Significant changes are in the offing for lodging operations in parts of Yellowstone National Park, where officials envision tens of millions of dollars of improvements.
The just released National Park Service contract proposal for Yellowstone indicates a number of major changes will take place in the park’s lodging facilities. The contract will run for 20 years and requires an estimated initial investment of nearly $45 million from the selected bidder. Additional outlays of $135 million will be required in a variety of facility improvements.
Xanterra Parks & Resorts, the existing concessionaire, currently operates all nine lodging facilities within the park. Xanterra is operating under a three-year extension that expires in November 2013, when the new contract is to take effect. The park’s other major concessionaire, Delaware North Companies Parks & Resorts, operates 12 general stores that are not part of the newly-issued contract proposal. Delaware North does own three hotels just outside the park’s west entrance in West Yellowstone, Montana.
Frontier Cabin at Canyon. David and Kay Scott photo.
Major changes are due for a number of the park’s lodging facilities. As an indication of the mammoth size of the park’s concession operation, consider that in 2010 gross revenues of the concessionaire amounted to $86 million, and the Park Service received franchise fees from the concessionaire of more than $2 million. Not surprisingly, the largest outlay by far will be at Canyon, Yellowstone’s biggest lodging complex and the one with the greatest need for upgrading. Other major outlays will be required in Mammoth, Lake, and the Old Faithful area. Another expensive project will deal with the Fishing Bridge RV Park.
The major improvement programs and outlays include:
Mammoth Hotel Area ($6.1 million) - Renovation of the vacant Haynes Photo Shop (south across the parade ground from the hotel) so administrative offices currently in the hotel’s second floor can be moved there. Vacated space in the hotel will be reconfigured into seven additional guest rooms, including one suite, three rooms without private baths, and three rooms with private baths. Construction is to commence in 2015 and is to be completed the next year. In addition, 14 cabins currently used as employee housing will be returned to use as guest cabins, necessitating the concessionaire to acquire employee housing outside the park.
Old Faithful Area ($9.7 million) - Construction of a 77-room employee dormitory so 67 cabins currently used by employees can be returned to visitor use. This project is to commence by 2016 and reach completion by 2018.
Lake Yellowstone Hotel ($16.5 million less $8 million provided by the existing concessionaire) - Retrofitting the hotel for seismic structural stabilization. Expanding deli services (currently a small operation in the east wing) by moving the current hotel administrative services (currently near the lobby in the east wing) to an adjacent boiler building that is to be remodeled and retrofitted for seismic stabilization. This work is to be completed by 2015.
Lake Area ($14 million) - Construction by 2016 of a 60-room employee dormitory as a replacement for the existing dormitory that is to be demolished. The expected cost is $5.4 million. At Lake Lodge Cabins, the proposal calls for rehabilitation of 19 Pioneer cabin buildings, rehabilitation and relocation of 15 additional Pioneer cabin buildings, and relocation of six four-plex Western cabin buildings. The expected cost of Lake Lodge Cabin renovations is $8.6 million.
Canyon Area ($70.5 million) - Construction of five lodges with a total of 407 guest rooms.
Frontier cabins, Old Faithful area. David and Kay Scott photo.
These include 60 lower-cost rooms with shared bathrooms, 10 suites, and 337 rooms similar to those currently in Dunraven and Cascade lodges that were constructed in 1999 and 1993, respectively. The new lodges will replace 407 guest rooms currently available in cabins that will be taken out. Thus, the number of guest rooms at Canyon will remain unchanged. The plan is to keep approximately 300 guest rooms open during the construction of the five lodges. Construction of the lodges is expected to be completed by 2018.
Fishing Bridge RV Park ($17.7 million) - Replacement of most of the infrastructure, redesign of three loops to handle larger RVs, remodeling of comfort stations and the camper services facility, and construction of a comfort station with showers. Construction is expected to take place in 2017 and 2018 when portions of the RV park may be closed.
In all, there will be a net increase of 88 guest rooms in the park.
The bottom line to all this appears to be that the Park Service has decided the time has come to undertake some long-delayed major projects that will be quite costly. In return, they are allowing the concessionaire (and the park, through added franchise fees) to take in additional revenues with added guest rooms, upgraded guest rooms that will almost certainly be rented at a higher price, a longer season for many rooms, and added food and beverage service that will in some cases be subject to an extended season.
The NPS is also taking the unusual step of allowing a 20-year concession contract, double the length of the typical contract for national park lodging facilities. It would be difficult to entice a concessionaire to agree to all the stipulated construction and renovations using a 10-year contract. The minimum franchise fee under the new contract is 6.8 percent of gross revenues. This seems considerably higher than the same fee under the existing contract that appears to be 2.5 percent based on gross revenues and the franchise fee paid in 2010.
Pioneer cabin, Lake area. David and Kay Scott photo.
Using 2010 gross revenues of $86 million, the new franchise fee of 6.8 percent would produce nearly triple the amount paid by the concessionaire to the Park Service. Unless the concessionaire operates on narrower margins, it would also suggest the cost of lodging and food will increase to cover the higher fee.
