A floating hotel may soon redefine Vancouver’s waterfront experience, with a proposal to establish it right in front of the Vancouver Convention Centre.
Finnish hotel developer Sunborn International Holding has submitted a new rezoning application to allow the construction of a new dock just north of the Vancouver Convention Centre’s West Building for berthing a small cruise vessel that will serve as a floating hotel.
This vessel will have six levels above the waterline, containing a total of 250 guest rooms for its luxury hotel operations. The hotel lobby, restaurants, and spa — all inside the ship on a lower level — will be completely publicly accessible.
Additionally, the new dock will be entirely publicly accessible, featuring a cafe, shops, spa, and viewing deck — all situated on the west side of the vessel.
This is not intended to be a temporary short-term fixture.
In an interview with Daily Hive Urbanized, Hans Niemi, CEO of Sunborn International, says this is intended to be a semi-permanent floating hotel, with the company expected to have a long-term water lot lease of about 20 to 30 years.
Sunborn International already operates similar floating hotel concepts in Europe, including their first location of the 2003-opened, five-level Sunborn London, which has 9,500 sq metres (102,000 sq ft) of onboard floor area for 138 guest rooms and a range of amenities such as a restaurant, bar, and event space. Like the Vancouver location, Sunborn London is strategically located next to a major convention centre, the ExCeL London.
In 2014, the company opened its second floating hotel in Gibraltar, spanning nearly 18,500 sq meters (200,000 sq ft) across seven levels and featuring 189 guest rooms, meeting spaces, a casino, several restaurants, a bar, a spa, and a swimming pool.
Concept for a floating hotel at the Vancouver Convention Centre. (Sunborn International Holding)
Concept for the new replacement Sunborn London floating hotel, which will be a sister vessel of the new Vancouver floating hotel. (Sunborn International Holding)
Due to the success of the first location, Niemi shares that a new replacement and larger vessel will be built for Sunborn London, which saw its lease renewed in November 2024 for another 30 years.
In fact, both the replacement floating hotel in London and the new location in Vancouver will be sister vessels — brand-new vessels constructed simultaneously. Both vessels will have a length of about 136 metres (446 ft), a floor area of about 16,000 sq metres (172,000 sq ft), and weigh approximately 12,500 metric tons.
“It is a very compelling type of hospitality product because it’s different from your normal land-based branded hotels, and that’s what every hotelier and every client is looking for in their hotel product when they’re seeking experiences,” Niemi told Daily Hive Urbanized.
“And so, here you have a hotel that’s on the waterfront. It’s permanently stationed. It works with the tide, goes up and down. So it’s a very fitting maritime-themed hotel for the waterfront in Vancouver.”
The new Vancouver floating hotel is a partnership with Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre, which operates Coal Harbour’s seaplane terminal just to the east.
“The new floating hotel will be a jewel for the crown of Vancouver’s waterfront. The new property will contribute to the urgent need for hotel rooms in Vancouver in an innovative and effective way, with no permanent footprint or environmental ramifications,” said Graham Clarke, chairman of Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre, in a statement.
The floating hotel will use renewable energy systems to reduce its power consumption by 60% to 70%. There will be no sewage discharger into the water, with direct connections enabling the floating hotel to operate like a normal building on land.
Niemi told Daily Hive Urbanized the Vancouver floating hotel will use a new type of heat pump systems that interact with sea water, with energy stored in thermal tanks inside the hotel. As well, this vessel will be built with solar panels and a tidal energy system, creating electricity from the tidal changes throughout the day. No fossil fuels will be used for the floating hotel’s regular operational needs.
When the convention centre’s West Building was constructed in 2009, it included a concrete footing just off the seawall to enable the potential future construction of a marina.
The dock will put this existing concrete footing to use with the construction of new ramps, gangways, and an elevator linking the floating hotel with the seawall and below-grade vehicle loading levels. Parking will be provided within the convention centre’s existing parking.
Existing concrete footing at the West Building of Vancouver Convention Centre. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
Existing concrete footing at the West Building of Vancouver Convention Centre. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
Existing concrete footing at the West Building of Vancouver Convention Centre. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
Not a current concept; previous marina concept for the West Building of Vancouver Convention Centre. (Colliers International Unique Properties)
Not a current concept; previous marina concept for the West Building of Vancouver Convention Centre. (Colliers International Unique Properties)
Not a current concept; previous marina concept for the West Building of Vancouver Convention Centre. (Colliers International Unique Properties)
Not a current concept; previous marina concept for the West Building of Vancouver Convention Centre. (Colliers International Unique Properties)
“The new floating hotel will be a jewel for the crown of Vancouver’s waterfront,” said Graham Clarke, chairman of Vancouver Harbour Flight Centre, in a statement.
