When B.C. said last October that it was going to bring in some of the toughest restrictions on short-term vacation rentals in North America, the owners of a prominent Okanagan resort complex had a moment of panic.
“We were caught in the middle of booking for the summer” says Brad Pelletier, senior vice-president for resort owner Wesbild Okanagan, noting that a million dollars worth of bookings were on the line when suddenly everything was wobbling. Now the Predator Ridge model is one that other cities and companies are interested in, as both groups try to figure out how to navigate the new tourism world where building new full-service hotels is less attractive for investors.
The province’s system doesn’t allow any rentals for less than three months, which is different from the 30-day minimum in most other jurisdictions trying to regulate them. The new regime also requires registration with a provincial site, making the rules some of the strictest in the U.S. and Canada, according to platforms like Airbnb.
Mr. Cuming said that people living at those projects year-round don’t complain about the vacationers because they knew it was the arrangement from the start – and often they like the mix and chance to meet new people.Mr. Canning said he feels like Vernon is benefitting now because it got smart a long time ago about how tourism was changing.At least one other city nearby looks at the Vernon situation with some envy.
He is hopeful a model will develop to accommodate the desire for apartment-like vacation rentals. Some 113 kilometres away, Mr. Cumming thinks that model will be like Vernon’s.