Yellowstone National Park Lodges, Reservations Changed

[Mark Sedenquist]

Is it just me, or does this sound more complicated than the older system?

Yellowstone National Park Lodges, Campgrounds, Tours and Dinner Reservations Change on April 2022 to a 13-Month Rolling Calendar

New process will affect summer 2023 stay and beyond

Yellowstone National Park, October 22, 2021 — Xanterra Travel Collection, the company that operates all the lodging, campgrounds, dining and tours in Yellowstone National Park has announced a new process for booking reservations for Yellowstone. In April of 2022 (next year) the booking window for reservations will change to a 13-month rolling calendar. Specifically, on the 5th of each month, the new system will begin accepting reservations for the same entire month of the following year. For example, on April 5, 2022, guests will be able to make Yellowstone reservations for applicable dates and properties from April 1 through April 30, 2023.

Winter 2022/2023 (Dec 2022-Mar 2023) reservations will be opened under the current seasonal advance reservation window beginning on March 15, 2022. Future winter seasons beyond 2022/23 will follow the 13-month rolling window.

Once the new booking window is in place, on the 5th of each month guests will be able to reserve the applicable future periods online beginning at midnight (12:00 a.m.) Mountain time or over the phone beginning at 7:00 a.m.

Most the rooms and campgrounds in Yellowstone are available to book via the online reservations system. Due to the extreme demand, it is strongly encouraged future guests utilize the online system to avoid anticipated long wait times on the phone lines.

For more information and reservations,

Lodges include:
• Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel & Cabins
• Canyon Lodge & Cabins
• Old Faithful Snow Lodge & Cabins
• Old Faithful Inn
• Lake Lodge Cabins
• Old Faithful Lodge Cabins
• Lake Yellowstone Hotel & Cottages
• Roosevelt Lodge & Cabins
• Grant Village

Winter Hotels & Cabins include:
• Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel & Cabins (Winter)
• Old Faithful Snow Lodge & Cabins (Winter)

Campgrounds include:
• Fishing Bridge RV Park
• Madison Campground
• Grant Village Campground
• Canyon Campground
• Bridge Bay Campground

[AZBuck]

From a June, 2021 CBS report:

Having sat at home for much of 2020 because of the pandemic, Americans are heading out in droves to national parks like Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, and Yosemite National Park in California.

Overcrowding in recent weeks has prompted park officials to launch online reservation systems at places like Maine's Acadia National Park, Montana's Glacier National Park, Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park and Zion Natural Park in Utah. In locations without reservation systems, parkgoers say they've discovering few to no parking spaces, 4-hour wait times to enter and increased litter along park trails.

...and I don't think things ever go back to 'normal' after they've gone digital. But knowing this, we can encourage people to book early and send them to the proper website.

AZBuck

[landmariner]

The highly cynical part of me is firing up. Yes, that is a more complicated system for finding a window to book and is so far out in advance. How does 12 or 13 months make it less congested or crowded? Six months was fine. But the one thing that now raises its ugly head is the necessity to purchase trip insurance for every reservation when booking so far in advance. The pricing rules are rather severe unless you are going for one to two weeks to a specific location. The cancellation fees make it even worse.