Because Marriott is clearly a hater of National Parks. It's been there right below the surface for years...

obviously not, but there are alot more IHG properties near the western national parks. Moab UT outside arches and canyonlands ntl parks is another example that comes to mind...

Uh, Flagstaff is the nearest city to the Grand Canyon with hotels in most brands. So it's specifically a Marriott issue. You'd also have to stay in Flagstaff if using Hilton, etc.

In the US, if you want hotels close to many National Parks, you need programs like Best Western, Choice, and Wyndham Rewards (for Super 8 and Days Inn, those are the level of properties that often the small towns closest to US National Parks can support).

Outside of Bryce Canyon, there are two Best Westerns and no other chain hotels around for at least a two hour drive (over in Cedar City would be the closest that you'd find other chains, not sure if Marriott is there or not).

In the closest towns to Yosemite, Oakhurst and Mariposa, only Choice and Best Western. You have to be willing to stay further away, say in Fresno or Merced, to have the possiblity of hotels above that level (but whether Marriott is there, presumably with a Fairfield if anything, again I don't remember).

In the closest town to Olympic National Park (main entrance), Port Angeles, I think Choice is all these is. It's many hours back to Tacoma on slow roads before you have "bigger" names.

Outside Carlsbad Caverns, there's only a BW. You have to drive rather further to find anything else.

It's only if "by accident" the National Park is near signficant business cities (like the already-mentioned Harrisburg VA for Shenandoah) that you tend to get a choice of the "biggies" nearby.

BUt as with any modest-size US town (whether it's near a National Park or not): Just because it has a choice of the "biggies" doesn't mean it has every "biggie" (that has a breakfast-only midscale like Marriott has Fairfield, Hilton has Hampton, and IGH has Holiday Inn Express; btw SPG has no brand like that, so you're even less likely to find SPG in places like that).

The only ones close to National Parks are:

1. Fairfield Inn in Rapid City, SD (Mt Rushmore, Wind Cave, Badlands, Custer State Park, Native American Mounment currently being built)

2. Residence Inn in Durango and Courtyard and TownPlace in Farmington (Mesa Verde, Canyon D'Chiele, Mounment Valley, and Chaco Canyon)

3. Sante Fe (Bandaleir National Monument)

4. Flagstaff (Sedona, Numerous national monuments, Grand canyon)

5. Great Falls amd Missoula (Glacier National Park)

6. Idaho Falls (Yellowstone, Grand Teton) and Bozeman (Yellowstone)

7. Bend, Medford, OR (Crater Lake)

8. Redding (Lassen)

9. Fresno, and a few others (Sequoia/Kings Canyon, Yosemite)

10. Page, UT ( Colorado river, Glen Canyon NRA, Vermillion Cliffs NM, Escalente NP)

11. Puyallup & Yakima WA (Mt Rainier)

12. Ft Collins, Loveland, CO (Rocky Mountain NP)



To be honest if Hilton or Best western offered the 2 or 3 stay get free stay like what MArriott offers I would go with them because in many of these National Park towns there is a Hampton Inn and a Best Western.

Even Holiday Inn ha a few that are Park entry areas.


The other issues I have is the category system where any hotel in a potential decent area is cat 5 or higher.

Places I believe would support a Marriott just fine:

1. Estes Park
2. Outside Grand Canyon South Rim
3. closer inn to Yosemite
4. Jackson
5. West Yellowstone, MT
6. Kalispell, MT
7. Cortez, CO
8. Hilo, HI

There arent many National Parks in the east...the main ones of interest are Acadia, Smokeys, Shenandoah, Mammouth Caves, and Everglades.

Best Western and Holiday Inn or just right outside the south entrance to the Park.


Hampton Inn is in quite a few national park friendly areas.

there is a Holiday Inn express in Kanab which can be used as a base to visit Zion, Bryce , and North Rim, and Page, AZ

In Moab, YT (Canyonlands and Arches) there are a few choice, best westerns, LQ, and I think a holiday inn and hampton.


Fresno isnt bad as a base to visit Sequio/Kings Canyon then do the souther part of Yosemite.


Choice and Windham are there. There used to be a best western but last year it decertified as an independent hotel called the Olympic Inn. Technically there is a marriott...but its in Victoria...an 75 min ferry trip away.

If ever visiting there I always say do Olympic in the day then take an evening ferr to Victoria then stay one or two nights then ferry back.



Still its a glaring ommission on MArriotts part. There are a few towns that could easily survive in and be very profitable.

Not true...

with most you have Hampton Inns, Best Westerns, HI Express, and some Choice hotels in nearby or gateway park cities.

Look at the crows that visit national parks....name some offf the top of my head....grand canyon, yosemite, yellowstone, Rocky Mountain...these places draw millions of visitors each year...and they are open year round.

Any hotel in these areas is very profitable. The only issue that may hurt putting a new hotel in is the competition and the real estate prices.

The price point for all the name brand hotels chains tends to be the highest of anywhere except downtown heavy business traveler areas.

