Liz Adkins diligently saved money for several months to be able to fund a family trip to Yellowstone National Park.
In the afternoon of a bustling August day, just moments after Old Faithful erupted, she detailed the morning routine of packing lunch to save some money. The Adkins family would prepare their dinners at the KOA campground in Cody, where they rested for the night. Their well-anticipated trip to witness Yellowstone’s vast 2.2 million acres, dedicated “for the benefit and enjoyment of the people” over a century and a half ago, left little room for extravagance.
With a chuckle, Adkins let WyoFile in on a little secret – “We have a plan to splurge on dinner on our final night.”
The dual-income family of five couldn’t afford luxuries such as a Cody hotel room, which had a starting rate of $200 per night. Adkins is employed in the construction industry, while her husband earns a paycheck from a boating business. In order to save money, the family made efforts to reduce expenses, and as a result, they were able to keep their week-long road trip’s total cost to approximately $2,000, according to Adkins.
Adkins is not alone in facing challenges in achieving what was previously considered an economical summer vacation for middle-class individuals: embarking on a road trip to admire bison, marvel at geysers, and appreciate waterfalls in Yellowstone National Park. Several factors contribute to the increasing cost and difficulty of planning a spontaneous summer trip. Campgrounds are fully reserved months ahead of time. Inflation has consistently surpassed national wage growth in recent years, and the cost of accommodation in certain entryway communities has escalated at an even swifter rate.
Yellowstone frequently adopts a similar approach. Approximately half of its rooms have prices determined by comparing them to similar rooms outside the park, with Xanterra, its largest concessionaire, setting the rates. However, in the remaining half of its rooms, including the renowned Lake Hotel and Old Faithful Inn, price controls have been abandoned, resulting in even more rapid price increases.
According to Jesse O’Connor, a seasoned Yellowstone tour guide, the rising expenses associated with a national park getaway have altered the characteristics of the average visitor.
O’Connor, from Jackson, expressed concern about the national parks moving towards catering to the wealthier population, resulting in the exclusion of the middle class. He pointed out that restaurant prices and room rates have been rising, and it seems like everything is becoming more expensive, surpassing the wage increases we receive.
O’Connor has felt the pinch personally, and he’s tracked the climbing rates. Every other October since a 1991 honeymoon stay, he’s booked the exact same bathroomless room in the Old Faithful Inn. During the initial stay, the rate was $89. Figuring the Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation rate, the room would have climbed to $179 by the time of his last stay in October 2021. He paid $228, a 27% increase over the inflation-adjusted rate.
O’Connor expressed a touch of sadness but overall agreed with the situation, citing his research on rooms in West Yellowstone. “When you book in advance, you can expect to pay between $190 and $290 for accommodations in West Yellowstone,” he stated.
WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY
The 120-year-old Old Faithful Inn, built from local logs and milled timber, is the most extreme example of how room rates in Yellowstone have spiked. Until 2018, Yellowstone told Xanterra what it could charge for the one-of-a-kind experience of staying in the historic lodge. That year the park and its Anschutz Corporation-owned concessionaire embarked on a pilot project that let Xanterra charge what the market would bear.
According to data provided by Yellowstone business chief Zach Allely, the average daily rates for a room at the Old Faithful Inn have experienced a significant increase of 55% over the past five years. This surge has led to prices skyrocketing from $274 to $424.
The floor price for a stay can occasionally be higher. As of the publication time, the starting rate for a one-night stay in an Old Faithful room on a Friday in late September was $589.
Allely discussed the concept of granting Xanterra the authority to determine its own prices in areas of the park deemed as “non-core” lodging, such as Old Faithful Inn, Lake Hotel, and all Canyon lodging, where price restrictions do not apply.
According to Allely, the Old Faithful Inn is incomparable to anything else in the world. While it would be ideal to offer accommodations at the Old Faithful Inn for $50 per night, it is simply not feasible.
He stated that the maintenance expenses are exorbitant and Xanterra needs to accommodate its staff due to the remote location. Additionally, according to the law, the business must be given a “reasonable opportunity” to generate profit from its contract.
According to the data provided by Allely, the prices at other price-controlled “core” and free-market “non-core” lodging have experienced a slower increase since the policy change. Core lodges, which are usually newer and have comparable alternatives outside the park, have seen a more moderate rise in prices.
