How to Book Hotel for Quarantine in Canada?

Canada has enforced stricter quarantine restrictions, making it mandatory for “ALL” travelers arriving by “AIR” to quarantine for the first 3 days in a designated hotel, in and around the 4 international airports, where all arriving flights are being funneled. These airports are – Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and Calgary

The list of the hotels has been published and can be found here.

This requirement of mandatory hotel quarantine applies to all arriving travelers, with exception of very few categories of people. This exemption list can be found here.

Save you the trouble of looking through the exemption list, let me clarify and tell you that this mandatory quarantine is applicable to

• most returning citizens and permanent residents from their trips abroad,
• all newly arriving immigrants,
• all international students,
• most workers (very few categories are exempted)

The cost of this hotel quarantine has to be borne by the traveler and must be booked and paid for before arriving in Canada. The purpose is for you to isolate yourself under the supervision of health authorities while awaiting the COVID test that will be done on arrival.

If the results are negative, you will be allowed to proceed to your onward destination or your home and complete the remainder of the 14-day quarantine.

If the test results are positive, then you will be moved to a federally designated institution for further observation or quarantine.

Which Hotels to Book:

Hotel stopover bookings are managed by GB Travel Canada Inc. and are available by phone only.

If your flight to Canada is scheduled within the next 48 hours, call to reserve and pay for your mandatory 3-night hotel stopover:

• 1-800-294-8253 (toll-free within North America)
• 1-613-830-2992 (collect outside of North America)

How to book and pay for the hotel:

Since you will be calling international, it’s best to get a virtual number or Skype subscription and call from your laptop so that it doesn’t get disconnected easily. There are several reports of calls getting disconnected after a long wait, making this a very frustrating experience.

This is what to expect once you call the above numbers:

1. Expect to be on hold for 3-4 hours. They are experiencing a very high number of calls.
   I would suggest calling around 4-6 pm EST since it will be way past midnight in India and hence there may be a reduction in the number of calls.
   You’ll get connected to an agent who will complete your booking
2. The agent will need your full name, DOB, Email address, Phone number, Flight number, arriving airport, origin airport.
   Then they will give you the options (could be the cheapest hotel available or as per your specific preference)
3. Only the arriving passengers can book for themselves.
4. All hotels include security, health supervision, 3 meals, and transportation to the hotels through shuttles
5. All rooms include meals and are non-refundable. Ensure to mention or indicate any meal preferences with regards to your dietary or religious requirements.
6. You will be required to provide your credit card details.
7. Once confirmed you will receive a confirmation number and record locator for your reference. You should also receive an email with the confirmation and other relevant details.
8. If you use a credit card that is not in your name, you may have to call the hotel directly and have the hotel then authorize the credit card use, before this booking can be confirmed.

ProTip = Skype offers a trial subscription for 1 month. The same goes for several other providers. You may also use Zoom Phone Call for this service.

#StaySafe

#foreverhopeful