E-mail alert yields bevy of calls to Yosemite vendor

E-mail alert yields bevy of calls to Yosemite vendor

By Phillip Reese
preese@sacbee.com
Published: Wednesday, Apr. 1, 2009 - 7:14 pm


About 3,300 people received an e-mail from a Yosemite National Park vendor this week telling them their summer lodging reservations were in danger because of an October landslide.

The e-mail, though, was only meant to go out to roughly 750 people, said Kenny Karst, public relations manager for DNC Parks & Resorts at Yosemite. Park officials weren't prepared for the onslaught of calls, leaving many stuck on hold needlessly for a long time - if they got through at all.

"We are instituting an 800 number so people can call in," Karst said. The 800 number wasn't up as of Wednesday night, but will be on a message played to those who call in Thursday.

The trouble stems from an October landslide that led to the permanent loss of around 230 cabins at Curry Village, a popular lodging spot in the park. DNC, the park's vendor, hoped the National Park Service would allow them to set up more than 100 units nearby after the landslide, but that plan hasn't come through yet. So DNC, which Karst said has restricted Curry Village reservations after the landslide, realized the park was overbooked on five popular summer days.

The good news: Most people at Curry Village stay in tent cabins, and it's mainly the hard-walled cabins that are overbooked, Karst said. So, for those staying in a tent cabin, "calling is not an emergency." Those who didn't receive an e-mail don't have anything to worry about, Karst said.