perhaps even couch surfing would do

August 13, 2005 1:29 AM

Cheap Labour Day accommodations in Seattle and Victoria.

I've left the planning for a Labour Day trip too late. I want to drive from Vancouver to Victoria, to Seattle (spending one night in each) and back over the Labour Day long weekend. I am taking my GF with me. An hour of surfing the 'net has yielded either overpriced or overbooked hotels.

Can you please recommend affordable (less than $100 a night) accommodations in Seattle and Victoria? I'm thinking along the lines of hostels, b&b's, that sort of thing.

posted by randomstriker to travel & transportation (8 comments total)

This link may help you.
posted by Rothko at 1:33 AM on August 13, 2005

Helm's Inn in Victoria. Near Beacon Hill Park.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 7:51 AM on August 13, 2005

This hostel is right downtown in Victoria. And their guide to the funkier side of white bread Victoria is ok, too.

The Turtle Refuge hostel is fairly new (in an old house) and central, but all I know is it got some decent, positive local press recently.

Being hostels, both places probably have the bathroom-down-the-hall. But the prices are good.

Swan's Hotel is right downtown, and has a lot of character, brew their own beer, and have a world-class art collection. It might be right at the limit of your price range.

The downtown Traveller's Inn is a modern hotel/motel that is cheap and reasonably central, but has small, generic, characterless rooms. Look for brochures giving discounts on the ferry if you are arriving that way, or book online -- they claim rates from 40$ per night.
posted by Rumple at 8:59 AM on August 13, 2005

You'll have to go to a hostel or to a very cheap motel some ten miles or more outside the downtown core should you wish to sleep over cheaply in Victoria at this time of year.

Even Helm's Inn, probably the shittiest hotel in James Bay (the area south of the Empress Hotel) will charge you $100 a night.

Traveller's Inn's "$40 rate" is for a 1 bed room in the suburbs during the winter, and is in US funds. During the summer, it's no cheaper than anything else -- you're still looking at a minimum of $99.95 Cdn per night. B&Bs will also charge you $100 a night or more. Victoria is a tourist town. It is not friendly to the frugal traveller during the summer.

If you drive west down Craigflower Road, you will eventually come to some very, very cheap motels. And you'll get what you pay for.

None of the hostels include parking, so expect to pay for that, too. And leaving your car overnight in a parkade in Victoria is never a particularly good idea. Your car will be safer out in the boonies.

And, lastly, when I worked in a hotel, everything within walking distance of downtown was already booked up by now for the Labour Day weekend. If you start calling every motel in Victoria right now, you might be lucky enough to get a reservation. But you might have no choice but to stay at the Waddling Dog, near Sidney.
posted by solid-one-love at 10:16 AM on August 13, 2005

It's worth checking for vacancies at UVic's Craigdarroch House. I stayed there in May and it was an excellent value - $60 Cdn for a hotel-style room (double bed, couch, desk, TV, private washroom, high speed internet, and even a hot breakfast!) I think they only have six rooms, but it's not terribly well-known so you may luck out...
posted by sanitycheck at 11:03 AM on August 13, 2005

Solid-one-love -- thanks for the reality check re: traveller's inn - they do say 99.95, though there may be a web discount of 10 bucks, meaning 89.95, or about 70 dollars U.S. Ouch.

I'll probably be out of town that weekend, or I'd offer my couches for surfing.

Victoria just recently got a craigslist, maybe there could be help found there.
posted by Rumple at 4:06 PM on August 13, 2005

We got a craigslist?

I would have suggested Traveller's Inn as the first place that comes to mind, but it only does because of their intrusive advertising.

Being that the owner of the 'chain' called me a slut once, I don't recommend them.
posted by Savannah at 6:21 PM on August 13, 2005

Craigslist Victoria, still gathering momentum...

Isn't anyone going to answer the question from POV of Seattle?
posted by Rumple at 11:36 PM on August 13, 2005