Pros:Ahwahnee Lodge > $600 per night, beautiful,upscale lodge...lots of tourist traffic, very expensive Yosemite Lodge > $350 per night, lots of tourist traffic, old government like track housing buildings, not exactly a beautiful place...but def very functional, but still very expensive for you what you get...this place does not give you the cozy, big lodge like the Ahwahnee Essentially the two above places are about 1/2 mile from each other on the valley floor pretty much in the same complex. Their biggest perk is they have yo staying down in the valley in the middle of one of the most scenic views on the planet...and they make you pay for that view. Remove them from the valley floor and you might expect to pay $200/$75 respectively in any other city. Now for the Tenaya Lodge. Its a better version of the Ahwahnee but just not on the valley floor. It is located about half way between the south entrance and the valley floor. And its cheaper than the ugly and uninviting Yosemite Lodge. at about $280 per night. It is exactly what you would want a big lodge to look like, cozy, entrance and grand room decor made from big trees (very similar to Ahwahnee)...and it also has private house-like cabins with gas-only fireplaces that are very well kept (which is where we stayed). Not a true fireplace but big flames and fireplace heat at the end of a long hiking day is a really nice atmosphere to relax in. The Tenaya offers room service to the cabins and has 3 decent restaurants (in the Lodge) to choose from....it also puts you close to Wahana (further into the park) and the South Entrance giving you additional dinning options that you WON'T have staying down in the valley floor (unless you want to drive 1.5 to 2 hours to eat) For those of you that "need" to stay on the valley floor consider this: no matter what or where you go, you will be driving. To get to the valley floor you must drive about 45min. Thus to drive out...to get to the other park locations, you must also drive 45min out. So to stay in the valley floor, aside from the awesome view, offers no additional convenience. Everything is about 1 hour from everything else...every water fall, every trail, every scenic view. So...even if you decide you want to stay at the very expensive Ahwahnee or the shabby Yosemite Lodge you must still drive at least an hour to get to anywhere else: Mariposa Grove, Toulumne Grove, Glacier Point, 2 hours to Toulumne Meadows, etc. The drives from Tenaya are more for some and less for others. Everything in the Park is expensive. Just know this going in...and get over it. Remember, most of these places are closed during certain portions of the year and shipping to these remote locations certainly isn't convenient or cheap thus all their prices reflect this. Bottled water: $4.00. Banana: $1.50 6-pack beer: $10+ ...you get the point. Gas though isn't much more expensive than outside the park. Thus again, Tenaya is the best bang for the buck.
Cons:In contrast to everything else offered in the park, there really aren't any negatives. Everything must be taken in context...and that being said Tenaya is pretty top notch place that doesn't break the bank. The ONLY personal disappointment for us is we truly wanted a real fireplace burning real wood in our cabin...not a gas. This is a personal thing for us and not a negative on Tenaya. Tenaya...nor Yosemite...can afford another massive forest fire started by embers blowing from a chimnee...or a cabin burning down. We get the hazard...just bummed about it. On last note, the 3 restaurants didn't really have a diverse menu's from one another. It's all the same kitchen and for the most part you could order anything from any menu at any restaurant. Each restaurant offers a different feel...but if you do room service, all three menus are collapsed into a single menu thus you would never know these were three separate restaurants. A minor if not an issue at all...but for some if you are trying to do a romantic get away then your dinning experience is important. But most aren't in Yosemite for exclusive romantic get-a-ways.