Lodging Some Gripes About Yosemite

I loved the Travel Insider column “An Unwelcome Surprise From Yosemite Innkeeper” (July 29). We have camped in Yosemite Valley every Labor Day since the ‘70s. We always said that someday we would stay at the Ahwahnee for a few days before moving on to the campsite. We decided to do that this year.

There were no vacancies in February when we tried to book. I guess the rate increase scared off some, and by June we could get in.

So it will cost us a little extra. But we will enjoy a hot bath after the long ride from Los Angeles, and the swimming pool, and it’s the only place in the valley with in-room TV.

It wasn’t the rate increase, however, that caught my eye; it was the check-in and check-out times. Check-in is after 5 p.m., and check-out is 11 a.m., leaving us not the usual two days less three hours (for the normal noon out, 3 p.m. in), but two days less six hours.

I hope that means they do a great cleaning job on the room.

SHANNON BURNS

Los Angeles

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Here’s a subject you alluded to in the Yosemite column but didn’t pursue: the requirement to pay for one night’s lodging when making a reservation, often a year in advance. In some cases, such as luxury hotels and resorts, the charge can be $400 or more, which earns interest in the hotel proprietor’s bank account, not the traveler’s. Hotels must make more profit on the “float” than on the business they’re running.

Why don’t hotels trust that we’ll show up until perhaps 90 days before arrival and then put it on our credit cards? It’s just another scam on the traveling public.

GORDON GLASS

Chico