Home Rentals in Whistler - Desperatation Turns to Walking Billboards
Saturday, October 11th, 2008New trend effective, according to two of Whistler’s newest batch of seasonal workers
Tim Page knew that it was going to be almost impossible to find accommodation in Whistler.
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| House Hunter Kristian Waller takes out an ad for accommodation on a stroll last week, and finds a place to live. Photo by Erin Littlewood |
For the past two years, the Australian citizen heard rumours about Whistler’s difficult housing market. People worldwide were talking about it. If you are going to come to Whistler, he was told, you’ve got to be really lucky.
So when he finally arrived in Whistler two weeks ago, he decided to get creative with his housing search. Instead using more traditional venues — local newspapers and Craigslist listings — Page made a “seeking accommodation” ad out of cardboard, taped it to his body, and began walking through Whistler Village.
“I was originally going to use (the cardboard sign) as a last resort, but then I thought ‘Why?’ so I put it on straight away,” said Page, 23.
Even though Page was a bit embarrassed about the sign, his unusual method worked. Within one day, he and his girlfriend had a found a place to lay their head for the winter season, for about $1,100 a month.
“I went to a notice board at a café, and I was standing looking at it, when someone saw my sign and approached me,” recounts Page.
“He said ‘Are you looking for a room?’ and I said ‘Yes’, so I sat down and had breakfast with him. He told me to come up and see the room at four o’clock that afternoon. I did, and he said yes straight away.” (more…)

“I would say we are looking at $8,000 to $15,000 per bedroom for a 31-day period,” said Sylvia Koltzenburg, who is running an Olympic accommodation matchmaking service.
A year or two ago when Vancouver and Whistler won the Olympic bid, the Olympic organizers allotted an est. ~1,800 Whistler hotel accommodations, +750 condominiums for officials, sponsors and media, and +1,600 lodging and accommodation rooms under development leading up to the 2010 Olympics.
Whistler has always seemed to retain high volume of tourists from around the globe and local, and as we ramp up to hopefully another stellar winter season, those people thinking of hitting the ski slopes in Whistler for the day, or taking up a vacation rental in Whistler better start looking and booking for their winter Whistler accommodation. Rental properties, hotel rooms, condos, owner-direct and all the other variety of accommodations in Whistler is expected to book fast. Finding the perfect