Stay Vancouver Promotion: Up to $500 Off Vancouver Hotels!

The ever-lucrative Stay Vancouver promotion has returned yet again.

This time, it's offering up to $250 in prepaid Mastercard gift cards for two-night stays, or up to $500 for four-night stays at Vancouver hotels between March 1 and April 30, 2026.

Importantly, some bookings are non-refundable and non-cancellable, but it can still make for a great deal.

Stay Vancouver: Up to $500 in Mastercard Gift Cards

Supported by Vancouver's tourism council, Stay Vancouver is a promotion incentivizing travellers to visit the city, stay with its hotels, and spend money locally to support the local tourism sector.

To that end, the promotion offers Mastercard prepaid gift cards of up to $250 for a two-night stay, or up to $500 for a four-night stay at a participating hotel.

For two-night stays, you'll receive $150, $200, $225, or $250 in gift cards upon check-in, depending on which hotel you've booked. For four-night stays, the amounts double to $300, $400, $450, or $500.

This edition's structure is a bit different from recent past promotions. While the two-night gift card values are slightly lower than the previous round (up to $250 vs. $350), the new four-night option effectively doubles the reward and opens up longer stays as a viable strategy.

The highlights of terms and conditions of the current promotion are as below:

• You must book through StayVancouverHotels.com using the promo code "PrepaidCard"
• Depending on which hotel you book, you'll get a prepaid Mastercard worth $150–$250 for a two-night stay, or $300–$500 for a four-night stay
• The stays must occur between March 1, 2026, and April 30, 2026
• The prepaid card will be given to you upon check-in
• Some bookings are non-refundable and non-cancellable
• Maximum of three bookings per guest
• One card per stay of three nights or under; maximum two cards for four or more nights
• Consecutive nights booked as separate reservations will be treated as a single reservation
• Other terms and conditions apply

There are over 40 participating hotels in the Downtown Vancouver area, and they'll each offer gift cards of $150, $200, $225, or $250 for a two-night stay (or double for four nights), depending on the hotel's underlying nightly rate.

Gift Card Usage

These gift cards will be delivered upon check-in. Typically, the check-in staff will ask whether you'd simply like to skip the physical gift card itself and use the amount to offset against your room charge, so you can think of the gift card as essentially a straight-up discount against the nightly rate.

Of course, you also have the option of keeping the Mastercard gift card for spending elsewhere along your travels, and paying for the full amount of your hotel bill using a co-branded credit card (such as the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card) to maximize your points earnings.

The New Four-Night Option

The biggest change in this edition is the introduction of a four-night stay tier. In previous rounds, the gift card was only offered for two-night stays, which incentivized hotel-hopping every two nights. Now, staying four nights at a single hotel gets you a gift card worth double the two-night amount.

Interestingly, the per-night math works out to exactly the same discount either way. At the $250 tier, for example:

• Two-night stay: $250 gift card ÷ 2 nights = $125 per night discount
• Four-night stay: $500 gift card ÷ 4 nights = $125 per night discount

So the raw value is the same. But the four-night option has some distinct advantages: you avoid the hassle of packing up and switching hotels, and if you're a loyalty program member, you'll accumulate more elite qualifying nights at a single property. For Marriott Bonvoy members chasing status, four nights at a property like the JW Marriott Parq is a meaningful chunk of elite night credits.

The hotel-hopping strategy still has its appeal, though. Two separate two-night stays at different hotels gives you variety, and you could potentially earn elite nights across multiple chains (e.g., two nights Marriott + two nights Hyatt). Just remember that the terms state "booking subsequent nights as separate reservations will be treated the same as a single reservation for multiple nights," so you'll need to physically change hotels for this to work.

Does Stay Vancouver Qualify for Hotel Loyalty Programs?

One key question among those of us who participate in hotel loyalty programs like Marriott Bonvoy is whether we'll receive rewards points and elite night credits, as well as whether we'll be able to enjoy our existing elite benefits, for our stays under the Stay Vancouver promotion.

After all, bookings at Marriott and other chain hotels made via third-party travel agencies are typically not entitled to participate in hotel loyalty programs.

The good news, however, is that Stay Vancouver, Visit Richmond, and Edmonton's Best Hotels promotions typically don't count as a third-party travel agency; instead, what they do is take bookings via their portal and then subsequently make bookings directly at the participating hotels on your behalf.

Once these bookings are complete, you can typically get in touch with the hotel via email and request to add your elite membership number to the file, after which the booking will show up in your "Upcoming Trips" section just like any booking you've made yourself.

You'll be able to earn points, earn elite qualifying nights, qualify for promotions, and enjoy your elite benefits during the stay all the same.

Maximize This Promotion for Your Trips to Vancouver

Let's discuss a few different ways to maximize this promotion, which should be interesting to folks all across Canada, whether you're considering a visit to Vancouver or you're local to the Lower Mainland.

Clearly, a Mastercard gift card of up to $250 (or $500 for four nights) can make visits to Downtown Vancouver a lot more affordable. This will be true whether you typically like to patronize high-end luxury hotels or prefer to stay at more budget-friendly accommodations.

For example, if you're looking at the premier Marriott hotel in Vancouver, the regular rate at the JW Marriott Parq Vancouver is currently sitting at around $377 + tax per night.

That would be offset by a $250 gift card to result in a net cost of $252 + tax per night for the first two nights, which is a very attractive price point for an all-round excellent property. Furthermore, you can chance your way to a nice suite upgrade if you have Marriott Platinum Elite status or above.

Other upscale hotels in Downtown Vancouver can be brought down to a lower net cost, too.

For example, you could book a two-night stay at the Fairmont Pacific Rim for $439 + tax per night, which would be offset by a $250 gift card. This brings down the nightly cost to just $314 + tax per night.

No matter which hotel you choose, previous Stay Vancouver promotions have seen certain hotel deals sell out pretty quickly, so I'd recommend taking a look sooner rather than later.

Conclusion

The Stay Vancouver promotion has been a perennial favourite in the Canadian travel scene, whether you're looking for a cheap stay in Downtown Vancouver for an upcoming trip or you're a local resident who's craving a staycation.

The current Spring 2026 edition introduces a new four-night option with up to $500 in gift cards, alongside the familiar two-night option with up to $250. Make sure to book before the limited-quantity promotion ends if you're interested in a discounted Vancouver hotel stay from March 1 to April 30, 2026.