The Importance of Timing When Reserving Hotel Rooms
There are few places in the world where one can reserve a hotel room that are as beautiful as those cities and towns near the various national parks in the United States. Places near powerhouses like Grand Canyon, Zion, Glacier, and Yellowstone National Parks are about as beautiful and memorable as any location on Earth. Many of the lodging establishments in and around these spots have an incredible rustic ambiance and typically construct and design their national park lodge to reflect the natural surroundings of the national park that they represent. It really is no wonder that tourists continue to book themselves a national park lodge year after year. The guest experience is phenomenal. Whether you have national park lodge experience or not, here are some suggestions to help you time everything right so that you get the most out of staying in these wonderful places.
Things You Should Do
Reserve a room in a lodge that is either inside the park you are visited or right outside it – within walking distance if you can. The city of Springdale, UT, for example, features lodges such as The Cliffrose and Cable Mountain Lodge whose properties are mere steps from the entrance to Zion National Park. Staying in such places will save you so much time and eliminate headaches associated with parking, traffic, time, and energy.
Remember that a national park lodge in such close proximity to the front gates tends to fill up fast – very fast. Book up to a year or more in advance to secure these great places to stay. Procrastinating a reservation when traveling to national parks, particularly if there is a specific place you have in mind for lodging, is not a great idea as there tends to be limited availability as more people every year come to visit yet the number of rooms in town increase very slowly, if at all in these towns.
Instead of solidifying one very specific set of dates and planning your trip around them, do you best to allow date flexibility. Call your national park lodge of choice and ask them what dates have the most availability, say within a particular month, and then make your reservations around what’s available.
Keep yourself periodically informed about cancellations, particularly if you have one national park lodge in mind. People cancel more often than you might think and you can grab these sudden vacancies by calling the hotel every so often as well as checking their website.
Not only should you not procrastinate booking your national park lodge, but you should also use the same mindset where dining is concerned. Many national park lodges have in-house restaurants and allow guests who have reserved rooms in the future to also reserve tables far in advance. It’s worth it to call restaurants of interest and find out how far in advance they allow patrons to make reservations. The sooner you book, the less stress you’ll have.
And finally, there is yet one more aspect of your national park vacation that requires careful planning ahead and that concerns any guided tours that you and your party are interested in taking. These, perhaps more than anything, fill up the fastest particularly during the peak months of the national park. Like your national park lodge, book guided tours a year or more in advance to make sure you get in.
Conclusion
Many of these suggestions could certainly apply to booking hotels in general, but they are worth pointing out because when it comes to a national park lodge, we think that these tips apply even more. We hope this information helps you!
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