Getting lodges in national parks involves long term planning and alot of luck. Most people usually dont plan that far out. The other issue with park lodges is that they are dead zones when it comes to intenet, tv, and child friendly activities (i.e. pool).

http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles...rand-expansion


These were hotels owned by HPT licensed under MArriott, Hilton, Holiday Inn and others ended their licensing agrements and rebranded or are in the process of changing over to Sonesta properties.

Many hotel chains are licensed names to the hotel that can easily be changed or corporations trade properies as a way to exampand their presence.

Best Western is large because they more or less operate as a front face of independent hotels that license under BW brand.

Yep we stayed at FFI Fresno Clovis for our trip to Yosemite earlier this year. The hotel itself is nice and we got a super cheap LNF to stay there.

There was a CY at Merced, again it's a CY :td: and the price is double than the FFI and no free breakfast.

Death valley has very few hotels just outside the park - we stayed at Ridgecrest and then head into Death Valley and we had to stay at the Stovepipe Wells for 1 night so we had time to see the NP, then head to Vegas for cheaper and better accommodation.

I'd like to stay inside the NPs too, but the price was like a FS Marriott in a big city and all you get is a Super 8/BW (if you are lucky).

There's many ways I can respond to this and I honestly am trying to find a way to respond without sounding "snotty" or sarcastic and I'm sure there are locations out there that could support a new hotel but remember....MI really isn't a developer the way it was back in the 80's...they don't like to put their own $$$ into developing deals (they will for the right opportunity but those are very rare and far between and even then it's for larger developments as there is less competition with developers for these) but there are a ton of other developers that do like to build/own/operate hotels (Host Hotels, RLJ Lodging etc) and I'm sure they've looked at and will continue to look at these areas for opportunities and as soon as the timing is right they will move forward

Kanab is about the same 2 hours away as Cedar City. Yes, Google Maps implies that both are 1:40 to 1:45 away. But part of that's on windy two-lane roads (especially the part nearest Bryce Canyon NP) where it's easy to get stuck behind a slow vehicle, with no way to pass for miles, and thus it easily stretches to two hours actual driving to either place.

(I"ve stayed there, but not as a base for visiting Bryce.)

I'm not sure everyone would agree with you that two hours to the entrance of a national park (when often, though not necessarily at Bryce itself, the "guts" of the park are far beyond the entrance), is "close". Especially on two-lane mountain roads after dark (which it will be on your return if you stay late in the park; some of these parks are so free of light pollution that they're among the best places to starwatch, but not if you then have to drive two hours to your hotel!).

I guess it depends on when you're going and what you want to do there. If you want to go there in the dull midday light and greatest heat and hike in the midday sun for a couple hours, and then you're done, yes, staying two hours away can be fine. If you want to catch sunrise and sunset at the park (Bryce has lookout points named after each, though the best sunrise is actually at Sunset Point, or is it vice versa?), then staying two hours away is kinda far IMHO.

Having said that: You don't need to be at the park at daybreak on your first day or at sunset on your last day if you're at the park multiple days. So the hotels you mentioned that are a couple hours away, while I don't think of them as necessarily a good "base" for multiple days exploring the park, they may be a great place to stop on your way in or on your way out. (That's how I've used Cedar City and Kanab and St George hotels, and for that matter Las Vegas suburban hotels, on the way to and from southern Utah parks.)

Oh, on thing I forgot to mention. Oakhurt (and the Fresno route) are timewise closer than Mariposa (and the Merced route), until who knows when, because of that section of the road that is out where you have to wait for the one-way-at-a-time detour (that goes across the river and then back). Coming from Oakhurst you take a different road, and that road has no "semi-permanent" detour. (The detour on the Maripose road has been going on for quite a few years now.)

Just a reminder, by the way, that not all National Parks are in the West. Many of the Civil War battlefields are so designated, as is Valley Forge and many Revolutionary War sites, as well, and there are many major brands near these locations.

Agree. I'm not sure they're considered parks per se (or at least like ones like Yosemite which is what we normally think of when we think of nat'l parks), but they are run by the National Park Service.

For a list, go to http://www.nps.gov/findapark/index.htm That shows them in alpha order with links. You can also search by state, etc. And then check out which Marriott properties are nearby.

Cheers.

I disagree....I have gone to Bryce and Kanab numerous times. I have stayed at Ruby's Inn (BW) numerous times.

It isnt all that much different than flagstaff is to the grand canyon.

For someone visiting the parks and want a central location to stay in one place its a good central point. There are some travlers who dont like to go from hotel to hotel.

I have driven the road quite a few times...the drive is 75-90 minutes depending on your luck of who you get behind.

Its an hr to Zion main visitor center

Its an hr drive to Page

Its about 90 min- 2 hrs from north rim.

Also there you have Escalante, Vermillion Cliffs and Coyotte Buttes. There is laso Cedar Breaks NM.

They are run by the park service as are national historic landmarks and national monuments.

People making a trip to see a national park they are referring to place like Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon.

The Mall in DC is run by the park service.