My husband and I and a few friends will be heading over to go snowboarding in Whistler in mid Jan '08. We'll be using our aeroplan miles for the flight. Does anyone have any tips for us for saving on accomodations/lift tickets? We're on a bit of a tight budget, and Whistler being as expensive as it is, any help/advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
brarrr
Aug 3, 07, 11:14 am
if you're a WA state resident you can get discount cards, but I assume you are not. Your next cheapest bet is to (depending on where you fly into and if you're renting a car) buy gas at a shell station - every 8 gallons gives you a 2 for 1 coupon at whistler for lift tickets. They're available on ebay come december for 10-20 each, which makes it still cheaper than getting a ticket any other way. Next up for tickets, and second to least attractive, is stopping at any 7-11 in BC (except for those within whistler) and getting a lift ticket there. You can buy as many as you like, and they're ~15% less than on the mountain.
As far as lodging, the cheapest place to spend the night comes with a free breakfast. $35 but you've got to be aggressive and you'll end up with a police record :) (it's the drunk tank)
No good advice other than spending a lot of time looking for lodging - village, village north, and upper village are the most expensive because that is where the action is. Any of the other places you can get lodging are all too far away for me to have considered. If you don't care about the nightlife and don't mind shuttles or daylots, there are plenty of cheaper places a few miles away from the village.
If you want a cheap and decent meal, the only place i've ever found that wasn't a fast food chain was a burger place in the village, just across the street from the 7-11 and next to the quiznos - highly recommended, though I can't remember the name.
eternalX
Aug 3, 07, 12:17 pm
buy gas at a shell station - every 8 gallons gives you a 2 for 1 coupon at whistler for lift tickets..
This might be the best deal for any ski resort. I've used the 2-1s a couple times. It's a great deal (savings of $60!). Valid any day.
redflagger
Aug 3, 07, 1:19 pm
buy gas at a shell station - every 8 gallons gives you a 2 for 1 coupon at whistler for lift tickets. They're available on ebay come december for 10-20 each, which makes it still cheaper than getting a ticket any other way.
Thanks for the helpful tips! What are these coupons called (what should i be looking for on ebay)?
brarrr
Aug 3, 07, 1:58 pm
Thanks for the helpful tips! What are these coupons called (what should i be looking for on ebay)?
I can't remember what they're called, but I had a good time making money selling them on ebay the past two years :)
checking back through emails I found this link to one of the auctions I had:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270088227868
there were plenty available, so simply doing a search for any of the words in the title should work out for you.
Another useful tip for whistler is that the cheapest pitcher there is actually at the midmountain lodge on whistler itself - 11CA for kokanee vs anywhere from 14-20 down in the village. well worth it to grab a beer before heading down to apres ski.
kmcg
Aug 5, 07, 10:28 pm
We usually go through the Whistler website for condo rentals, or one of those condo owner sites like vrbo.com. Craigslist for Canadian cities and Seattle often has good deals on condos. Much of the housing stock there is individually owned, as opposed to big hotels, so you have to dig a little to find the deals.
brarrr
Aug 6, 07, 12:25 am
We usually go through the Whistler website for condo rentals, or one of those condo owner sites like vrbo.com. Craigslist for Canadian cities and Seattle often has good deals on condos. Much of the housing stock there is individually owned, as opposed to big hotels, so you have to dig a little to find the deals.
Agreed on all of this, particularly vrbo and craigslist. the whistler website may cost a little more than if you have contact with the same owner directly, so with a little bit of work you can find out the address from the whistler website and then find out how they do the booking separately and save some money.
ChgoBob
Aug 6, 07, 10:02 am
I've used vrbo and Allura with good results. http://www.alluradirect.com/
emailkid
Aug 6, 07, 11:31 pm
redflagger,
seeing how you crossposted this is many forums, per FlyerTalk guidelines I'm locking this thread.
Please follow this discussion in one of the other forums (if you're curious about where else to look, just click on redflagger's profile and click posts started by ...