Room for hotels: updated policy to open doors for new hotel developments

Today, City Council approved, with amendments, updates to Vancouver’s hotel policy aimed at encouraging the development of a diverse hotel supply and supporting Vancouver as a top tier destination for leisure and business travelers.

This follows direction from a 2023 City Council motion and is part of updates made to the Broadway Plan Review in 2024. 

“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 Mayor Ken Sim. “With thousands of hotel rooms already in the pipeline, we’re nearly halfway to meeting our goal of 10,000 new rooms. The updates Council passed today will help speed things up by making it easier to build more accommodations in Vancouver’s key commercial areas.”

In developing the updated Hotel Policy, City staff worked with industry, including Destination Vancouver and the BC Hotel Association, through the Vancouver Hotel Development Task Force to shape proposed updates aimed at encouraging new hotel developments in the short term. 

“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 & 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. The market conditions are in place right now to address the gap, otherwise Metro Vancouver risks losing up to $30.6 billion in economic output by 2050. We’re fully in support of the City’s efforts to spur new hotel development and look forward to our continued collaboration.”  

Policy updates:

The updated Hotel Policy includes significant measures to support the development of more hotels, including by:  

• Encouraging hotel development in the Downtown Core and unlocking opportunities for hotel development in the Central Business District through time-limited relaxations of restrictions on mixed hotel-residential developments.
• Building on Broadway Plan updates approved in 2024, which allowed additional height and density for hotel developments. 
• Allowing additional density for hotel developments on commercial high streets across Vancouver.
• Giving existing hotels the opportunity to renew and expand. 

Next steps:

City Council has directed staff to monitor the implementation of the policy updates, and to continue working with the Vancouver Hotel Development Task Force to explore other opportunities to support a diversity of hotel development. This includes exploring:

• Implementing regulatory changes to support pod hotels and micro-suites.
• Updating District schedules to include measures to encourage hotel development and a review of density considerations for supporting back-of-house and event spaces
• Aligning with future Council-directed work to consider the potential for student housing to be used as hotel space during the summer months.

Read more about the City's Hotel Policy in the Council Report PDF file (852 KB).