A ‘Perfect Storm’ Sends Tofino’s Hotel Prices Soaring

For a mid-week 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 a 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 (US$1 currently equals about C$1.37) — has created the “perfect storm” going into summer, said 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 said 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 for the Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Region” report 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 the 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 report.

The west coast of Vancouver Island 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

Tofino has struggled with scarce water availability during the summer months in recent years, leading the district to focus on conserving water and limiting new development until a new water source can be found.

But another water-related project has directly increased costs for tourism businesses.

Water utility costs for Tofino businesses have ballooned since the new sewage treatment facility went online in the fall of 2024. Before the facility opened, the district sent its raw sewage directly into the ocean.

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 fixed cost system,” said Manzardo.

The district says it is charging higher fees for water in 2025 because of the cost of the new wastewater treatment plant and because “the previous rates were not sufficient to cover the total cost of operating and maintaining the District's water and sewer systems.” The district says it charges a fixed rate based on “the size of your water meter and reflect the cost of providing service to your property. Larger meters have higher fixed charges, as they typically indicate higher demand on the system.”

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 a night. The rate for a fully serviced RV site closest to the beach was $109 a 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, Wi-Fi 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,” Beaton conceded.

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.