Yosemite's Wawona Hotel closing. No reopening date set; workers reassigned

Yosemite’s Wawona Hotel, age 168, will close indefinitely for ‘intensive’ checkup

An exterior view of the Wawona Hotel and its fountain in front

Sept. 12, 2024 3:58 PM PT

Yosemite National Park’s historic Wawona Hotel is closing, and park officials are not saying when it will reopen. The hotel’s workers are being reassigned elsewhere.

One of the last times this Victorian-era hotel closed in Yosemite National Park, the raging flames from the 2022 Washburn fire had encroached and encircled the institution.

The hotel, which has the same name as the neighborhood in which it resides, was closed for two weeks that July, reopening that same month when the fires were extinguished and smoke and ash cleared.

Unlike that quick turnaround, the hotel’s next closing may not be so brief.

The National Park Service announced via Instagram on Wednesday that the 168-year-old hotel would close Dec. 2 for an unspecified period of time to allow the agency to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the hotel complex.

“The NPS recently undertook a roof replacement project on the main hotel building which revealed the need for more intensive investigation and assessment of the hotel,” the National Park Service wrote.

A National Park Service spokesperson said the agency would not offer additional comment beyond its social media statement.

The Wawona Hotel issued a message saying it would issue refunds to guests with a reservation for Dec. 2 or later. The hotel said there was no estimated reopening date.

Yosemite Hospitality, which has run the Wawona and other park hotels since 2016, confirmed the indefinite closure and that hotel employees would be relocated to other positions within either Yosemite Hospitality or Aramark. Yosemite’s better-known Ahwahnee Hotel, which has welcomed guests since 1927, is open but still undergoing a $35-million earthquake retrofit.

“We have been entrusted with managing concessions at Yosemite National Park since 2016, and we hold our role as stewards of one of America’s most beloved national parks in the highest regard,” the statement read.

Yosemite Hospitality said that the hotel’s closure was necessary for the preservation of the historic building and that the group would continue to work with the National Park Service.

The two-story Wawona Hotel, nearly encircled by a Spanish-style veranda, has 50 standard rooms with private bathrooms and 54 additional rooms with shared restrooms.

While the hotel boasts of its nine-hole golf course, stables, swimming pool and lounge piano, the establishment and Yosemite Hospitality have come under criticism for safety issues in the last two years.

A 2023 annual evaluation from the federal Department of the Interior, obtained by SFGate through a Freedom of Information Act request, noted that “no significant action was taken” to address mounting safety concerns at the facility.

Yosemite Hospitality “has neglected to adequately address maintenance activities at the Wawona Hotel, which became particularly evident in 2023,” the report stated. “Extensive deterioration and damage to hotel facilities was noted on periodic evaluations conducted in 2023, in addition to Service condition assessments, including damage to railings, walkways, staircases, roofs, gutters and other physical assets.”

In June 2022, a guest fell from a porch at the hotel’s Clark Cottage after leaning on a railing that failed, according to the report.

A ceiling leak developed the following February at the Ahwahnee, also run by Yosemite Hospitality, the report said. Even though the National Park Service requested a patch, the report said, the room was still in service months later with the unfixed leak.

In April 2023, water intrusion through the roof caused a piece of the ceiling in the Ahwahnee’s dining solarium to fall and strike an employee, according to the report.

“The Service is extremely concerned about the risk to visitor and employee safety,” the report noted.