This wing of the Mammoth Cave Hotel is expected to be demolished when the park's new concessionaire takes over/David and Kay Scott

A New Mexico company that in recent years has been expanding its concessions work in the National Park System has landed a 15-year contract to provide lodging, dining, and retail services at Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky.

Ortega National Parks, a family run business that surprised some in 2013 when it won the concessions contract at Acadia National Park in Maine over a local business that had held the contract for eight decades, on Monday was announced as the winner of the Mammoth Cave contract that takes effect January 1.

"I am very pleased to announce Ortega National Parks as the new concessioner at Mammoth Cave," said Superintendent Sarah Craighead. "The concessions operation is central to a visitor's experience at the park. Ortega's business plan outlines a straight-forward commitment to exceptional guest services, a strong environmental ethic, and a focus on resource preservation that aligns with the mission of Mammoth Cave National Park. We look forward to working together over the next 15 years."

The services under the new concessions contract include lodging, food/ beverage, and retail services at Mammoth Cave Hotel, along with tour bus transportation and equipment rental. The new contract will require some enhancements to the services and facilities, including modification to the food service and retail areas.

"We're excited to get to Mammoth Cave and begin managing concession operations," said Emily Ortega, senior vice president, in a release. "We aim for a seamless transition, for both current employees and park visitors. We'll do our best to offer jobs to as many current employees as possible. We recognize that so many of them have been dedicated to this park for a long time already. We're also eager to see some of our ideas for the park come to life as we begin to offer more local and sustainable merchandise in the gift shops, bring more local and sustainable ingredients into the food service, and increase environmental measures throughout concession operations."

The National Park Service had struggled to find a concessionaire at Mammoth Cave. In June 2015 it issued a ninth modification to the original concession prospectus for lodging, transportation, retail, and food services. 

The original prospectus was issued in December 2014 with a new concessionaire expected to be selected by late last summer. The concession was being operated under a temporary extended contract by Forever Resorts, which inherited the operation when it absorbed former concessionaire National Park Concessions.

The series of modifications made in June 2015 corrected errors, answered questions submitted by interested parties, and made several major changes in an effort to make the concession operation more appealing to bidders. The biggest change was to extend the term of the contract from 10 years to 15 years, thus allowing an additional five years to recapture the estimated $2 million initial investment required on the part of a new concessionaire.

Additional modifications included the permission for limited retail space in the park’s visitor center, and eliminating the requirement for temporary food and beverage service during the period the Mammoth Cave Hotel will be closed for renovation. The Park Service also agreed to permit the concessionaire greater retail space, including a presence in the dining area. In a particularly interesting modification, the NPS considered allowing the construction of new lodging, restaurant, and retail facilities.

A major requirement of the initial prospectus was not changed, however, and that is the demolition of the Heritage Trail wing of the main hotel. This will result in the loss of 38 guest rooms that NPS has judged too small. It also claims the rooms have poor lighting and sound-proofing, and emit an odor the NPS and concessionaire have not be able to abate. This loss of rooms may be behind the offer to consider the possibility of allowing a new concessionaire to build additional lodging.

Ortega National Parks, LLC is primarily owned by Armand Ortega, who founded his first operations more than 40 years ago. The family business began as National Park Concessioners at Bandelier and White Sands National Monuments and Carlsbad Caverns National Park. In the last ten years they have expanded to have contracts with 12 national parks or monuments from Maine to Hawaii, as well as Colossal Cave County Park in Tucson, Arizona.