What privatization looks like: Yosemite hotel plagued by safety and killer virus threats

A National Park Service report suggests privatization isn’t doing the trick for a hotel in Yosemite National Park, according to SF Gate.

The 2024 annual performance review of Yosemite Hospitality, a subsidiary of Aramark Corporation, reveals the company has been failing to meet the expectations of the National Park Service and potentially exposing tourists to disease.

“Rodent activity, improper food storage, lapses in facility maintenance and other public health concerns are among the pervasive issues called out in the report,” SF Gate reports. The park service also dinged Yosemite Hospitality for failing to conduct inspections.

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On Sept. 4, 2024, the report revealed the hotel’s Ahwahnee Bar temporarily closed after a video showed “ongoing rodent activity within the facility.” Officials also found rodents nesting within cabin wall insulation. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention describes Hantavirus as a serious illness spread through contact with rodents, especially when humans are exposed to droppings, urine or saliva.

One Yosemite Hospitality customer messaged SFGate reporters on the night of a persistent power outage last December, complaining: “S--- is hitting the fan.”

The park service gave Yosemite Hospitality an overall “unsatisfactory” rating, the lowest possible rating, and a downgrade from four consecutive previous years. The company has a 17-year contract to operate and maintain the hotels, restaurants, gift shops and other Yosemite attractions, but the “unsatisfactory” rating is grounds to terminate its contract. The federal government has already canceled an Aramark contract at Crater Lake National Park over an “unsatisfactory” rating in 2023, but the park service indicated in the report that it intends to continue working with the company.

“We work closely with our concessionaires to identify and address issues, and we expect them to take prompt action to resolve any problems,” a park spokesperson told reporters in an email.

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SFGATE reports the administration of President Donald Trump has “embarked on a campaign to cut spending and downsize federal agencies, including the park service, pushing out an untold number of employees and putting the future of Yosemite in peril.” Additionally, the Center for American Progress suspects the administration wants to further privatize public lands. However, SF Gate reports the Yosemite Hospitality evaluation offers “a glimpse of what privatizing public lands might actually look like.”

Read the full SFGate report at this link.