The changes will result in more overnight guests, especially in the Old Faithful area where additional rooms will be made available. Consider the masses of visitors and vehicles in this area with the current room count and then add an additional 67 cabins being released for public use. Additional overnight guests, in turn, will require additional employees. And the beat goes on.
David and Kay Scott are the authors of The Complete Guide To The National Park Lodges. Along with updates in their recently released 7th edition of the book is the insertion of full-color images from lodges and settings in the national parks.
Comments
YPW-hear hear! It seems we're going backwards to the 'olden days' when only the wealthy could afford to visit the more distant or isolated NPs. With the 'cheapest' hotel rooms going for upwards of $100.00 per night (for a small 'old side' room w/shared bath at OF Inn) to $600.00 per night (for a standard room at the Ahwanee), it's shortly going to get to the point where many people, especially many retirees (who need that bathroom!) & young families (who require more than just a small room), will no longer be able to stay 'in park'. A real shame. Yes, costs are going up all around us, but shouldn't part of the NPS's mission be to make a stay in our parks accessible to all, no matter their income? It's a shame that they're getting rid of the budget cabins, they were so reasonable. Unfortunately, other parks will follow suit if it makes $$$$$. Once again, I can see the problem clearly, but unfortunately, the solution eludes me. I'm sure the concessionaires want the big dollar hotels and the NPS wants the concessionaires.
Write your representatives and senators to demand more funding for the NPS. With decades of cramped budgets the NPS has no other alternatives than to turn to these revenue producing outlets. It's far from ideal, but it is predictable and understandable. Our tax dollars should go toward staffing all the vacant positions, reparing the maintanence backlog, and making entrance fees obsolete too, but the wise folks in Congress deem other things more important.
My memories of my childhood included staying at cheap cabins when my family really couldn't afford anything more expensive. I recall regular trips to Lake Tahoe where the rustic style cabins were typically less than $20 and demand frankly wasn't that high. I don't remember it, but I was told that we stayed in a rustic cabin at Curry Village. We stayed in a cabin at Giant Forest Village. As a small kid I thought it was awesome.
A few years back we went on that grand adventure that we never took as a family when I was younger. Most of the stays in NPS properties were in the budget style cabins, although I might have been on the border when I had to get creative with dates because availability was becoming and issue. For three people, we got some incredible rates. Maybe $70 a night at Old Faithful without a bathroom. $72 a night at the Pioneer cabins at Canyon Lodge. $62 for the Roughrider Cabins in Roosevelt. $80 a night (with phone and TV) in one of the quad cabins at Maswik in Grand Canyon NP. It was a bit on the expensive side at $110/night at one of the cabins in Colter Bay, but that was a real log cabin. I did splurge a bit and booked a night at Bryce Canyon Lodge, but $150 got a cabin designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood for the Union Pacific.
I don't know if I'll have those opportunities these days. Whenever there exists opportunities to remove budget accommodations due to maintenance issues, NPS seems to approve their removal with replacement in the form of higher priced lodging options. In some ways I understand this from a business standpoint. The concessionaire is going to want to make money, and more revenue will mean more money back to NPS. However, I have fond memories of this kind of lodging, and I'd love to be able to visit like this now that I have my own family. I'd just like the NPS to put their foot down and put it in contracts that budget lodging should be maintained because it's for the greater good. There's been talk about how we can have our youth appreciate our national parks rather than staying at home playing video games. Keeping affordable lodging that is within the reach of young families would be a pretty good start.
Y_P_W:
I agree completely! What's a kid growing up to think if they start out staying in upscale lodging when the goal is to appreciate the wild places and take with them the rich's and not leave their parents savings behind. My whole deal is to encourage the opportunity to connect with these places and much of the Hotel Management Concessionaire's Corporate mindset is focused on other priorities.
While I agree with your concern for affordable accomodations, it's not the concessionair's fault. These decisions are made by NPS (they are such control freaks that they even dictate what type and wattage light bulb goes in each fixture). How could the concessionair be making any decisions at YNP when the contract has not been awarded yet. The article clearly states that NPS is increasing their take by almost 300%!!! If you have a complaint, thank the elitist beaurocrats that run the Parks.
There was a story on the news the other night about the "graying" of our national parks, and how the average visitor age is going up, and how worried the park service supposedly is about this. If they were really worried, they'd be doing their best to provide inexpensive ways to visit the parks, including camping, lodging, and food. Especially since the price of gas is making a trip to the parks even more expensive.
Hi YPW,
I'm a reporter for the Jackson Hole News & Guide, and am working on a story about the redevelopment plans. Care to voice your opinion in a phone conversation? You'd be quoted in this Wednesday's weekly paper. Please give me a call at 9524127344 if you're interested.
Thanks,
Mike
Backcountry camping is not so pricey. We would all love to return to the good old days when everything was practically free. We could pet the grizzlies, ride the buffalo and wrestle Rangers. Swim where we want, drive wherever we want, pay for lodging only if we were ttally pleased with the accomodations, eat it and beat it for meals, etc. The world has changed, since then.