VANCOUVER, B.C.: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is calling on the B.C. government to explain more than $104,000 of spending at Fairmont hotels in B.C., according to government purchase-card disclosures. Nearly half of that spending occurred at luxury hotels that are not on the government’s own approved accommodation list. 

“Taxpayers deserve to know why politicians and bureaucrats are running up six-figure tabs at luxury hotels while hiking taxes and borrowing billions,” said Carson Binda, B.C. Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. “If the government is serious about saving money, telling bureaucrats not to book luxury hotels would be a good place to start.” 

Provincial government ministries charged $104,260 to government purchase cards at six Fairmont properties between April 2024 and March 2026. The province publishes those purchase card records in the B.C. Data Catalogue. The total nets out reversals and refunds. 

The spending included: 

• $36,382 at the Fairmont Vancouver Airport 
• $30,577 at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver 
• $23,499 at the Fairmont Waterfront Vancouver 
• $7,032 at the Fairmont Empress Victoria 
• $5,744 at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler 
• $1,026 at the Fairmont Pacific Rim 

Deputy Premier Niki Sharma’s Ministry of Attorney General ran up the largest bill at $45,908, with $31,615 of it at the Fairmont Vancouver Airport in Richmond. 

The provincial government’s Business Travel Accommodation Listing includes 366 hotels in B.C. that bid for government rates. The government’s travel policy tells bureaucrats to book hotels in B.C. from the list and to get pre-authorization before they exceed those rates. 

That list includes just two of the six Fairmont properties. It leaves out the Fairmont Vancouver Airport, the Fairmont Empress, the Fairmont Chateau Whistler and the Fairmont Pacific Rim. Ministries charged $50,184 at those hotels anyway.  

“The provincial government built an approved hotel list so taxpayers wouldn’t be stuck paying for luxury, but ministers like Sharma keep letting their staff go around it,” Binda said. “British Columbians dreading the sales tax hike Oct. 1 don’t want to be covering rooms at the Empress and Chateau Whistler.” 

The two Fairmont properties that are on the list, the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver and Fairmont Waterfront Vancouver, are tied for eighth most expensive in the province at $267 per night in October 2026, compared to a median rate of $149. 

Bureaucrats could have booked cheaper in every one of those communities. Fifteen approved hotels sit next to the Vancouver airport and charge $163 to $259 a night. Victoria offers 34, topping out at $219. Whistler offers exactly one, the Pinnacle Hotel Whistler, at $149.

“We’re facing the worst finances in our provincial history and spending like this shows just how out-of-touch the Eby government is,” Binda said. “This provincial government keeps promising it’s looking for savings while handing taxpayers luxury hotel bills.

“The province must release a transaction level invoice so taxpayers can see exactly how our money was spent at these luxury hotels.”