My wife and I recently spent a week at Under Canvas West Yellowstone to celebrate our 40th…read morebirthdays. We left the kids at home and decided to go on an adventure. We love camping, hiking, traveling the world, and experiencing what nature has to offer, so Under Canvas sounded like a great fit.
Unfortunately, our experience fell well short of expectations. At $460 per night, I'd recommend staying somewhere else. Here's why.
First, I'll give credit where it's due: the young staff were kind, and attentive, and they genuinely seemed to be doing their best. In my opinion, the problems we experienced stem from the ownership and management of the chain, not the people working on the ground.
1. We found--and I killed--a rat in our bed.
This was, by far, the most egregious part of our stay.
On our second night, I felt something scurry across my feet. I woke up, looked around, and couldn't find anything, so I assumed I'd imagined it. When I felt it again, I knew something was there. I reacted quickly, and whatever it was stopped moving.
The next morning, we investigated and discovered that I'd apparently killed a rat with my foot during the night. Even worse, it appeared to have been living in our bed for quite some time. We found fur, droppings, what looked like a nest, chewed-up pieces of other dead things, and, of course, the dead rat itself.
We're campers. We're comfortable roughing it and don't expect luxury in the wilderness. But finding evidence of a rodent living in our bed is unacceptable at $460 a night.
2. There is nowhere to store food, which makes every meal an added expense.
Another major flaw in the Under Canvas experience is the complete lack of food storage. There's no refrigerator, no bear box, and no designated place to store food.
In practice, this means purchasing virtually every meal, snack, and drink elsewhere. Want to pack a lunch for a hike? Keep some cold drinks on hand? Bring snacks back to your tent? None of this is possible. Over the course of a week, the cost and inconvenience of buying everything at tourist prices add up quickly.
Factor this into your budget before booking.
For comparison, the Marriott in Big Sky, about 45 minutes away, offers suites with kitchens, stoves, microwaves, refrigerators, two queen beds, and access to a gym, game room, restaurant, pool, and hot tub--all for more than $100 less per night than Under Canvas.
3. The showers are inconvenient, unreliable, and poorly designed.
To get water flowing in the shower, you have to physically hold down a chain, meaning you can only use one hand to wash. The water then turns cold after about a minute, requiring another minute or so to heat back up. In the meantime, you're standing there naked and covered in soap, waiting for the water to warm up again.
Our particular shower also broke three separate times during our stay. Each time, we had to dry off, get dressed while still covered in soap or shampoo, walk to the main tent to report the problem, and then wait one to three hours for someone to come fix it.
That's a lot of hassle for what should be a basic necessity.
4. Privacy is minimal, and this isn't necessarily the romantic getaway you might imagine.
We deliberately left our kids at home to celebrate our birthdays and enjoy some time together. Unfortunately, the tents are so close together that we could literally hear the people in the neighboring tent whispering. Privacy is minimal to nonexistent.
The property is also extremely kid- and dog-friendly, which would be fantastic if we'd brought our kids and dog. But we hadn't. If you're looking for a quiet, romantic escape without children or pets, this may not be the place for you.
To be fair, this isn't necessarily a criticism of Under Canvas. It's simply worth knowing what kind of atmosphere you're booking.
5. We ultimately left early--and paid twice for lodging.
After everything we'd experienced, we decided to cut our stay short. Unfortunately, Under Canvas has a strict no-refund policy, so we received no money back for the nights we forfeited.
Instead, we booked the Marriott in Big Sky for two nights at $350 per night before heading home. Yes, we effectively paid twice for lodging because our experience at Under Canvas was so disappointing.
The bottom line: The location is beautiful, and the scenery is hard to beat. The proximity to Yellowstone, the bonfire pits and s'mores, the games, and the family-friendly atmosphere could make this a great fit for certain travelers.
But be prepared for the possibility of rodents in your bed, showers that require you to hold down a chain and may repeatedly break, and the added expense of purchasing every meal, snack, and drink because there's nowhere to store food.
And even if everything had worked as intended, I still think Under Canvas is overpriced by roughly $200 per night compared with the alternatives available in the area.
Would I recommend Under Canvas Yellowstone? No. Would I go back? Nope.
