Hotel prices soar as Tofino becomes a tourist town on steroids

For a midweek standard room in July at Long Beach Lodge Resort overlooking Cox Bay: $659, plus tax.

Best Western Plus Tin Wis Resort: $649, plus tax and there’s a nightly minimum, depending on the day.

Wickaninnish Inn on North Chesterman Beach: $980, with a four-night minimum.

Oceanside suite at Pacific Sands: $699, with a three-night minimum.

For a king bed at Hotel Zed: $714, plus tax and the two-night minimum.

Tofino has always been pricey during the peak summer months, but this year a weekend getaway to the coast compares to a weeklong all-inclusive to Mexico.

“The rates are atrocious out here. It’s a beautiful experience, but it’s definitely catering to a different class,” said Jared Beaton, general manager at Tin Wis Resort, a Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation-owned and operated property.

“Between food, travel and miscellaneous goodies and expenses, it’s probably nothing to spend $1,000 a day when you have a family of four,” he continued.

U.S. policy changes coupled with a higher demand as more Canadians are vacationing at home and more Americans are crossing the border - taking advantage of the currency exchange ($1 USD currently equals about $1.37CAD) - has created the “perfect storm” going into summer, says Beaton. And it’s not just Tofino, but everywhere on Vancouver Island that’s showing an uptick in hotel rates.

The average price of a hotel on Vancouver Island in April climbed from $201.40 in 2024 to $218.84 this year, or 8.7 per cent, according to statistics shared in a national market report proprietary to the Canadian hotel industry. By comparison, the Whistler Resort Area saw a 6.3 per cent increase in the average daily rate for a hotel in April, jumping from $295.35 to $314.04.

“The rates have almost doubled since I started here in 2019,” continued Beaton. “It’s like real estate. But it’s also incredibly expensive to operate compared to four or five years ago.”

He says the consensus in town is that everything – groceries, gas, accommodation, dining out – has doubled in price since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While visitors are easily dropping $1,000 a day, a 2024 Living Wage report for the Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Region showed a family of four (two parents with two young children) spend $1,323 a month on food, $2,706 a month on housing and $967 a month on owning and maintaining two vehicles.

Nuu-chah-nulth families living in rural First Nations communities of Hot Springs Cove, Ahousaht, Opitsaht and Macoah spend even more on food; a return boat trip to buy groceries for Ahousaht members is $60 and for Hot Springs Cove residents is $150, notes the Living Wage Report.

The West Coast currently has the second highest living wage in B.C. after Whistler with $27.40 being the “bare bones” hourly wage necessary to lift someone out of poverty and into an adequate quality of life, according to the 2024 report published by the Clayoquot Biosphere Trust.

Water Works

Water utility costs for Tofino businesses have ballooned since the new sewage treatment facility went online in the fall of 2024.

Beaton said his water bill for the last three months of 2023 was $13,000. The same time a year later in 2024, it was $46,000.

“Bills have gone up, so rates go up, it’s a vicious cycle,” he said. “If somebody out there can find a solution to lower our costs enough, so that we have the ability to lower our rates, so that we can invite families that are wanting to come out but can’t swing it, send me over the recipe because I’m all ears.”

Brandon Manzardo, Surf Grove Campground Tofino general manager, echoed Beaton’s concerns.

“Overall costs are soaring everywhere. Our water costs have almost tripled in the last four years because the district has moved to a fix cost system,” said Manzardo.

When Surf Grove opened in the summer of 2020, Manzardo said the rate for a basic tent site four rows back from the beach was $89/night. The rate for a fully serviced RV site closest to the beach was $109/night. This summer, those same sites are roughly $226.50 and $251.50 a night, respectively.

“Of course, our rates are higher than most campgrounds you’d experience, but you’re not getting all the value adds that we have brought to life here at any other campground in the country,” said Manzardo, noting they have laundry, a small grocery store, a business centre, wifi and 24-hour security throughout the property on Cox Bay Beach.

He said he manually manages the rate threshold and does not rely on AI management software. He likened the AI hotel rate management tools to casinos saying, “the house always wins”.

“Once the program realized it can double or triple that high demand time frame, it does it for you,” said Manzardo. “You see these dramatic rate increases… If somebody pays for it, there is still demand. It’s everywhere.”

He went on to say that he doesn’t see Surf Grove increasing their rates next year because they’re not adding any more value to the property.

“It really comes down to ethics and how you see your brand fitting in the scope of the world. For us, we have a limit. How can we justify ethically increasing our rate but not providing more value to our guest? For me it doesn’t sit right. For the ownership it doesn’t sit right,” he said.

Tofino’s prominent Airbnb market is a big ball of surf wax, considering the housing it’s taken away from the community over the years, but “whatever pain it does cause, it’s kind of taken away by accommodating some of the market segment,” as Beaton concedes.

Tourism Tofino Executive Director Brad Parsell says the good news is that rates are not that high all year round.

“Hotel rates are significantly cheaper outside of summer, and the experience can be much richer in slower times of the year,” said Parsell.