The convention center on the Vancouver waterfront will serve as the MPC for the 2010 Games, now undergoing a substantial expansion. (ATR)(ATR) Vancouver 2010 releases its rate card for the media as the World Press Briefing gets under way in the Olympic city. Compared to past Games, media will pay more for office space, less for Internet.
The rate card, which covers the cost of services for the media during the Games, appears to show slight increases in some prices over the Beijing Olympics. All prices in the rate card are quoted in Canadian dollars.
For example, the cost to rent 25 square meters (269 square feet) of office space in the Main Press Centre is just over $8,000, about $500 more than in Beijing. The giant halls of the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre will be subdivided into the office space.
Other cost quotes include desks at $340, Samsung mobile phones from $326 and Internet access at $580 a connection, less than Beijing.
Reflecting the new status of Acer as a worldwide Olympic sponsor, laptops from the Taiwan based firm will rent for $1,040.
Dozens of other items are available for rent, from wastebaskets to printers to motor vehicles.
General Motors vehicles for lease include the Chevy Malibu, Impala, the Saturn Aura and larger models such as the GMC Yukon and Chevy Tahoe. Rentals during the Games will run just under $4,000.
The press briefing will last through this week, allowing more than 200 representatives from news agencies and publications to have a look at preparations for the Games.
Hotels for Journos
Along with rate card prices, VANOC has released the names of the dozen Vancouver and Richmond hotels reserved for international press. The rates are on par with past Games, though the hotels are rated at four stars or less and do not include breakfast.
Nightly room rates, range from under $100 for the Best Western Uptown to about $175 for the Pacific Palisades. Breakfast and a 5 percent federal goods and services tax and a 10 percent provincial hotel room tax are extra. Minimum stay is seven consecutive nights during the Feb. 11-28, 2010 period.
Other The St. Regis first opened in 1913. (St. Regis Hotel)hotels are: Lord Stanley Suites on the Park, Empire Landmark, Best Western Sands by the Sea, Inn at False Creek, Best Western Chateau Granville, St. Regis Hotel, Shaughnessy Village, Days Inn Vancouver Metro, Coast Vancouver Airport and Best Western Richmond Hotel.
All are three-star hotels, except for the two-star Shaughnessy Village.
The St. Regis, which first opened in 1913, is undergoing a major renovation and is the closest to the Vancouver Convention Centre main press centre, about 800 meters (880 yards) away.
The story is different in Whistler where rooms hit $320 per bedroom, per night, plus taxes and breakfast. A minimum 18-night stay is required.
Building names and addresses are not listed in the guide, but they are described on the VANOC rate card as being “located in condominium apartments... within 2 km (1.24 miles) of the Whistler media centre.”
Units range from typical hotel rooms to self-contained apartments. Many include kitchens, Internet access, parking and laundry facilities. IOC Press Commission chairman Kevan Gosper (l) visited Vancouver in February. Next to him is Rene Fasel, chair of the IOC Coordination Commission for Vancouver. (ATR)
A 50 percent deposit on housing is due May 15, 2009, the balance due in October.
IOC Press Commission Members in Vancouver
IOC members attending the Vancouver WPB include IOC Press Commission chair Kevan Gosper of Australia and commission members Gunilla Lindberg of Sweden and Sam Ramsamy of South Africa, also a member of the IOC Executive Board.
Gosper first came to Vancouver as a 400-meter runner in the 1954 British Empire Games, forerunner of today’s Commonwealth Games.
With reporting from Bob Mackin in Vancouver.
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