National parks: How to score last-minute lodging

While planning my recent trip to the Southwest, I found that every room on the south rim of the Grand Canyon was booked solid from August through November. I’ve often seen the same thing happen at other popular U.S. national park lodgings, too. So, if you’re taking an outdoor adventure trip soon, what’s the secret to scoring prime rooms inside our national parks?

Deal: You’ve basically got two choices. Either book your accommodations several months ahead of time, or take a gamble and wait until the last minute. Many national park lodges have similar reservation policies that allow guests to cancel their hotel stays up until 2 days before their stay for no penalty. If you start calling the lodge’s reservations number or check online a few days ahead of your trip, you may find a surprising number of vacancies.

For example, by calling at 7 a.m. MST (as soon as Xanterra’s reservations phone line opened) exactly 2 days before our desired stay at the Grand Canyon, we were able to get a beautiful room at the El Tovar Hotel for $173.98/night, including taxes and fees.

Are national park lodges worth the cost? Pitch your 2 cents into the Comments section below.

When: Check directly with the national park lodge or hotel you’re interested in for the exact details of their cancellation policies. That way, you’ll know when to start trying to reserve last-minute rooms.

Caveat: Not all national park lodgings have standardized room rates like at the Grand Canyon. At other parks, such as Yosemite and Sequoia, discounts are available for advance bookings, which means that last-minute rooms may cost significantly more.

Why Go: National park lodgings tend to be more atmospheric than hotels outside park boundaries.

Why Not: In-park lodgings usually have fewer amenities than standard hotels or some roadside motels.

Critique: Because they have a monopoly and due to their distance from major towns and cities, national park concessionaires that operate in-park lodgings often charge inflated rates. Most of their staff are seasonal employees, so you can expect quality of service to vary from year to year.

Connect/Disconnect: Park lodgings on the south rim of the Grand Canyon do not provide high-speed Internet access. In Yosemite, the Ahwahnee Hotel and the Yosemite Lodge at the Falls offer Wi-Fi Internet access for guests.

Contact: Xanterra South Rim, (303) 297-2757, (888) 297-2757
DNC Parks & Resorts at Yosemite, (559) 253-5635

Related Los Angeles Times links:
Visit U.S. national parks for free on Sept. 29
The Ahwahnee makes granite a girl’s best friend
Yosemite National Park hotel, cabin & camping roundup

– Sara Benson, L.A. Times Travel Deal Detective

[Photo: Xanterra Parks & Resorts]

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This entry was posted on Saturday, September 29, 2007 at 1:52 am by Sara Benson and is filed under Weekend Getaways. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.