Where to find vacation rental in vancouver?

May 28, 2009 5:28 PM

My mom is coming to visit and I'm looking to rent a furnished apartment for a week around downtown Vancouver. My budget is approximately $600. If that figure doesn't work, what's a more realistic budget? More importantly, where can I find short-term rentals besides craigslist?
posted by Xianny to travel & transportation (13 comments total)

Try searching for "Extended Stay" places. These are typically marketed to business travelers who are in an area for a longer stay, typically a week to a few months.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 5:36 PM on May 28

Definitely doable. Add homestay to your searches, they're usually furnished, and target Surrey and south Vancouver where a lot of east indians build houses, and sell them to people who then rent them out on short-term basis. They're generally designed for more than one family, so it's easy to find a room with private entrance below that price range on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis that has wi-fi/tv/kitchen/bathroom. Besides Craigslist, you could try Kijiji, but some advice I've had is to check the bulletin boards in laundromats. The downside of these places is that they're generally basements or ground level and there's thumping-around from upstairs, and you don't know who potential roommates are going to be.

Without roommates, still doable. I have a ground floor 2 bedroom suite all to my own in Surrey for $650/month, without a lease. I did give my word that I'd be here for a few months, but nothing signed. Granted, it's unfurnished, and the rugrats upstairs don't comprehend that the place isn't built of concrete, but for the price and lack of lease I kind of need to shrug some annoyances off.
posted by hungrysquirrels at 6:09 PM on May 28

I've had a good experience with renting an apartment in Paris way cheaper than any hotel through vrbo.com
posted by I, Slobot at 6:09 PM on May 28 [1 favorite has favorites]

I would second Vrbo.com, having used it with much success in the past to find places all over Canada and the United States.
posted by sanitycheck at 6:22 PM on May 28

I missed the 'around downtown' part. For $600 bucks for a week, I'd hit up hotwire.com, you can arrange a 3 star hotel room for $60-70/night. They tack on an extra fee, but it should break even for 6 nights. The cheap places around downtown generally means chinatown which probably isn't an best area you'd want your mom to stay.
posted by hungrysquirrels at 6:29 PM on May 28

By cheap places, I mean cheap short-term stay places, not the hotels. They should be in OK areas.
posted by hungrysquirrels at 6:32 PM on May 28

I recently found a vacation home through homeaway.com. Some places will probably be above your budget there, but they do a nice job of listing amenities.
posted by BlooPen at 6:38 PM on May 28 [1 favorite has favorites]

I have no idea what they charge, but Downtown Suites is a well managed, reputable, honest company. (I've rented from them in the in the past, but it was a unfurnished apartment lease). Here's the list of their furnished rentals.

When I first saw you wanted to only pay only $600 however, I almost laughed out loud. Then again, I don't rent weekly here, only monthly. But I pay more than twice that monthly for a small 1bdrm outside of downtown. Just FYI. Not saying it's not doable, but you'll probably need a little luck.
posted by cgg at 7:17 PM on May 28

Here's a place for $600 a week downtown. Pretty good location too. Doesn't include tax.
posted by barnone at 8:24 PM on May 28

Whatever you do, avoid any property rented by Norm King. He's a scammer who rents apartments in Vancouver and sublets to people like you. You won't get your damage deposit back, and you might have trouble with the building because it's illegal here to sublet for less than 30 days--just to avoid what he's doing. Guys like him and David Messina sometimes continue to rent condos out even after they've been evicted from them.

Here's some tales of woe (check the comments in the last two stories).
posted by fatbird at 8:44 PM on May 28

Check out the Shaughnessy Village. It's on 12th Avenue near Oak Street. It's not in the downtown core but close enough. A friend of mine stayed there and was happy. It's nothing fancy but is near buses and several things are in walking distance.
posted by sadtomato at 9:30 PM on May 28

What are the dates?
posted by miles1972 at 10:29 PM on May 28

Sorry, I left out the dates. I'm looking for a place around mid-August, either a week from the 16th or 23rd. $600 would be nice but I don't mind paying more. Up to $1000 would be OK. Thanks for the answers so far. :)
posted by Xianny at 11:29 PM on May 28