Search for Grey Cup accommodations may leave fans out in cold

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This article was published 13/11/2022 (772 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers fans seeking to cheer on their team in person Sunday in Regina will likely have trouble finding a place to stay. Hotels across the Queen City are booked solid ahead of the CFL title game.

Jamie Kerenko has been to 25 Grey Cup games in his lifetime. However, because he currently can’t find a hotel to stay in, Kerenko isn’t sure if he can get that number up to 26.

“We never got in early enough,” Kerenko, 58, said Monday, while checking out the wares at the Bomber Store at IG Field. “We got a few friends going, so I might be able to jump in with them.”

Kerenko said he’s been trying to book a room in the Saskatchewan capital since last year. “There’s not a lot of rooms in Regina to start with, so it’s pretty limited accommodations.”

On Sunday, the Blue and Gold won the West Division final at home, 28-20, against the B.C. Lions, securing a place in the 109th Grey Cup.

The two-time defending champions from Winnipeg are seeking to make it three in a row Nov. 20, against the East Division-winning Toronto Argonauts.

Many local hotels have had no vacancies available for Grey Cup week since the beginning of the year, according to Shari McCannel of the Regina Hotel Association.

“Pretty much since the Grey Cup was announced for Regina, our rooms got sold out right away,” McCannel said Monday. “The number of rooms they have available changes every hour.”

Self-described Bombers super-fan Tony Carvalho is staying at an Airbnb in Regina this weekend.

“Pretty much a lot of people are struggling to find accommodations,” he said. “It’s been nothing but booked for two years.”

Carvalho said he’s noticed some accommodations become available in recent days, but the amount of money being charged each night is too high.

A search on Airbnb’s website shows three accommodations available Saturday to Monday in Regina, ranging from $510 to $1,971 per night.

Other fans with local options plan to stay at home and drive into Regina for game day.

Alex Slough, 26, said she has been a Bombers fan her whole life. Sunday, however, will be her first Grey Cup game.

“I’m very excited. It’s going to be an awesome experience,” Slough said while shopping at the Bomber Store.

Slough lives in Strasbourg, Sask., a small town about an hour’s drive from Regina. She said city hotel rooms are scarce: “We didn’t try to get any.”

While many hotels in Regina currently don’t have rooms available, McCannel said she anticipates some cancellations leading up to game day.

“Individuals that think they might want to come to the Grey Cup, they’ll book their room early, and then, maybe their team isn’t in it the game, so they end up cancelling down the road,” she said, a warning such newly open reservations are quick to be snapped up.

“They’re getting sold pretty much as soon as they become available. One member, for example, had 20 rooms become available a couple weeks ago, and those rooms were sold out within 45 minutes.”

fpcity@freepress.mb.ca