The Oakhurst Inn at Yosemite — Hotel in Oakhurst

I’ll start with a couple of positives about our stay at Oakhurst Inn (Comfort Inn, actually). First, the location is great—within walking distance of shops, restaurants, and cafes, or a short 5-minute drive away. We found plenty of good places nearby, including supermarkets and bars.

The breakfast was another plus. The buffet offered fresh omelets and a waffle station, plus decent, strong coffee from a bulk machine. The woman working the breakfast bar was lovely, making it a pleasant start to our mornings.

The king-size suite was spacious and comfortable, and there was plenty of parking available. However, these positives were overshadowed by a series of issues during our stay.

We chose this place because it was advertised as dog-friendly, and we were under the impression that it was a small, local business. However, it turned out to be a Comfort Inn under a different name. While this wasn’t a deal-breaker, it was misleading.

The check-in process was quick, and Sarah at the front desk was friendly. But unfortunately, that was the extent of the positive customer service we’d experience. After a long drive from LA, we settled in and went to dinner at the Oakhurst Grill and Whiskey Lounge, which had been recommended by the hotel. When we returned, we were looking forward to relaxing, especially in the pool advertised on the hotel’s website and booking platforms – “closed” sign on the gate which we figured may be temporary or for the evening.

When we returned from a full day of hiking the next day, we found the pool was closed. Despite the pool being fully filled with water, it was off-limits, and the hot tub was roped off with caution tape. We went to the front desk to ask why, and after waiting for Sarah to finish checking in other guests, we learned that the pool was “closed for the season.” This information had not been communicated to us at check-in and the reasoning went from the hot tub being broken, to another reason to yet a third.

When we asked for a possible discount on our stay, Sarah instead said she’ll take down our phone number and promised the manager might call us. She suggested we swim at Bass Lake, which was a 15-minute drive away and not as convenient as the pool we’d expected – also it’s a LAKE.

Over the long weekend being up in Yosemite, we didn’t hear from the manager. When we checked out on Tuesday morning, we spoke with another front desk worker and expressed our frustration about the lack of follow-up. She told us the manager was available but on the phone. We chose not to wait so we can get on the road, but we were promised the manager would call.

The manager did eventually call within half an hour, but the conversation was unhelpful. She immediately became defensive, repeating that the pool was closed for the season, and claimed the hot tub was unrelated. She blamed Sarah for not informing us, and when we mentioned that we notified the front desk within 24 hours, the manager dismissed us, suggesting we should have “forced” Sarah to reach out to her sooner.

The manager also referenced the pool’s closure at the end of August, even though we had arrived with two days left in the month and were experiencing a heatwave. She suggested the weather was abnormal, but the temperatures were typical for Labor Day weekend.

When I pressed for a resolution, she became aggressive, interrupting me and claiming we could have canceled our reservation within 24 hours. She ultimately told me to take it up with my credit card company or Expedia, adding that third-party bookings couldn’t be helped.

While I’m hesitant to mention it, my wife and I are visibly Jewish, and we couldn’t help but feel that our ethnicity played a role in the dismissive and unhelpful service we received. The looks we got from the front desk staff added to this feeling.

In the end, I would not recommend staying at Oakhurst Inn, or any Comfort Inn for that matter. The lack of communication, poor customer service, and unaddressed issues left us thoroughly...

As a seasoned traveler who typically stays at Marriott-branded hotels several months out of each year, and have stayed ~20 times at nearby (international chain) properties in Oakhurst in the last 2 years, I found The Oakhurst Inn to be a clean, no frills place that does the job, and offers welcoming customer service & hot breakfast. Details below:

(1) Customer Service - this is The Oakhurst Inn’s greatest asset. I called at 10:00PM to clarify a few questions before deciding whether to book and spoke to a lovely lady named Gwen. Not only did Gwen patiently address all my questions, but she even suggested I book a room after arriving in case I couldn’t check in that evening (they had a lot of availability - off-season weeknight). I was already on my way in, so I booked anyway, but I appreciated her consideration. When I arrived, Emmanuel at the Front Desk already had everything prepared (e.g. room key, folio, etc…), so check-in was simple and fast. He even offered me a cup of water when he learned I had driven in long distance, and before heading to my room, Emmanuel gave me a snack bag which had chips, Cracker Jacks, granola bars and juice boxes – a nice touch I imagine comes in handy for guests arriving late night when everything is closed (Thank you!)

