The Ahwahnee

The grounds and hotel are beautiful. The staff is excellent and very friendly. The antiquity of our cottage was charming. But it needs fixing up. The bathroom tile was, quite frankly, gross. The screen door did not shut completely allowing bugs to fly and crawl in. Door handles and electrical outlets were loose. The hotel location is beautiful as long as you don't mind being away from restaurant and store choices. The hotel buffet is very good. However, the bar/restaurant menu is pretty limited for kids. If you are looking for a late dinner option and don't want to drive then you are limited to the hotel. Walking a couple miles to the village from the hotel at night would not be recommended. Overall, I would recommend this hotel. But if you stay in one of the cottages be aware that they are old.

As a disclaimer to this review, we were there during renovation of the outside property. While this hotel is historic and isn't a wonderful location inside the park, I'm not sure it justifies the exorbitant price. It's very elegant inside and has a lot of nice atmosphere for the age, but when you compare it to any other luxury hotel that is half the price, it all comes down to whether or not you want to stay in the park at the base of Half Dome and the falls. Location Location Location! As for the rooms, they're a pretty standard hotel room. I was up on the third floor and had a very small balcony that I could sit on but because of the small roof and the railing on the balcony my view was highly limited. The climate control in the room is an old style air conditioning system based on air pressurization so it works, but it's very slow to adjust. Otherwise, there's really nothing fancy about the rooms. The old hotel elevator was down when we were there so we were using the service elevator. But the service personnel were wonderful and you didn't have to wait very much extra time. Overall, the staff is amazing and wonderful. They do a great job to give you the elegant feeling. Be We stayed one night for the experience, but I don't think I'll stay another.

Fantastic location and views. The staff was very helpful to help plan hikes. They had a sweet shop where we were able to buy energy bars among other goodies. The room were good enough considering the price and location, but honestly could use a little bit of renovation. And the public spaces were not really cozy and smelled a little.