Yosemite: Lodge-booking tips for last-minute planners

You can’t let a whole summer go by without visiting Yosemite, can you? In-park lodging at one of America’s favorite national parks tends to fill up quickly and early, with many visitors booking their stays up to a year and a day ahead.

But for those of you who haven’t planned ahead, is a summer stay in a Yosemite cabin or ready-made canvas tent merely a pipe dream? Not at all. The majority of accommodations run by park concessionaire DNC Parks & Resorts have been sold out this summer, for weekend stays especially, according Kenny Karst, DNC’s public relations manager. But here are some tips to help get you experiencing Yosemite without having to search for your bag of tent stakes:

Book for late summer: If you can spare a few days midweek in the late summer, you may be set. I’m seeing availability in late August and throughout September at Curry Village in Yosemite Valley, as well as at the Wawona Hotel, the park’s oldest hotel, sitting stately about 27 miles from the Valley.

Midweek, late-summer stays of three consecutive nights at the aforementioned, among others, are being promoted via a current special by DNC Parks & Resorts. But before you book through this deal, check out your price options with and without using the offer promotion code (”Summer”) — I tested it, and found good savings in some instances but not in others.

Don’t rule out a last-minute conquest: “Sometimes people cancel reservations,” said Karst. “Occasionally you can actually get a reservation the day of your arrival.” However, he advises against counting on it.

Last July, my family and I scored a same-day cabin at White Wolf Lodge, where it’s notoriously nearly impossible to get a cabin, as there are only four. Granted, we scored the cabin just after a major fire had begun near the park, so cancellations were far more likely than they normally are.

Call into the park 10 days in advance: Those folks who book way ahead for a Yosemite room, tent cabin or tent must put down a first-night’s deposit to secure their space. But stuff comes up, and people cancel … and in order to receive a return on their deposit, they must cancel 10 days before their planned arrival. And guess what? These very same people who planned their stay a year in advance may just wait until the very last-minute to change their minds.

Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box, or park: If you can’t find what you’re looking for within the park, consider staying one of the many lodges outside of the park. This cabin and camping roundup of possible accommodations includes options in Fish Camp and Midpines.

— Susan Derby, Special to the Los Angeles Times

[Top photo: The 19th-century Wawona Hotel. Credit: Chris Reynolds / Los Angeles Times]

[Bottom photo: Cedar Lodge in El Portal is only eight miles from Yosemite's southwest boundary. Credit: Chris Reynolds / Los Angeles Times]

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 29, 2009 at 2:00 pm by Susan Derby and is filed under California, Deals, Family & Kids, Hotels, Last Minute, National Parks, Sierra Nevada, Summer, Yosemite National Park. 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.