Reservation Services
 

Beware! I recently was in the process of making hotel reservations for a stay in Yosemite and got a rude awakening. I useda reservation service that I thought was through the US National Park Service because that was part of its name. Turns out it was a for fee booking service. They charge 10% of the total room cost whether you stay or cancel. When I received my booking, the room was 28% higher than I could get through Expedia so I cancelled, which cost me the fee. They are basically a travel agency but the consumer pays the fee up front. There are several of these and most seem to be based in small Montana towns - a good place to hide. All seem to use all or part of "National Park Service" in their names which creates much confusion. I don't know about anyone else but I can not think of any reason to pay a 10% fee for hotel reservations that could be much higher than those your trusted travel agent or yourself could make. I was not careful and did not read the terms before making the reservation and thus had to pay a fee for basically nothing. Check these online places out carefully before clicking the submit button.

Why do you warn us about a website you do not name?
I had dinner at a restaurant last week and although it looked like a good place, it was horrible so avoid it at all costs! This restaurant has "restaurant" in the name.
Don't go there!
Now, was that helpful?

Stay IN Yosemite through Expedia? Correct me if I'm wrong, but you can't make reservations to stay IN the park through Expedia, it has only El Portal and such... not IN the park. :-<

I think this is a deserved gripe. There are only two websites that will get you lodging in Yosemite. One website ends in .gov and the other is exactly the name of the park, Yosemitepark.com a private business.

It's easy for me to know this because I've booked for Yosemite before, and because I'm youngish and because I use the internet for research all dang day. However, I could see my parents making this mistake and being upset about having made the mistake.

The bottom line is: always read the cancellation policies carefully. And look for the URL ending .gov if you think you should be on a govenerment website.

Thanks for the heads up Dough.
I second the comment about exposing the name of the company. Not much help without a name.

Sorry - I wasn't sure it was okay to do that since I am new at this. The website is http://www.nationalparkservices.org/yosemite.htm.
I really thought I was dealing with an approved Park Service vendor but it was not. It would not have been so bad had they not gouged me on the room as well as charging me a fee for making my reservations.

This is for FainaAgain - I was using Expedia as an example. National Park Services book me a room outside the Park for $154. I checked Expedia and could get the same room on the same dates for $111, a 28% difference. So I decided to use Expedia. It just seemed odd to me that a travel service would not get you the best rates. I guess not.

"It just seemed odd to me that a travel service would not get you the best rates"

If the travel service works on commission (not likely in this instance), their goals will be opposite of yours. Are they likely to spend extra time looking for the best deal if their reimbursement is a measly $5-10 booking kickback? No. One of the biggest reasons to avoid travel agencies and such is that they really don't have any incentive to save you money. They can be invaluable for complicated trips and for getting you occasional perks on more expensive trips. But not for simple travel planning.

BTW, I too would have assumed that an organization named 'nationalparkservices.ORG' was an affiliate of the park. I know anyone can register a .org name, but most of them are not-for-profit.

Dough, so if you've cancelled your reservation of $154 you paid 10% which is $15.40. Is it correct? Compare it to Expedia's cancellation fee of $25.00. So your lesson is cheaper then mine :)

FainaAgain - no my fee was 10% of the entire reservation which was 3 nights or $460 so my fee was $46 for basically nothing. The thing that makes me the angriest is they are using a well known public organization (Park Service) to suck people in. Since I thought it was THE Park Service, I neglected to read the fine print (my fault) and am now paying for it. These companies should have to have some obivous disclaimer that they are in no way associated with the park service (this one had nothing of that nature) and that you pay a fee no matter what. My guess is few people would use such a service.