I think the problem is you should have made your reservations 6 months ago. There is alot of contention for the park.

I agree. In my "ideal" world, that would have been nice!

I'm content with hoping to snag a cancellation.

Resign yourself to pain. Cancellations are more frequent about a month before you plan to go. Continue to check at least weekly - or more often if you can stand it - for a couple of months, then daily starting in early August. I started booking rooms in the park in late Feb. and took whatever I could get for the first week of June. In mid April I got a couple of other nights at Canyon and cancelled the Grant rooms. Last week I got a night at Old Faithful Inn and the next two nights in the [tiny] OF Lodge cabins. I have kept a Snow Lodge night in the hope I can get a consecutive night and cancel the cabins, but if I don't in the next week, I'll cancel the Snow Lodge. There's no easy way to do this, I'm afraid. People book a year out - also tour companies - and cancel when they decide not to come - or don't fill their tours. But the tour companies are certainly not going to cancel until the last minute. Today I found the open day I wanted for the Snow Lodge on the website calendar but when I tried to reserve it, it said all rooms were full. So I called - and didn't wait on terminal hold for a change - and confirmed that it was taken. Woman on the phone said they're in real time, website lags by 15 min. or so. Nevertheless, I don't think it matters whether you call or do it online, either way it's luck. The problem with calling is that so often you wait on hold for 10 min. or more, so a room can come and go in that time; I can check all the hotels I might want in less time than I usually spend on hold when I call reservations. Also, some of the people you get on the phone aren't the brightest. Last week I tried to get two separate but consecutive cabin night reservations tied so I won't have to change cabins and the guy told me it couldn't be done, although I have done that in prior years - after he finally understood what I was asking (or so I thought). When I was on the phone today to double check the Snow Lodge room, I asked the woman if she could tie the rooms and she said yes, no problem, did so immediately and sent an e-mail confirmation. You can have more than one reservations for a given night and wait to try for consecutive nights like I'm doing with Snow Lodge and OF Lodge cabins. Disadvantage is that you will have a night's deposit charged immediately, so you may have more in deposits than the rooms you end up with will actually cost. But they do refund quickly when you cancel - 2 to 4 days is what it has always taken so far. Since you only want one night, that won't be a problem for you, though you could book a less preferable room, then find a better one and have two deposits charged for a couple or three days. Meanwhile, reserve a backup chain motel outside the park with a liberal cancellation policy (and they don't charge a deposit) just in case you don't get a cancellation you want. If you're only going to be in the park one day (or two), I'd choose W. Yellowstone for convenience. You are more likely to want to spend most of a short visit in the center of the park, Old Faithful and Canyon areas. Gardiner is best if you're planning to spend most of your time around Mammoth, along the northern-most road, and Lamar Valley to Roosevelt/Tower. You wouldn't spend much time up there unless you were going to be at Yellowstone for three days or more. Yellowstone is a huge park, full of animals and "bear Jams" or bison blocking the road and it can take quite awhile to get anywhere. Nothing like Grand Canyon at all in that respect.

Oh. My. Gosh. Just what I was looking for!! Thank you so much for all the details! Great info on the 15 min web delay, and the hold time on the phone! Too funny, actually. I'll keep trying!

You've convinced me to do West Yellowstone as the back up. We were leaning that way anyway, so nice to have a second opinion.

Thanks again!

I started planning a trip to YNP about 2 weeks ago. When I started I could only get into the suite at Mammoth for 3 nights. Read lots of not great reviews and knew I wanted to change. Held the reservation and called several times......finally got what I wanted. Two nights in a Frontier cabin (private bath) at the Roosevelt Lodge and one night at the Old Faithful Inn. Our first and last nights are outside of the park. First night is in Red Lodge, MT we want to drive the beartooth highway and then go into the park (NE entrance) we will exit the park through the west entrance and spend the last night in West Yellowstone. Both hotels outside the park have swimming pools which will be nice for the kids. Good luck - keep calling and you will be successful. Make sure you get a room with a private bath if that is important to you - don't assume it - confirm.

I couldn't read polly's post due to the single paragraph format so I'll just relate my experiences.

Tour companies and individuals book lodging a year out. Who knows exactly what their need will be a year out? You geuss.

As you get closer to the actual dates reality sets in. Tour companies begin to release dates a month out. Individuals as well.

I book 6 nights in Glacier NP in Montana not knowing if I would be going alone, with a friend or with my adult daughter. There was potential that each case would be of a different length.

As of this time it appears that I will eventually release the last two nights. Not sure yet but that's what will probably happen.

Somebody who's calling every day will be happy.

Call, call, call. I've always gotten what I needed.

Call. Do not rely on the website. Call. You are well behind the curve for this year as you realize. Yellowstone books about a year in advance. However, there are cancellations all the time. Take whatever you can get and then keep calling until you find something better.

Have a great trip. It is a beautiful place.

Thanks for the extra encouragement and tips! I will indeed call, call, call!