Amid hotel shortage, one man is renting out his yacht for FIFA in Vancouver
Visitors to Vancouver during the FIFA World Cup might consider booking a stay at a yacht docked in False Creek.
Robert Munro, who’s been in the boating industry all his life, decided to post his Grand Banks 58′ motor yacht on Facebook Marketplace and advertise it for World Cup accommodation.
“I go to Vancouver all the time, and I’ve got a dock there that I tie up to. And I thought, ‘You know what? Maybe I’ll go for the soccer games and see and see that.’ It’s a very wonderful time in Vancouver when there are events happening,” he said to Daily Hive in an interview.
“I decided to maybe see if somebody wanted to enjoy the boat. The boat doesn’t go anywhere. It just sits at the dock, and they use it,” he said.
In the listing, he writes that he is charging $2,000 a night from June 18 to 27, with other dates available. There’s a five-night minimum stay, and breakfast is included. The boat will be docked at Fisherman’s Wharf, near Granville Island.
“It’s a really cool boat,” Munro said.
“It’s a large boat for the size, and a lot of people, when they come on board, they’re in awe. I’ve got some really beautiful original art on board.”
He added that the accommodation on the boat is large and the cabin could comfortably sleep four people. It also has two full bathrooms and a top deck with everything needed to lounge, from chesterfields to a large sun umbrella.
Munro is now retired and said he spends about half the year on the boat and the rest of his time in Calgary. He purchased the yacht 12 years ago because he wanted to spend more time on the water with his family.
“The grandkids like to come on board,” he said.
Interest in reservations
Munro said he’s had interest from people looking for accommodation and is in the initial discussions on timing with potential guests. He said that he’s selective with who he accepts to come aboard, for reasons including that he has a service dog called Charlie and a no-smoking rule.
Robert Munro and his service dog, Charlie. Image supplied
“I interview the people and make sure that all the family, or whoever’s coming, is compatible with my family, which is Charlie and myself,” Munro said.
He’s taken guests on his boat before, chartering it out to fellow Canadians, as well as people from France, New Zealand, and the U.S.
A busy (and expensive) summer in Vancouver
Robert Munro
While this price might seem hefty, hotel rooms in Vancouver are listed at even higher prices during the FIFA World Cup.
On March 6, Daily Hive looked at hotel prices in the city from July 1 to 9 and compared them to those from April 12 to 20.
A room at the OPUS Hotel Vancouver that would cost $426 per night in April was listed at $1,723 per night in July.
A room at the Rosewood Hotel Georgia was listed at $6,758 from April 12 to 20, or $700 a night. From July 1 to 9, the total came to nearly $22,446, or $2,325 a night.
Meanwhile, Airbnb recently commissioned Deloitte to do a report, which found that 204,000 tourists are visiting the city and will need accommodation.
A spokesperson with Airbnb said in an email in early February that their listings are much cheaper than current hotel rates, with 70 per cent of Airbnb listings in Vancouver being under $500 per night.
This is still well-above normal peak-season averages. In July 2025, the average rate for a one-bedroom Airbnb was $200, and the hotel average daily rate was $330.
Vancouver will also see a record 1.4 million cruise ship passengers this summer.
Hotel room shortage
AlbertArt/Shutterstock
Even when Vancouver isn’t hosting one of the world’s biggest sporting events, the city still faces a severe hotel shortage. Despite a surge in tourists in recent years, the city has the same number of hotel rooms it had in 2002 and a 10,000-hotel-room gap.
According to Destination Vancouver, the city’s hotels are already operating at near-capacity, with an 80 per cent average annual occupancy and up to 95 per cent during peak seasons.
Vancouver has over 5,800 hotel rooms across 29 projects in its development pipeline. But with a challenging development environment due to rising construction and borrowing costs, there’s a risk that many of the projects won’t go through to completion.
In 2024, Taylor Swift’s record-breaking Eras Tour also highlighted the hotel shortage in the city, with almost all hotels in Metro Vancouver booked up a year before the tour. In the months and weeks before her concert, locals were advertising their homes to stay in during the event.