Wawona Hotel

Stay here only if you want to experience what it was like to stay in a hotel 100 years ago. We stayed 2 nights in a room with a bathroom, but there was a locked door in the bathroom leading to another room. You could see and hear through the cracks, meaning no privacy. In addition, the walls are paper thin. The lights outside the room illuminating the walkways are very bright and it felt like sleeping during the daylight. There is wifi available only in the lobby and the "sun room," but the sun room had not been cleaned in a long while nor was it cleaned during our stay. And, anyway, the wifi was horrible. Sort of like when we all had AOL dial up. The room and bathroom were not well-cleaned. covered in dust. The room was tiny, and had only one chair for sitting. The bed stood too high to use it for sitting. There is outdoor seating, but it was below freezing outside at night and in the morning. I understand that accommodations in national parks may be a bit rustic, but we stayed the next night in the John Muir Lodge in Kings Canyon and it was lovely and comfortable.

The good: The desk staff at the hotel were amazing as well as the dining room staff. The ambience/history of this hotel is very interesting. We very much enjoyed sitting in the lobby near the fire to use the Internet. We had a lovely dinner and delicious wine and an excellent, friendly waitress. The room was very clean and our bed, although small, was comfortable. I thought the original clawfoot bathtub and tiny corner sink were cool. The not-so-good: although I knew there was no Internet or TV, my husband was not very happy about that. So just be aware that you really just go back to your room to sleep or read a book. It is nice to sit in the lobby where the Internet connection was fairly decent. You pay for all meals, nothing complementary, and it is expensive. But delicious. The place is experiencing a makeover but they have a long road ahead of them. We were glad to have a bathroom in attached to a room but just be aware that it’s a clawfoot tub that you have to climb into -it was a little tricky. Others have said this, but I will repeat that it’s one of those places that’s a throwback, one of a kind and I’m really glad we stayed there. It’s 45+ minutes from Yosemite activities, so if you really want to be in the park, you should stay further up the mountain .

I made a 7 day reservation for this hotel over 6 months ago to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. We are avid hikers and Yosemite was number one on our bucket list. Today, 32 days before we are due to be there, they send me an automated message saying my reservation has been canceled by them. After many calls to both Aramark and the hotel we are told that the hotel has structural damage and they had to cancel 8 or 9 reservations and ours was one of them. But they are both very “sorry”. No suggestions about my non-refundable plane tickets to Fresno or the fact that it’s impossible to find a new anniversary location because we are now only 32 days away from the dates. To say I’m angry would be an understatement. They don’t care at all. I wish there was more I could do besides leaving bad reviews but I have to do something so this will be the first of many.

We’ve been to Yosemite several times over the years, and we’ve stayed at the Wawona many times. The service seems to be on a serious downward trend. It is so incredibly disappointing. The park is one of the most extraordinary places on the planet. Might be one of

We had a comfortable, pleasant two-night stay at the Wawona Hotel during a partly warm and partly snowy April weekend. Our ensuite room was clean and comfortable, though minimal. We had to use a chair as a second bedside table. The heating system, modernized some time ago, worked well. Make sure to ask the front desk for amenities such as a blow dryer if you find the spartan accommodations lacking. The wifi did not reach our room on the far corner of the second floor, but the cellular service was strong enough at about 3 bars which was better than expected. Also, being at the far corner meant waiting a while for the warm water to pipe to our room. The two chairs and table outside the door on the veranda were a nice to have, particularly given the small size of the room. The dining was good. Dinner was better than breakfast. I really liked the trout dish. My only complaint about the food: the breakfast potatoes were either mushy or burnt. Service at the front desk and in the dining room was great. Watch your step. The footing can be uneven, un-level, and sometimes slippery.

Sorry, but can’t recommend. I’m sitting in the lobby, after 5:00 pm. Staff are telling incoming guests that their rooms aren’t ready. When we arrived a couple of days ago, the thermostat in our room didn’t work and the heat was unbearable. Asked for a different room. At supper in the dining room, there’s a broken window, so it’s cool/cold. Limited menu. At breakfast, we waited and waited for service. The hostess came to us, apologized and took our order. Didn’t receive all of my order (no toast). A guest obviously had diarrhea in the communal toilet last night - it wasn’t cleaned today. Aramark isn’t doing a good job at all here. NPS should find a better contractor.

Wawona is nice but not near the valley even though it's in the park. We had fun lounging on the big front porch, where they also serve drinks in the evening. We stayed in a room with ensuite bath. The room and the grounds were charming. It's old, so there are some rough edges and minor inconveniences.

Beware. My partner and I had a great time at the Wawona Hotel over a several day visit over New Year’s Eve last year (2022/2023). We were excited for a repeat visit this year and extended our stay to 4 nights, thinking that this may turn into an annual event. However there were several issues this time that soured our experience. The first set of issues was around the hotel restaurant. Limited dinner menu (3 items) on first night which was repeated for NYE during which they ran out of one entree by 7pm. Meanwhile the items that were not available on our first round of meals were not replenished over the next few days. As a result we stopped eating at the hotel restaurant and ate outside the park. The staff was apologetic, but it seemed clear that these issues were intentionally not solved due to Yosemite Hospitality’s decision to limit spending at the end of the year. A second issue was in difficulty communicating with the hotel. Two phone numbers are provided – to the front desk and to the restaurant – but over multiple attempts to make dinner reservation for NYE in advance, neither phone was answered, and the voice mail box for the front desk was full. How is this being responsive to your guests? A third issue was around the lack of NYE festivities. Last year the hotel lobby was vibrant and active, with live music, balloons, and a crowd ordering drinks from the bar. This year none of that was present. The Wawona has a captive crowd of potential spenders, and this year we felt chased away. Fourth, the Wawona Hotel seems to be decaying faster than it’s being repaired. A year after our first visit there is still caution tape around two different outside staircases keeping guests away from rotting wood steps. I watched elderly guests having a hard time navigating around water puddles and mud patches to travel between the hotel lobby and the surrounding room buildings. Good management works to prevent problems, not wait until an injury happens to take a corrective step. All of these issues are preventable. All of these issues are solvable. And all of these issues are the result of management decisions that prioritize cost savings above guest experience.

Very cool collection of historic hotel buildings. But be aware they're old and have idiosyncrasies. 1 - The website should clarify if rooms without bath have a sink or not. We learned that only the Annex rooms have a sink, and the other buildings have no sink. 2 - The drinking water situation for rooms without sink once the single exterior water filling station is shut off for the winter is absurd. You have to wait in line at the front desk so you can hand them individual containers to fill at the restaurant. How is there not an interior public accessible water filling station, or a winterized exterior one that doesn't need shut off? We weren't going to have the desk fill our Camelbaks and collection of water bottles, so we ended up having to use the public bathroom sinks which was a bit gross. 3 - Our door knob pulled off when trying to exit the room, and looking at it it didn't seem like that was the first time. Luckily there's a knob on the deadbolt you can pull but it'd be hard for someone with arthritis to grip it. 4 - The lobby piano player has been doing it for 40 yr, and it's great to see that get people to hang out in the lobby instead of hiding in their rooms. 5 - The bar should stay open as long as the piano player not close an hour earlier.