“The new property will contribute to the urgent need for hotel rooms in Vancouver in an innovative and effective way, with no permanent footprint or environmental ramifications, adding new public spaces, viewpoints, cafés and restaurants to Vancouver’s vibrant waterfront.”
In his inaugural speech to the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade in early 2023, Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim hinted at forthcoming proposals to bring floating hotels to Vancouver, potentially in time for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. However, that timeline is no longer the case.
Niemi says planning for the Vancouver location first began in 2019, with an aim to open in 2022. That initial timeline was delayed due to the pandemic.
If approved by the municipal government, the new floating hotel is expected to open in early 2027. Niemi acknowledged that the original post-pandemic plan was to open it in time for the FIFA World Cup, but the earliest possible opening date is now a few months after the tournament in late 2026.
While the floating hotel resembles the form and shape of a yacht or a small cruise ship, it is more akin to a barge. Niemi notes that their floating hotels do not have built-in propulsion or turbine systems, as the expectation is that each hotel will rarely be moved. However, the company has electric propulsion system attachments that can be transferred between vessels when needed.
Concept for a floating hotel at the Vancouver Convention Centre. (Sunborn International Holding)
Concept for a floating hotel at the Vancouver Convention Centre. (Sunborn International Holding)
Concept for a floating hotel at the Vancouver Convention Centre. (Sunborn International Holding)
Concept for a floating hotel at the Vancouver Convention Centre. (Sunborn International Holding)
This new hotel property establishes a new calibre of accommodations experience in the city while also serving to boost much-needed new additional supply.
Niemi told Daily Hive Urbanized that while the Vancouver location will not be the company’s largest floating hotel in terms of overall size, it will have the most guest rooms.
When asked to provide a ballpark figure on the overnight hotel room rates, he says this is not intended to be a super-ultra luxury hotel, but rather it will compete with the pricing of hotels in downtown Vancouver, especially when it comes to serving the attendees of meetings and conferences held at the convention centre.
“This is the largest in terms of rooms because this is what we feel is the most needed in the downtown area. We need all the rooms that we can get, and that’s what we understood from the City. So we’re sort of prioritizing the maximum number of rooms,” said Niemi.
“We have to be competitive. We have no sort of crazy ideas that we’re going to go in there with super-high prices… We’re going to be very sensitive to setting our pricing policy to what the rest of the competition sets in downtown.”
Destination Vancouver estimates there is a need for 20,000 additional hotel rooms in Metro Vancouver over the coming decades, including 10,000 rooms within Vancouver. These figures were also made well before the provincial government’s new policies restricting short-term rentals like Airbnb.
An acute hotel room shortage is anticipated to begin in 2026, worsening progressively each year unless significant additions to the hotel supply are made. Vancouver’s hotel rates are already among the highest in Canada due to demand outpacing supply, and rates are expected to rise further, potentially making the city less competitive in attracting events.
“The proposed hotel is a new and unique attraction that would complement the existing offerings from our destination, as well as bringing 250 new hotel rooms. In our view, a bespoke floating hotel development would enhance our waterfront and we look forward to working with Sunborn and their partners in promoting this new attraction and hotel to our global visitors,” said Royce Chwin, president and CEO of Destination Vancouver.
Ken Cretney, president and CEO of Pavo, the provincial Crown corporation that owns and operates the Vancouver Convention Centre, added, “Vancouver is facing a significant shortage of hotel rooms, and we are excited to see the proposal to develop a unique hotel property on the waterfront. The new hotel will enhance the destination and generate not only economic impact but also community benefit.”
While not directly inspired by the McBarge, the proposed floating hotel rekindles the spirit of novelty and intrigue associated with the Expo ’86 World’s Fair’s iconic waterborne landmark of a floating McDonald’s restaurant in False Creek.
McDonald’s “McBarge” floating restaurant in False Creek during the Expo ’86 World’s Fair. (New McBarge)
Current condition of the former McBarge floating restaurant. (Bright Sun Films/YouTube)