Yellowstone Internships

Yellowstone National Park Lodges operates 9 lodges with over 2,000 guest rooms and cabins across 6 different villages within the park. With that comes plenty of opportunities for students who are seeking experience in the hospitality industry. Our Lodging Hospitality Internship program allows students to integrate classroom learning with ‘real life’ application in the workforce, gain valuable experience, and professionally network with members of park management and subject matter experts.

Goals & Benefits

Coming through an Internship Program allows students to gain hands-on experience working within the Hospitality and/or Tourism industry that complements classroom learning. Our main goal for the Lodging Hospitality Internship program is to allow interns to experience different roles within lodging, while providing additional internship benefits through classes, networking and mentorship opportunities, and professional growth activities. For many, this helps in their decision-making process; guiding them toward a specific department or function they may be more interested in pursuing in the future. In addition, they develop practical and managerial skills in the workplace and establish professional contacts for future employment opportunities.

Noel Mayes, Executive Director of Operations, shares, “Our internship program provides participants the remarkable opportunity to receive first-class instruction and experience while having the time of their life in Yellowstone. Significant investment of resources has created an experience that balances time with experts and leaders from Human Resources to Sustainability to Operations with fun experiences that you can only have in Yellowstone. If you want to learn about Yellowstone hotel history in the morning and then tour the historic Old Faithful Inn in the afternoon, this is the place for you! Participants exit the program with a broad understanding of our operation and the industry in general and are well equipped to take their first step into a management role post-graduation.”

All positions in our Internship Program are paid and work ~35 hours/week. In-park room and board is provided by Xanterra and paid via a bi-weekly payroll deduction. During the 10-week program, interns rotate between a front desk and housekeeping positions to better understand how each team operates individually and together. These roles allow interns to experience both guest-facing and non-guest-facing positions. Interns also participate in site visits to other locations in the park to see how their own operation is run differently and/or similarly to others around the park. Xanterra operates throughout the 2.2 million-acre park, and each location offers its own set of unique experiences.

For Yellowstone National Park Lodges, students who participate in the Lodging Hospitality Internship Program stand out as candidates for management development opportunities.

FAQs

Kailey was a hospitality intern at Mammoth Hot Springs and Lake Lodge/Lake Hotel in the summer of 2022. She is majoring in communication design and minoring in creative writing. She shares the following FAQs from her own experiences.

What is Xanterra’s hospitality internship?

The hospitality internship is a selective program home to 10 interns each season. This 10-week program consists of 5 weeks at the front desk (working as a Guest Service Agent) and five weeks in housekeeping, working a different job each week (Porter, Room Attendant, Inspector, Laundry Service Agent, and Linen Truck Driver). This unique program allows you to experience six different roles under the lodging umbrella in just ten weeks. In addition, interns have the unique privilege of shadowing upper management. I personally shadowed four managers while in Yellowstone and worked closely with the marketing team on projects like this blog post. If you are considering a job in hospitality management, this is the internship for you!

Why is it the best job in the park? 

Intern days! One day each week consists of an intern day. Intern days can vary from Leadership 101 class with Executive Director of Operations Noel Mayes to site visits to one of our campground operations. Intern days can also look like experiencing cookout dinner at Roosevelt, warehouse and recycling site visits, and shadowing managers in your field of interest. They can also involve horseback riding at Roosevelt, whitewater rafting in Gardiner, warehouse trips, and shadowing in a field of interest. They are great ways to connect with the interns and work in small settings with upper management.

What was the 2022 season like?

The 2022 season was like no other. My season started at Mammoth and ended at Lake due to the unprecedented flooding that took out the roads between Mammoth and Gardiner and Roosevelt and the northeast entrance in mid-June. You can read more about that experience here. Despite this relocation, I have had the most memorable (and cliche I know) life-changing experiences working and living in the park. I had the opportunity to hike, camp, fish, and make lifelong friendships and memories along the way.

Hear from other interns like Kailey about their experience (including a couple who are now full-time employees!)