(2) Clean Rooms – the level of cleanliness was much better than what I expected. The complex is definitely on the dated side (do not expect new furniture at ½ the price), but as someone with high attention to detail, I was pleasantly surprised. My room had comfortable, clean white linens. They do not use those dated floral quilts that many inns & hotels still use, which made it easy to see the bed was clean. The bathtub (older) was spotless, and so were the vanity and sink areas. The room came with a sizable mini fridge (with a freezer component) as well as a microwave – both were very clean. When I left in the morning, I had the pleasure of meeting Colleen, the housekeeper assigned to my room (#144) - she was a delight.

(3) Food - I did not expect their hot breakfast to be on par with another chain, let alone much better than one of the newer, large hotels down the street with an identical selection (except much worse quality). Everything was on point – they offer juice, scrambled eggs & sausages, a selection of muffins, bagels, toast, cereals, oatmeal, yogurt, hard boiled eggs, a waffle maker, and fruit. Unfortunately I did not get her name, but the lady working the breakfast area (January 18th) was friendly, and you can tell she really cares about keeping the place clean and tidy for guests – during my 25-ish minutes dining there, she immediately placed tongs back in position, wipe down chafer covers, etc… and replenished items quickly. She did not let the area get out of order, meaning latecomers like me (arriving at 9:35AM for a breakfast that ends at 10:00AM) walk into an appetizing breakfast - most hotels do not replenish anything or maintain the area in the last 30 minutes, so this was a pleasant surprise. They also have trays for you to bring food back to the room if anyone in your group cannot make the 10:00AM cut-off.

(4) Comfort – While the cleanliness of my room went a long way in making me feel comfortable during my stay, the 1 area of improvement (especially since I read other reviews before staying) is the mattress - it was on the older side and ‘dipped’ in. I ended up sleeping in the middle of the bed, which was more firm than the two sides, and slept comfortably. Since I was only staying 1 night, this was not a big deal for me, but I could see this bothering me if I stayed longer.

At 40% less than nearby properties, The Oakhurst Inn offers value for money – if you won’t be spending much time in the room, need a clean place to crash with a quick (and free) breakfast in the morning, and do not mind dropping the frills to save in hotel costs, The Oakhurst Inn may be a good fit. I was very satisfied with my stay and will definitely...

This was a lovely place to stay, clean, comfortable and peaceful, however I would not stay here again as they have no contingency plans for electric loss. The best western over the road had a generator brought in to provide electric for their guests. The Oakhurst Inn did not!

The electric went out in the area at 3pm and was not back on by the time we left at 8am the next day.

As a result our special dietary food was ruined in the fridge. No coffee, tea or hot food was provided at breakfast.

This was not the fault of the staff who were really great under pressure. The owners however do not seem to care about their guests.

As an area that can be subject to storms or earthquakes at anytime I would've thought that a generator would be standard, obviously not.

Conclusion: nice place to stay, fantastic staff. Owners who don't care about their guests and don't try to help during a long outage.

No way could the Oakhurst Inn forecast an outage and that is not the complaint. These things happen. It's the response by the owners that is severely lacking.

Update since reply:

I have downgraded the rating due to the reply. In my original review I mentioned about the lack of provisions for outages was my main complaint and that the owners don't seem to care.

Well the reply seems to substantiate that assumption. They don't mention anything about contingency. They do point out that this has happened before.

It does seem that the Oakhurst owners don't consider the comfort of their guests during outages. Use the best western over the road they are so much better placed to provide good continual services for...