well above the national average, and Destination Vancouver has projected that without significant new supply, demand will outstrip available rooms every summer starting in 2026.
Introduction
Vancouver is in the middle of a hotel supply crisis — and the city is finally doing something about it. Peak season occupancy rates are exceeding 90%, average daily rates are well above the national average, and Destination Vancouver has projected that without significant new supply, demand will outstrip available rooms every summer starting in 2026.
Opening new sites, new zones, and new project types to hospitality development across Metro Vancouver. For landowners and developers paying attention, the opportunity is significant.
Opening new sites, new zones, and new project types to hospitality development across Metro Vancouver. For landowners and developers paying attention, the opportunity is significant.
. What Changed in 2025
In April 2025, Vancouver City Council approved a major new Hotel Development Policy — the most significant expansion of hotel rezoning permissions in the city's history. The policy directly responded to a critical shortage of hotel rooms, with occupancy rates exceeding 90% during peak seasons. Before April 2025, hotel development was tightly restricted to a narrow band of downtown sites. The new policy changed that across three dimensions:
CBD rezoning — Mixed hotel-residential towers now permitted with temporarily reduced minimum site size requirements
Broadway Plan expansion — Hotel uses now allowed across approximately 38% of the plan area, up from just 15% in 2022
Mount Pleasant industrial zones — Hotel development now permitted in conjunction with industrial uses for the first time
The city's stated long-term goal is 10,000 new hotel rooms by 2050. As of January 2026, only 5,800 rooms are in the pipeline across 29 active projects. The gap between supply and target is where the opportunity sits.
💡 Key point: Vancouver's April 2025 Hotel Development Policy opened hotel rezoning across the CBD, Broadway Plan, and Mount Pleasant — sites that were completely off-limits before.
2. Who This Affects
The eligibility map for hotel development in Vancouver has changed more in the past 12 months than in the previous decade. Landowners holding the following site types should reassess their development potential immediately:
Commercial sites near SkyTrain stations along the Broadway corridor
Light industrial sites in Mount Pleasant and adjacent employment zones
Mixed-use sites along the Granville Strip and downtown fringe areas
Underutilized office or retail properties within the Broadway Plan boundary
Many sites that generated no hotel interest before April 2025 are now receiving unsolicited rezoning inquiries from hospitality developers. Landowners who understand their site's new hotel potential before those conversations arrive are in a fundamentally stronger negotiating position.
💡 Key point: If you own a commercial or light industrial site near SkyTrain, along Granville, or within the Broadway Plan area — your site may now be hotel-eligible for the first time.
3. The FIFA Effect
Destination Vancouver projects that hotel demand will exceed supply during summer months starting in 2026 — and across every month of the year by 2040 if supply remains flat. The economic stakes are significant:
$30.6 billion in foregone economic output between 2022 and 2050
$16.6 billion in foregone GDP
168,000+ full-time equivalent jobs at risk
With FIFA 2026 World Cup games scheduled in Vancouver, the short-term accommodation pressure is already being felt across the city. Projects that are rezoning-ready now — with applications in process or approvals secured — are positioned to be delivering rooms precisely when the demand curve is steepest.
💡 Key point: Destination Vancouver projects hotel demand will exceed supply starting in 2026 — projects that are rezoning-ready now are positioned to capture this window.
. What Changed in 2025
In April 2025, Vancouver City Council approved a major new Hotel Development Policy — the most significant expansion of hotel rezoning permissions in the city's history. The policy directly responded to a critical shortage of hotel rooms, with occupancy rates exceeding 90% during peak seasons. Before April 2025, hotel development was tightly restricted to a narrow band of downtown sites. The new policy changed that across three dimensions:
CBD rezoning — Mixed hotel-residential towers now permitted with temporarily reduced minimum site size requirements
Broadway Plan expansion — Hotel uses now allowed across approximately 38% of the plan area, up from just 15% in 2022
Mount Pleasant industrial zones — Hotel development now permitted in conjunction with industrial uses for the first time
The city's stated long-term goal is 10,000 new hotel rooms by 2050. As of January 2026, only 5,800 rooms are in the pipeline across 29 active projects. The gap between supply and target is where the opportunity sits.
💡 Key point: Vancouver's April 2025 Hotel Development Policy opened hotel rezoning across the CBD, Broadway Plan, and Mount Pleasant — sites that were completely off-limits before.
2. Who This Affects
The eligibility map for hotel development in Vancouver has changed more in the past 12 months than in the previous decade. Landowners holding the following site types should reassess their development potential immediately:
Commercial sites near SkyTrain stations along the Broadway corridor
Light industrial sites in Mount Pleasant and adjacent employment zones
Mixed-use sites along the Granville Strip and downtown fringe areas
Underutilized office or retail properties within the Broadway Plan boundary
Many sites that generated no hotel interest before April 2025 are now receiving unsolicited rezoning inquiries from hospitality developers. Landowners who understand their site's new hotel potential before those conversations arrive are in a fundamentally stronger negotiating position.
💡 Key point: If you own a commercial or light industrial site near SkyTrain, along Granville, or within the Broadway Plan area — your site may now be hotel-eligible for the first time.
3. The FIFA Effect
Destination Vancouver projects that hotel demand will exceed supply during summer months starting in 2026 — and across every month of the year by 2040 if supply remains flat. The economic stakes are significant:
$30.6 billion in foregone economic output between 2022 and 2050
$16.6 billion in foregone GDP
168,000+ full-time equivalent jobs at risk
With FIFA 2026 World Cup games scheduled in Vancouver, the short-term accommodation pressure is already being felt across the city. Projects that are rezoning-ready now — with applications in process or approvals secured — are positioned to be delivering rooms precisely when the demand curve is steepest.
💡 Key point: Destination Vancouver projects hotel demand will exceed supply starting in 2026 — projects that are rezoning-ready now are positioned to capture this window.
Conclusion
Source: City of Vancouver Hotel Development Policy, approved April 15, 2025 Full policy: guidelines.vancouver.ca/policy-hotel-development.pdf Pipeline data: Business in Vancouver, January 2026
