10 Tips to Find National Park Lodging When Rooms Are Scarce

Advice for adventure travelers who consider national parks their playgrounds

America's national parks are wonderful playgrounds for adventure travelers but finding national park lodging during the summer can be difficult. Here are some tips for reserving national park lodging in rooms or cabins, if you want to hike among the hoodoos at Bryce, go rock climbing at Zion, hike past geysers at Yellowstone, go biking in bike in Death Valley, or play in other national parks.

These tips come from Dave Hartvigsen, marketing consultant for Xanterra Parks & Resorts, the company that operates lodges at Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Crater Lake and Death Valley National Parks, plus the Grand Canyon Railway in Williams, Ariz. "Even though we do not expect record occupancy in national parks this summer, we do think Americans will be making last-minute plans to visit national parks," says Hartvigsen. So if adventure travel in the parks is your idea of fun, read on for tips for find rooms and cabins in some of the most popular national parks in the U.S.

10 Tips for Finding National Park Lodging

The shrinking window for booking national park lodging. Internet savvy travelers who plan and book vacations online - especially those being extra cautious because of the economic downtown - are reserving lodge rooms at national parks closer to their travel dates. So, the farther out you can book, the better your chances of getting the rooms or cabin you'd prefer.

Be flexible. Because some people make their plans far in advance, they often have to change or cancel existing reservations. Be as flexible as possible with travel dates and choice of lodging and you stand a better chance of getting a room on short notice.

Best times to visit national parks for the smallest crowds. Regardless of which park you are visiting, consider traveling during the first two weeks of June, the last 10 days of August or the first two weeks of September. Families with schoolchildren are either winding down after the end of school or gearing up for the beginning of school, so those periods, although still considered peak season, are a little slower than the rest of the summer. Additionally, individual parks have unique soft spots. For example, Yellowstone has considerable availability during the entire month of May and late August through the end of the season in mid-October.

Jump in when group tour operators release rooms Group tour operators reserve blocks of rooms in advance in anticipation of selling these rooms as part of tour packages to the United States. If all the rooms are not sold, operators must release them for resale approximately 30 days out. Want to travel on July 30? Try booking on June 30 or July 1.

Be persistent. Rooms open up due to a variety of reasons, and are often very quickly re-booked every day. The quickest way to check availability is by going to the web site and following the link for reservations. Bookmark the web site and check it frequently to see if rooms have become available.

Be a bargain-hunter and look for packages. Prices at lodges, restaurants and gift shops inside the parks can be lower than prices at facilities outside the parks. This is partly because every room, meal and souvenir sold by a concessioner within a national park is priced based on comparable items outside a park. The National Park Service monitors and approves all rates charged within the boundaries of every national park in the country and pricing is often more affordable than travelers might expect. Packages can reduce the cost of a visit. Yellowstone has introduced a series of value-focused Yellowstone Summer Getaway Packages representing discounts of up to 25 percent that include specially priced lodging and, in some cases, tours of the park. The Grand Canyon Railway in Williams, Ariz. offers a variety of packages including the Canyon Limited Plus, with lodging in Williams as well as at the Grand Canyon South Rim, coach class train travel to and from the Canyon and some meals.

Watch out for third-party reservations web sites that charge a non-refundable fee to make reservations at in-park lodges. Xanterra's reservations services are free. These third-party sites also can be misleading in other ways. For a good overview of what to watch for, visit Xanterra.

Book activities and make dinner reservations in advance. Dining rooms do fill, so if you want a meal in one of the lodges, plan ahead. Popular activities like the Old West Dinner Cookout at Yellowstone's Roosevelt Lodge fill up fast too. Phone numbers for making reservations can be easily found on all Xanterra web sites.

Just show up. Travelers who arrive between noon and 6 p.m. often find last-minute rooms available. Once in a park, the front desk at any lodge can check availability for all rooms within the park.

Booking online is usually the quickest way to secure a reservation. Visit Xanterra's web site at Xanterra.com for general information on the parks operated by Xanterra as well as lodging descriptions, rates and availability. Travelers can check room availability too via Xanterra's online reservations calendar. Another good source of information on national parks is the National Park Service website at National Park Service.

Links to Book National Park Lodging at Specific Parks

National park rooms at the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Bryce, Zion, Crater Lake and Death Valley can be booked online. Here are the links: at www.travelyellowstone.com, www.grandcanyon lodges.com, www.zionlodge.com. Also at www.brycecanyonlodge.com, ; and Furnace Creek Resort and Stovepipe Wells in Death Valley.