Working for a Park Concessionaire

In the summer of 2005, I decided I wanted a break from the "real world" and headed out to Yellowstone National Park to work for the park concessionaire, Xanterra Parks & Resorts.  A concessionaire is a for-profit company that has an exclusive contract with the National Park Service to provide food, lodging, tours, entertainment, and so on to the visitors of the park.  Many of the National Park Service units have at least one concessionaire on their property (such as Eastern National, which runs many of the gift shops at other parks).  Xanterra is one of the larger companies, with several properties in Yellowstone as well as Zion National Park, Death Valley, the Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore and others.  Every season, they hire thousands of "seasonals;" workers interested in working for a particular heavy period of visitation.  In Yellowstone, the main season is summer; in other parks, it might be winter.  Xanterra also has several "permanents," who work both the summer and winter season in Yellowstone, or year-round at their headquarters in Gardiner, Montana.  Most of the seasonals are college kids on summer break, international workers who come for an experience or retirees.  Many seasonals come back year after year to work in the park.  It's relatively easy to get a job as a seasonal in Yellowstone or one of Xanterra's other properties.  Here, then, are the pros and cons of working for a park concessionaire.