Yellowstone Lodging: Booking Secrets
Yellowstone National Park. A Hard Place To Find a Bed?
So, you woke up one fine morning in April, and decided THIS is the year to explore Yellowstone. You’ve talked it over with the family, and everyone is psyched! Now, just a few hours on trip planning, and you are so there. Visions of waking up in your room at the Old Faithful Lodge dance in your head….kinda’ like those fabled sugarplums at Christmas time.
Xanterra Is The Key… But It Has a Lock
You begin to do due diligence. Aha! – you learn that an entity called Xanterra does all the reservations for most of the National Parks*. Then, you look at the dates for Old Faithful Lodge…only to see that unless you go before the middle of May (which DOES NOT jive with your travel plans) …there is no hope. Okay, you begin to get tense. Ditto Old Faithful Snow Lodge; Ditto Mammoth Hotel and Cabins; Ditto Lake Hotel and Cabins….and you begin to get the picture. Seems like there ain’t no room at the lodge.
So…do you ditch the itinerary? Disappoint everyone? Hell no!! You are better than that. You get out your faithful atlas or, better, go to one of our recommended booking sites… and see which towns are outside the park boundary. Sure, it may add a bit of drive time mornings and evenings – but you can explore the park and you will be blown away by those purple mountain’s majesty. And you may save money and see things beyond crowding around Old Faithful.
*Here is Xanterra’s Yellowstone’s site http://www.yellowstonenationalparklodges.com/ ; this is the general Xanterra website for other parks http://www.xanterra.com/explore/parks .
FYI….If you are a Yellowstone first-timer, don’t plan on staying at just one location to explore the park. Plan to stay at least 5 days. If you are an early planner and can get lodging in the park, I recommend staying at Mammoth Hot Springs (or outside park boundaries in the town of Gardiner); Old Faithful (or outside in the town of West Yellowstone) and Yellowstone Lake. Make sure you also either enter or exit the park at the South Entrance and visit the Grand Tetons. Jackson is a great town to visit after your Teton experience.
The Value of Being Flexible
Travel teaches so many things – among them, flexibility and perseverance. Take the ball in your hands – and run with it. Apply this Yellowstone example to any place on your list where the most obvious choices in lodging/itinerary is not possible. You can visit the places on your list. You might have to work a bit harder on the front end, but it will be worth it.
