New hospitality company set to take over concessions at Crater Lake National Park

CRATER LAKE NATIONAL PARK, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Hospitality company ExplorUS has informed the National Park Service that it intends to take over the concessions contract at Crater Lake National Park currently held by Crater Lake Hospitality, LLC, a subsidiary of Aramark who's been under fire after years of management issues.

"If the proposed assignment is approved by the NPS, this will end Crater Lake Hospitality's presence at Crater Lake," NPS Pacific West spokesman Scott Clemans said Monday.

Clemans said, "ExplorUS says they are optimistic they will be able to transition all current Crater Lake Hospitality employees to their company and provide a full suite of visitor services at Crater Lake National Park this summer. ExplorUS says they intend to honor all reservations and deposits for future stays and services."  

NPS's prior written approval is required before Crater Lake Hospitality may assign or otherwise transfer its concession contract to ExplorUS. This process will take a few weeks, "so we do not have any details to share at this time," Clemans said. "Director Chuck Sams has been committed to ensuring no lapse in visitor services, and appreciates the efforts of all involved in working toward this."

Clemans said they will provide more information as it becomes available. In the meantime, they urged visiting Crater Lake National Park’s website at https://www.nps.gov/crla/ for details of currently available visitor services. 

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Senator Ron Wyden today released the following statement after the National Park Service (NPS) announced Aramark’s concessionaire contract to manage Crater Lake National Park is in the process of being transferred to a new operator:

“I want to thank National Park Service Director Chuck Sams for his leadership and the decisive steps he has taken to address concessionaire failures and make the much-needed transition to a new operator. It is clear as Crater Lake that from the beginning, the National Park Service took my concerns seriously and worked swiftly to put this world-renowned Oregon natural treasure on the path to better concessionaire management that protects the resource and everyone it touches."

Today’s announcement follows Wyden’s letter asking NPS to act immediately to prevent Aramark’s mismanagement from continuing to pose safety risks to Crater Lake National Park, its visitors, and the employees who live and work at Crater Lake. After NPS announced its intent to transition away from a concessionaire contract with Aramark, Wyden also asked NPS to minimize impacts on visitors and park resources during the transition to a new concessionaire.