Fortunately we were able to find a last minute availability that worked for our trip. We stayed in the El Dorado Diggins suite, a very unique two-room setup. It was perfect for our three-person family and our 12-year-old loved having his own room and bathroom. The hotel and room were dripping with historic charm and we look forward to coming back soon!

Underwhelming and disappointing. The Awanhnee WAS a grand gem of a hotel, but now it’s a tired, dated relic. We went to the bar for a cocktail and the bar staff were unprofessional, rude and unwelcoming—probably a symptom of the decaying hotel. The shrimp cocktail we ordered was horrible and the sazerac was just mediocre. Don’t waste your money here. You’re better off staying at the Rustic Creek or Firefall Ranch.

Please do not waste your money on this hotel. I love to stay at the National Park hotels, but have only stayed at the Xanterra Travel Collection hotels in Death Valley, Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon. They are all high quality, well run, and absolutely worth the premium price you pay. This was not that experience. This Aramark run property is horrible. The front desk was unhelpful and rude. The rooms do not have their own air conditioning or heat. It is shared amongst the rooms in the main building. It was unseasonably hot while we were there and they had not switched from heat to air, but they did direct us to use a small oscillating fan in the closet. Even though they state they are currently updating, I did not see any evidence of updates in the rooms. When I asked the front desk questions, the excuse was this is a historic building and little can be done to make it more comfortable. I beg to differ as I have stayed at the Death Valley Inn, also historic, but amazingly updated and comfortable. The location was beautiful and the valet staff was amazing, other than that, it was the worst hotel in or out of the national park system I have stayed in lately

We recently stayed at the Ahwahnee Lodge in Yosemite. The Park views were amazing as always. My desire to write a review wasn’t because of the park itself, it is because of the experiences we had with Aramark staff and the Aramark provided food at the Ahwahnee. The menu items in the bar were absolutely terrible. During the days we were there, and at one time or another, we ordered just about every item on the menu. Out of all of them, the only item we enjoyed was the hot pretzel. The charcuterie board was the worst I’ve ever had. The meat was obviously pre packaged and looked and tasted old. The grapes were definitely past their prime as well, and it looked like all of the items were just piled on the plate. The Brie cheese and olives that were buried on the bottom of the pile were good though. We are in no way food snobs, but it was noticed by all that the shrimp cocktail was even worse. The shrimp was dry, over seasoned with spice and was way past fresh. The sauce was little more than spicy ketchup. It was apparent that little effort was put into food preparation. The bar staff/servers were pleasant but appeared to be either new or very inexperienced. The buffet breakfast was much of the same. For $40 a person, I would have expected more. While dining, we had to listen to two servers talking shop. Specifically, we had to listen to one of the servers complain to other that he was reprimanded for looking less than professional. We were amused because he looked unshaven, disheveled, and unkept. Nevertheless, we found the experience to be unwanted and unprofessional. Again, we love Yosemite, and even love the lodge, but at $800 a night I would expect more from the services, staff and amenities. Oh, and don’t get me started on their inconsistent and untimely “shuttle service”. We were among many passengers that were not happy about the shuttle service being constantly inconsistent. We were all left to wait in sideways blowing snow for a shuttle that was never on time. NPS, please get it together. In my honest opinion, I believe that Aramark is absolutely wrecking the Yosemite lodging and services experience. They are T-E-R-R-I-B-LE!!!

My husbands Christmas gift to me was 3 days at The Ahwahnee and he had paid 50% of the stay. Unfortunately I got covid a few days before the scheduled trip. We called to reschedule to avoid bringing Covid to the hotel, but they would not allow a reschedule nor a refund because it was within 7 days of checkin. We lost the 50% and would need to pay 100% all over again to reschedule. This is a very outdated policy, at a minimum keep our money but let us reschedule to another time, life happens. We will not be scheduling a stay in the future.