The cost of the mandatory three-day hotel quarantine, which goes into effect Monday, appears to be well below the $ 2,000 per person price that officials stated when the new program was announced.
Nightly rates at the Alt Hotel Toronto Airport and the Sheraton Gateway Hotel at Toronto Pearson International Airport, two of the hotels named as participants in the state quarantine program on Friday, start at $ 339 and $ 319, respectively, for a single person quarantined will and their staff will answer the phone in these hotels said.
These prices include all quarantine-related costs, including food and safety, the staff said.
At the Calgary Airport Marriott In-Terminal Hotel, the three-day quarantine for one person costs $ 1,272 plus tax, including food for three days and $ 75 for security, said a representative who answered the phone.
The federal government published a list of 11 approved hotels in the four cities that are allowed to land international flights on Friday.
On January 29, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that all travelers entering Canada by air would be required to be quarantined in a hotel for three days at their own expense. The cost would exceed $ 2,000 per person.
At a press conference on Friday, Trudeau addressed problems travelers had in reaching the phone line set up by the Canadian government to make reservations at the designated quarantine hotels.
“Our officials are working very hard to have the quarantine system in place by Monday and we can communicate with Canadians about instructions on how to comply,” Trudeau said.
Several calls from the Canadian press on the same phone line went unanswered on Friday morning.
Many Canadians overseas planned to return home before hotel quarantine went into effect on Feb.22, said Martin Firestone, travel insurance broker and president of Travel Secure Inc.
Other Firestone’s customers have extended their overseas stays or are planning to cross a land border to avoid hotel quarantine, he said.
“None of them are planning hotel quarantine,” said Firestone.
READ MORE: Non-essential travelers will have to pay mandatory testing and hotel costs as Trudeau announces new COVID rules
READ MORE: Mandatory Hotel Quarantines May Harm Low Income Canadians: Lawyer
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