Accommodation

We have secured a BuddyCamp Vancouver hotel rate at the Pinnacle Hotel at the Pier in North Vancouver, just a 15-minute seabus ride from downtown and about a 15 minute drive to the BCIT Burnaby campus. The BuddyCamp organizers can meet out-of-town speakers at the airport to bring them to their hotel and can provide rides from the hotel to the BCIT Burnaby Campus where BuddyCamp is taking place. We can also try to provide rides from the hotel to the BCIT Burnaby Campus for other out-of-town guests staying here. If you plan on staying here, please let us know so we can co-ordinate.

Note: If you’re coming for our sister-event, WordCamp, feel free to use the same discount code above for the Pinnacle Hotel.

For general out-of-town attendees or for speakers that want a bit of an adventure getting to the hotel, it’s very inexpensive to get from the airport to the Pinnacle Hotel by taking the Canada Line rapid transit rail link from the airport to the terminus Waterfront station. From there you can take a 15-minute seabus over to North Vancouver. It’s an enjoyable ride, a nice way to see Vancouver. The Pinnacle Hotel is a short walk from the seabus station on the North Van side, Lonsdale Quay. The cost is only $3 from the airport to the Pinnacle, the cost to return to the airport is about $9. It takes about 30-45 minutes in total. Cabs from the airport to the Pinnacle usually cost about $40-$50 and take about the same time, sometimes longer when there’s bad traffic.

Here is the Pinnacle hotel info and group code for the discount.

You need to book by Oct. 7th to get the preferred rate (the regular rate is usually about $20-$30 per night more). We have not paid for a block of rooms in advance so the rooms are still based on availability so best to book sooner rather than later.

There are a number of good restaurants near the Pinnacle hotel in an area known as Lower Lonsdale.

Source: North Van Skyline by Payton Chung, CC by 2.0

Finch and Barley
Lower Lonsdale Restaurants

Here are some other hotel options:
Burnaby:
Grand Villa Casino and Hotel Conference Centre, room start at about $120 per night. This hotel is just a short 5-10 minute walk from the BCIT Burnaby Campus where BuddyCamp is taking place. The downside is that there isn’t much to do around this area at night time, other than trying your luck at some slots or blackjack! It’s about a twenty minute walk to the skytrain where you can get downtown in about half an hour.

Downtown Vancouver:
Fairmont Vancouver, Reservations – 1-866-540-4452, rooms starting around $200 per night
Metropolitan, Reservation, 1-800-667-2300, rooms starting around $200 per night
Hotel Le Soleil, Reservations – 1-877-632-3030, rooms starting around $175 per night
Rosedale on Robson, Reservations, 1-800-661-8870, rooms starting around $120 per night

Here is a map showing these downtown Vancouver hotels.
Note: These are the hotels that the Open Education 2012 conference has recommended and has secured conference rates for. If you are planning on going to Open Education 2012, these hotels would be a good choice.

For a wider range of prices and hotel locations, you can check:
hotel.com

The least expensive hotel rooms start around $70 per night.

If you’re on a tight budget, there are also some hostels:
http://www.hihostels.ca/westerncanada/169/HI-Vancouver_Downtown.hostel