The Americans are coming! The Americans are coming!
Let the price gouging begin.
With BC Place Stadium set to host the World Cup final, 4 p.m. PT, on Sunday, Vancouver is bracing for an invasion of American soccer fans coming up here to cheer on Team USA against defending champion Japan.
Joe Biden is even joining the fun. The White House announced Thursday that the vice-president and his wife Jill will be here this weekend soaking up some sun and soccer.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
I hope you have a place to stay, Joe, because downtown Vancouver hotels are booked solid this 4th of July weekend, and those with rooms remaining are charging ridiculously high rates.
Downtown vacancy options, according to searches on Hotel.com and Expedia.com, are limited to just the Robsonstrasse Hotel and Suites (1394 Robson Street) and the Best Western Plus Sands (1755 Davie Street).
The Best Western is charging $685 per night, while the Robsonstrasse is a bargain at $620. If you want to delay your trip one week (and miss the soccer game), you can rent rooms at the same hotels from Expedia for $268 and $270, respectively.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Even hotels outside the downtown core are jacking up prices. The Lonsdale Quay Hotel, just a SeaBus away, is showing one room for $567 per night. The same room next weekend is $225.
The pickings are pretty slim on AirBnB as well. As of Friday morning, the home rental website didn’t have anything available in the downtown core but did show a room rental near Olympic village ($406) and one bedroom apartment in South Granville ($200).
There were a lot more AirBnB options in East Vancouver and Marpole.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
When the Team USA played Nigeria in World Cup group play on June 16, most of the 52,193 fans in attendance at BC Place were American fans. Downtown streets were overflowing with soccer fans sporting red, white and blue.
The American Outlaws, Team USA’s travelling supporters’ club which boasts 180,000 members on Facebook, will be loud and proud in Vancouver this weekend. The Outlaws and U.S. Soccer are hosting a sold-out “Night Before Party” at the Commodore Ballroom on Saturday, as well as game-day parties at both Doolins and The Belmont (they need two venues!) from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. on Sunday.
The U.S. fans will march to the game — down Granville and Robson — at 2:30 p.m.
Meanwhile, our friends in Toronto may be kicking themselves for attaching themselves to the wrong international sporting event. Tourist operators in the Ontario capital are already calling the Pan-Am Games a bust — and it’s still a week away.
TICKETS ALSO PRICEY
Sunday’s game will be sold out. TicketMaster doesn’t have any seats available, but says fans should keep checking because “sometimes tickets from the venue may become available closer to the event.”
If you want to go to the final, you’ll need to buy from scalpers or a ticket reseller. There are a lot of tickets available on StubHub, the cheapest being $295 USD for an upper end-zone seat.
Lower sideline tickets range between $460 and $10,535 USD. (Suckers beware: That $10,535 seat costs twice as much as the next expensive ticket.)
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Filed under: Now, Sports, STAFF Tagged: 4th of July, Airbnb Inc., B.C. Place, BC Place Stadium, Belmont, Best Western International Inc., commodore ballroom, East Asia, Expedia Inc., FIFA World Cup, Granville, Hotel.com, Hotels in Vancouver, How much for a hotel in Vancouver?, japan, Joe Biden, Lonsdale Quay Hotel, Nigeria, Ontario, Robsonstrasse Hotel, South Granville, Team USA, The White House, toronto, United States, Vancouver, West Africa, What time is the women's world cup final?, What time is the World Cup final? Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
