Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed: (1) what, if any, standards the National Park Service has for its lodging facilities and how they are applied; (2) how common industry standards for maintaining the condition of hotel and motel facilities compare to the Park Service's standards; and (3) the condition of lodging facilities in national parks when evaluated by common industry standards.

GAO noted that: (1) the Park Service has standards for lodging facilities located in national parks and generally conducts formal evaluations of the condition of these facilities at least twice a year; (2) if problems are identified during these inspections, follow-up inspections are done to determine if the deficiencies were corrected; (3) a final evaluation of a concessioner's performance is also completed at the end of the year; (4) the Park Service's and industry's standards for inspecting the condition of lodging facilities are generally similar; however, industry's standards impose requirements for additional amenities, furnishings, safety, and security; (5) some of these additional industry requirements were available in many park lodging facilities; (6) Park Service officials told GAO that not all of the industry's standards, such as providing a television in every room, should apply to lodging facilities in the national park system; (7) however, the Park Service is revising its standards to include more industry requirements; and (8) generally, when evaluated by common industry standards, the condition of lodging facilities in national parks varies among parks and within parks.