The hotel will be renamed as the Majestic Yosemite Hotel. Instead of paying, the Park Service said it will change some of them: the Wawona Hotel will be renamed Big Trees Lodge and Curry Village will be called Half Dome Village. Curry Village, a woodsy family-friendly lodging complex, will be recast as Half Dome Village.
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LOS ANGELES Yosemite National Park will change the names of several of its buildings and landmarks, including the Ahwahnee Hotel and Curry Village, over a trademark dispute with the company that formerly ran its concessions, the park’s superintendent said.
The name changes amount to a tactical response to the claims by the concession company, formally known as DNC Parks &Resorts at Yosemite Inc., that it owns the intellectual property and deserves to be paid for it. DNC is a subsidiary of Delaware North, which is based in Buffalo, N.Y. The concessionaire before it had been there since the late 1800s, and had built and trademarked the Ahwahnee, and Delaware North said its acquisition included the trademarks and other intellectual property. “This action will not affect the historic status of the facilities, as they are still important cultural icons to the National Park Service and the public”.
These name changes, plus others announced Thursday aren’t going over too well, but the National Park Service says they have to make them, at least temporarily, to ensure that visitors taking in Yosemite’s natural wonders don’t have their experience spoiled as Jacobs and the Park Service scrap in the legal corners.
The problem now is that the concessions operator at Yosemite – Delaware North, whose contract was not renewed – is demanding $44 million for the Yosemite-related trademarks, including a number it obtained without alerting the Park Service.
Now 76, he’s visited Yosemite since childhood and says when somebody mentions Curry Village he can picture it in his head.
The Park Service insists the trademarks are worth less than $2 million. It served as a military hospital for the US Navy during World War II and its famous guests include Ansel Adams, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and Queen Elizabeth II among many others. We fulfilled our obligations in 1993, we have been proud and exemplary stewards of Yosemite National Park for the last 22 years, and we have demonstrated our genuine desire to resolve this matter for the last 18 months. Yosemite awarded a 15-year contract to Aramark last year.
The park service says it belatedly learned that Delaware North had applied for the trademarks for the names when it prepared to open bids for the concessionary operation.
In the meantime, Delaware North should reconsider this shakedown. DNCY also trademarked the phrase “Yosemite National Park”. “All we want in this is fair and just treatment from the National Park Service and for it to follow the letter of our contract”.
Gediman said the changes are necessary at this time.
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Lenau also worries about stripping away the Native American heritage of Yosemite by turning the Ahwahnee into the Majestic Yosemite Hotel and the Wawona Hotel to Big Trees Lodge.