The average daily rate at the price-controlled “core” Grant Village increased by 15%, from $258 to $300, between 2018 and 2022. The comparable facility outside the park had an average rate of $243 in 2022. At the price-controlled Old Faithful Snow Lodge, average daily rates rose by 21%, from $256 to $310. In comparison, the average rates at the out-of-park lodge reached $411 by 2022, remaining significantly higher than the rates at the price-controlled lodge.
The Roosevelt Lodge in Yellowstone continues to offer the cheapest non-camping accommodations. Over the past five years, the daily rates for cabins at this historic lodge in the Tower Falls-area have increased by 15%, rising from $107 to $123. However, even with this increase, the costs remain significantly lower than other comparable cabins, which average $201 per night.
The average daily rates at Lake Hotel, a free-market establishment, have increased by 20% in the past five years, reaching $400. However, on a busy Thursday in early August, the prices for rooms exceeded $600. On that particular afternoon, WyoFile managed to catch Pat Scanlon, a 79-year-old individual, who was on his way to the historic 132-year-old hotel, which happens to be the oldest hotel in Yellowstone. It turns out that Pat had worked at the hotel 56 years ago when he was in his twenties, and his daughter followed in his footsteps and worked there in 1995.
According to Scanlon, visitors to the Lake Hotel in the 1960s appeared to be relatively wealthy. However, he found the current pricing to be unreasonably high. During their vacation, Scanlon and his wife, Patti, opted to stay in a cabin located separate from the main hotel, which ended up costing them $440.
Scanlon expressed his dissatisfaction with the expensive rates of the cabins, stating that they cost more than the Best Western Premium hotel room they stayed in for $350 in Cody last night. He believed that such pricing was excluding people from affording accommodation.
ACCESS FOR ALL?
MJ Basilone, who was visiting Yellowstone from Alaska, was not pleased with the notion that historic lodges are beyond the means of ordinary wage-earning Americans.
Basilone expressed his dissatisfaction, stating, “This is unjust; it’s a national park.”
Both Basilone and her partner, Rick Farrell, have served in the military. According to her, the National Park Service should be managed in a manner similar to defense agencies, where prioritizing profits is not the main focus.
Basilone expressed that national parks should not prioritize profit and instead be managed by the government to ensure reasonable pricing for lodging within the park.
Farrell and Basilone decided to stay in Jackson the previous night. They paid $400 for a satisfactory room at the Wyoming Inn of Jackson Hole, and were once again surprised by the high prices when they went out for dinner. “Can you believe we paid $70 for a steak?” Basilone exclaimed. Disappointingly, the quality of the meat failed to impress both of them.
There’s an argument to be made that some accommodations in Yellowstone and the other flagship national parks have always been expensive — and there have always been ways to still pull off a trip. Tourist interest in Yellowstone, which attracts nearly 5 million visits annually, has risen steadily as the decades have passed, which suggests demand is not deterred by increasing costs.
Chuck Sams, the Director of the National Park Service, was raised in a middle-class household that would often visit Yellowstone and the Tetons. Similar to the Adkins family, they had to save money in order to afford these trips.
“We had been saving for years to visit Yellowstone,” Sams expressed during a media event held in Grand Teton National Park in early August. “Unfortunately, staying at the resorts was not within our reach.”
Sams expressed the belief that national parks should be open to everyone, stating that anyone should have the opportunity to visit the park and feel a sense of connection with it.
Sams stated that the Park Service is actively discussing affordability with its concessionaires. According to him, officials have examined potential solutions through contracts and have also considered extending seasons to address capacity problems and potentially reduce prices.
He mentioned that we are considering all of those matters.
According to O’Connor, the tour guide and a dedicated volunteer with the Jackson Hole Historical Society, Yellowstone has a rich history of attracting and serving the affluent, while also welcoming visitors with more humble resources. O’Connor, a passionate amateur historian, has been involved with the society for a significant period of time.
O’Connor explained that during the early days, there were only two options to experience Yellowstone: as a dude or a sagebrusher. Regrettably, the dudes were the wealthy ones.
According to him, the guys opted for the train route from Chicago to Gardiner, even though the tickets were quite expensive back then. On the other hand, the sagebrushers arrived in horse-drawn wagons and set up camp in the sage.
