Yosemite Bug Rustic Mountain Resort — Hotel in Oakhurst

The good news about this hotel is that it is relatively close to the park (45 minutes) and the cabins are clean. The patio for food and drink is quiet.

The bad news about this establishment is that the management is too groovy to be efficient and too inexperienced to take care of guests. The day we arrived, the reservation desk official forgot to give us keys to our cabin, then gave us the wrong keys, then had to come to cabin to test a bunch of keys.

The June Bug restaurant is relatively well-equipped, offering some health options, but it is expensive for the value. A small soup and small salad is $16. An entree is $28. For this kind of price, one would think that the quality would be outstanding, but it is not. Moreover, the staff seem to take joking with each other and other customers more seriously than serving, and lines get long. Customers have to bus their own tables, and the surfaces remain sticky from lack of attention. No decaf coffee is available at all, and the coffee that is there is reminiscent of American coffee from the 1950s - watery and flavorless.

The kitchen available for guests is small but functional, but does not have the best space. The fridge is communal. There was a sign up that the power had been cut overnight, so people lost some food.

The worst part about this hotel is the extreme lack of care for guest safety. While we were there, the power was cut at 9:05pm on our second night. No staff came around to tell anyone why nor were there any signs posted; one staff member even claimed that he could not give any information since they did not have a cell phone. It turned out that the power was out as a safety precaution due to the Oak Fire, which no one stated. Nor were there any updates on their website, which could have been handled remotely from someone who had power. No hand-written signs, no updates on their Facebook page, nothing. Then they had the nerve to try to charge for coffee!

The day the Oak Fire broke out, which was in the next town over and turned out to be the largest fire to that point of the summer of 2022, there was zero information that came forth from the staff. Management had left a staff member who had all of 3 days' work experience in charge of dealing with all the guests. One could see smoke clouds, and the Cal Fire crew pulled up, there were helicopters overhead and a major road closure but still, no information from the hotel staff. Meanwhile, guests who were not familiar with the visible signals of distress (smoke, firefighters) were playing ping pong. Other guests who had flown in from Europe were not notified about the situation- which was changing rapidly--beforehand by cell phone. Numerous families with small children, most of who were not familiar with forest fires in any way and many of whom did not speak good English, were scrambling to find other accommodations. The fire crew that pulled up advised everyone to keep their phones on in case they received an evacuation notice, but since there was no WiFi due to the power outage, we all knew we could not get a signal. The sole person in charge told people we would get refunds, but the lines were too long with the sole person at reception to check out that we decided to just leave. Clearly, despite the hotel's location, there was no emergency plan in place at all. It was a free-for-all.

The views are lovely, the staff jovial (if ineffectual), but the management was derelict. There was absolutely no attempt to safeguard guests who had traveled thousands of miles away to experience the park. No owner or manager ever worked proactively to keep people informed via any means. As evidenced by the response, management prioritized their lives of their staff over the hundreds of guests there. If you go to Yosemite Bug, know you are taking your lives in...

I would only give this place 1.5 stars for what they offer and the experience. Do NOT spend your money here. We spent over $700 on our stay here and I wish we would have taken our money to a nicer resort in the area because there are plenty of them. This place is more of a cheap summer camp than a resort by any means and should be advertised as such. I see why they call it "rustic" so they can fall back on it being crappy.

We rented the hummingbird cabin for our anniversary trip. When we arrived to the hummingbird cabin there was NO HOT WATER, every time we turned on the water the entire cabin would flicker, the entire trip. Absolutely an electrical / wiring issue that is prolonged and not something that just appeared by happen stance on our trip... They knew about this and decided it is OK to rent anyways - awful. The breakers needed to be flipped often is my guess because of power surges and the cabin being cheaply wired. We brought this to the attention of the front desk staff and they said they would contact management to let them know and service to fix the issue. We never heard back from anyone despite several emails sent to the front desk staff, and on the last day of our trip we finally had hot water but by this time we were already leaving. So all our cute pictures we were not able to shower for and get ready etc.

The hummingbird cabin is not on the property but is instead across the street on a different property and is next to the owners house. They are essentially just renting out their mother in law suite as a "resort cabin." They mention this on the website but it is misleading and not clear what or where the humming bird cabin is and if I knew we had to drive off the property and onto a different property to get to it we would have stayed somewhere else.

The food at the resort was just OK, way over priced for what it was, but it was nice to have a restaurant easily accessible. We did breakfast and and tried almost all their entries + got their advertised bag lunch - which was not great.

The spa was closed during our trip but no mention of that on the website or when we checked in. We got an email on the day of our appointment telling us they did not buy the cleaning supplies they needed and would close the spa. We spent the $70 to do the couples tubs, we wanted to do a 4 hour spa day where we would go hike in the park in the morning and then come back and do hot tubs and spa and sauna. Instead we got that email, they told us that we could still do that couples tubs, but they couldn't clean the main tub so it was closed... (weird they could clean one set up tubs but not another?). So they offered us $20 off, which is the cost of the day spa pass, but nothing off the cost of the couples tubs or our missed experience - which was the whole reason we choose this cabin...

All in all we had a good time in Yosemite DESPITE the Yosemite Bug Resort's mishaps and their utter lack of communication or attention.

1/5 Would Not Choose to Stay Here Again. I added a photo just because of visibility. It was so clear and amazing despite our accommodations. We come tom Yosemite a few times a year and will be telling our friends and family never...

NOT RECOMMENDED.

UPDATED: Read the end...

This place refused to give us a refund of one day missed due to flight cancellations that forced us to lose time. The service did offer to extend our stay which was nice but their excuse was because it was booked though a 3rd party website. The tents are very basic with electric being the amenity. Restrooms was ok but there were plumbing issues. The grounds were decently kept. The restaurant came highly reviewed which was very disappointing. The service was terrible and unfriendly and the taste was mediocre at best. The price didn't justify the taste nor the portion. The coffee was tasteless. The kombucha was from a can. There was nothing special about it. The nice thing is that you are an hour from Yosemite. Remember to reserve your entry. Parking at the park was horrendous.

Owner Response: Yes, you chose the cheapest option in the region, a tent cabin, and expected private rooms, which were only $40 more?

My response: Not true we never asked for a private room we asked for one day to be refunded.

Owner Response: And you expected our policy on cancellations to not apply only to you.

My Response: Not true. I simply asked and gave the result. No reasonable accommodation like a single day cost refund.

Owner Response: You booked through Booking.com and did not call them instead even though those are their rules.

My Response: How do you know if I contacted them? You speculate.

Owner Response: You should book directly through hotels if you want more since they cost us 15% to 20% of your money.

My Response: That's interesting because they are cheaper than booking directly, hence the reason why people use the party websites.

Owner Response: And reading the restaurant reviews except for yours tell us you are not being completely truthful. Next time pick a better option for yourself.

My Response: This makes no sense. You again assume that the customer is lying when they criticize your restaurant??? Just because others think it's good doesn't mean everyone does. The food was mediocre in my opinion based upon my experiences. You can't tell me that isn't true. It is true whether you like or not. And lastly, we did choose another option which is why we went there once.

When the owner criticizes the negative reviews instead of acknowledging the feedback and striving to do better, that speaks to the lack of customer appreciation and service. We have traveled all over the US, ate at hundreds of restaurants, stayed in dozens of hotels, camped in tents and reviewed hundreds of businesses. This place undervalues the power of customer experience which is detrimental to success. Lesson learned. Avoid this place.

NOT...