O’Connor expressed her unexpected optimism by saying, “You have options: camping, van-living, horsepacking, or backpacking. These are the contemporary equivalents of the sagebrushers from the 1880s.”
DOABLE, BUT DIFFICULT
Yellowstone’s dozen campgrounds contain more than 2,000 campsites. Rates vary, but the National Park Service-administered sites go for $20 or $25 a night. Those managed by Xanterra run between $33 and $39 a night.
While the sites are much more affordable, don’t bank on rounding up the family and camping equipment and heading to Yellowstone on a whim, especially in the summertime. Every last campsite is reservable up to six months in advance in the summer, and oftentimes the entire park is sold out. It’s the same story in Grand Teton.
Mike Murray, the executive council chair for the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks (formerly known as The Coalition of National Park Service Retirees), acknowledged that the rising number of visitors has made it more difficult for families to visit Yellowstone. He emphasized the need for advanced planning and reservations, highlighting that in the past, it was possible to arrive at the gate and inquire about available campsites.
Murray has dedicated 45 years of his life to Yellowstone, alternating between paid employment and volunteer work. His journey began in 1978 when he took on the role of manning an entrance station for the Park Service. Later on, in the mid- to late-1990s, he rose to become Yellowstone’s assistant chief ranger. Murray noted that the overall expenses for tourists visiting renowned national parks have generally risen, but the COVID-19 pandemic has particularly exacerbated the surge in prices and overcrowding.
Murray stated that there is a surge in visitation at several parks nationwide. He believes that people are currently more inclined towards domestic travel and parks have gained even more popularity as preferred destinations in various locations.
According to Murray, the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks considers affordability as a matter of concern. However, he mentioned that the National Park Service has numerous other concerns as well.
He mentioned that parks are continuously lacking sufficient funds. Furthermore, as the number of visitors has increased, parks have been negatively impacted by a ten-year decrease in the number of staff members.
Murray highlighted that superintendents are under pressure to adopt a more entrepreneurial approach due to declining appropriations. However, there is also a recognition that increasing fees can discourage average Americans.
Fees to access and recreate in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem are going up, but for a typical road-tripping family the $35, seven-day vehicle fee is an inconsequential expense relative to the overall cost of the trip.
That overall trip cost is swinging up because of factors that are outside of the Park Service’s control. On average, a family of three staying three nights in a hotel or short-term rental in Park County spent $2,863 on a trip in 2022, according to the Wyoming Office of Tourism’s Economic Impact of Travel in Wyoming report. The same three-day trip in Teton County cost $3,490 on average.
According to Mike Keller, the general manager for Yellowstone at Xanterra, there has been a significant surge in prices throughout the national park. He mentioned that rates have become increasingly unpredictable and forceful.
Keller expressed that the cost of a hotel room in West Yellowstone or Gardiner has significantly increased from $80 to $300 or $400. This surge in prices is causing immense pressure on various aspects within the region.
According to Keller, operating a $50-a-night hotel room inside Yellowstone is not feasible due to factors such as inflation, wage growth, and the additional costs associated with meeting sustainability goals and operating within a national park. Xanterra’s rooms inside Yellowstone are not exempt from these challenges.
When questioned about whether the socioeconomic background of an average visitor staying in Yellowstone is shifting towards more affluent individuals, Keller declined to disclose such details, considering it as “confidential information.”
Keller reiterated the belief that Yellowstone and the national parks should be accessible to every American, regardless of their social or economic status. He emphasized that it should not be limited to the middle or upper class, but rather, everyone should be given the chance to experience their beloved parks.
In August, Ron Fix, a resident of Minot, North Dakota, had the chance to fulfill a long-awaited desire. The primary objective of this trip was to introduce his 10-year-old daughter, Taylor, to the majestic wonders of Yellowstone National Park.
“Upon checking out the lodging options in the park,” Fix remarked, “we were utterly shocked. Charging $670 per night for a hotel is nothing short of a ridiculous joke.”
However, the Fixes managed to accomplish it. They stayed in Cooke City for a rate of $135 per night, and devoted their entire day exploring and hiking in Yellowstone National Park. Ultimately, the trip turned out to be a success.
“Let me tell you, she’s an incredible hiker,” Ron Fix exclaimed. “We had such a great time.”
