RV vs Hotels

[Julian926]

I know there are a lot of variables here. I'm curious who RVs and is it a better alternative to renting hotels.

I'm getting the impression that RVs don't really save money. I could be wrong.

 

[csxjohn]

I know there are a lot of variables here. I'm curious who RVs and is it a better alternative to renting hotels.

I'm getting the impression that RVs don't really save money. I could be wrong.

They may save some money on your stays but you have to buy or rent the darn things.

Every time I see one broken down on the road I tell my wife to remind me to never think about buying one.

 

[Passepartout]

It's sort of comparing apples to oranges. The two aren't equal beyond someplace to lay your head. For us, hotels are the low priced deal in the short run. Over the long haul, the jury's out. Initial cost: $30K for the 5th wheel + $40K for the truck to tow it. Most RV parks charge $25 and up per night. Like timeshares, there are lower cost resales (used RVs/trucks), and parking at Walmart is free- and when you sell, there is residual value. Otoh, if you snowbird, and amortize the cost over hundreds of nights and several years' use, the per-night cost of the RV might be pretty low. For us, though, I can't help but think about how many nights we could have spent in 4+ star hotels for the price we have in the RV's we've owned.

That said, out here in the rural West, there are a helluva lot of very, very, nice places you can RV, and there are no hotels, 4 star or otherwise within hundreds of miles.

Like I said. Apples and oranges. YMMV.

Jim

 

[Julian926]

They may save some money on your stays but you have to buy or rent the darn things.

Every time I see one broken down on the road I tell my wife to remind me to never think about buying one.

Yeah, you have to think of the full cost of these vehicles as well. Even a new trailer will cost at least 30k.

 

[Julian926]

It's sort of comparing apples to oranges. The two aren't equal beyond someplace to lay your head. For us, hotels are the low priced deal in the short run. Over the long haul, the jury's out. Initial cost: $30K for the 5th wheel + $40K for the truck to tow it. Most RV parks charge $25 and up per night. Like timeshares, there are lower cost resales (used RVs/trucks), and parking at Walmart is free- and when you sell, there is residual value. Otoh, if you snowbird, and amortize the cost over hundreds of nights and several years' use, the per-night cost of the RV might be pretty low. For us, though, I can't help but think about how many nights we could have spent in 4+ star hotels for the price we have in the RV's we've owned.

That said, out here in the rural West, there are a helluva lot of very, very, nice places you can RV, and there are no hotels, 4 star or otherwise within hundreds of miles.

Like I said. Apples and oranges. YMMV.

Jim

Great points. I also think about the ability to take our cats with us in a RV. It would feel more like home than a hotel room.

 

[spirits]

It depends

I am sure that you will get a lot of different answers and so I would just like to give you our perspective.
When our children were younger my husband and I loved to camp in our rv. It was a bunkbed model....we had great destinations to camp in...the boys loved building fires, roasting marshmallows, reading in their bunks in the rain.
One time we went to visit friends who were on holidays in a timeshare and although it was very convenient and lovely...we all said we would not give up the camping experience.
Now 20 years later...the boys rarely have time to holiday with us...even if it is for a few days but we love timesharing. No trailer to pack and unpack...the comfort of a tv on those rainy days....we can cook or eat out easily since the timeshare is close to town. No headaches...just maintenance fees but it suits our lifestyle right now.
There are people who love both....if you are planning to go to many destinations in one holiday timeframe...I would stay with hotels...easy to book, easy to cancel if something comes up....you can be in a different city every day....if that is your style
Timesharing is a large investment in either time or money...if you learn the system you can save a lot of money...if you have a lot of money....just buy the timeshare from the developer. One warning....it was easy to sell our trailer....not so easy for the timeshare. Some people just rent their units without ownership but that takes a bit of a learning curve
I guess it all depends on what you want your holiday to be. If you are looking for the finances......I think our holidays cost about the same.......whether we were camping or timesharing.......we like a certain level of comfort and found the money to support our vacation mode whether is was rving or something else comparable.

 

[Julian926]

I am sure that you will get a lot of different answers and so I would just like to give you our perspective.
When our children were younger my husband and I loved to camp in our rv. It was a bunkbed model....we had great destinations to camp in...the boys loved building fires, roasting marshmallows, reading in their bunks in the rain.
One time we went to visit friends who were on holidays in a timeshare and although it was very convenient and lovely...we all said we would not give up the camping experience.
Now 20 years later...the boys rarely have time to holiday with us...even if it is for a few days but we love timesharing. No trailer to pack and unpack...the comfort of a tv on those rainy days....we can cook or eat out easily since the timeshare is close to town. No headaches...just maintenance fees but it suits our lifestyle right now.
There are people who love both....if you are planning to go to many destinations in one holiday timeframe...I would stay with hotels...easy to book, easy to cancel if something comes up....you can be in a different city every day....if that is your style
Timesharing is a large investment in either time or money...if you learn the system you can save a lot of money...if you have a lot of money....just buy the timeshare from the developer. One warning....it was easy to sell our trailer....not so easy for the timeshare. Some people just rent their units without ownership but that takes a bit of a learning curve
I guess it all depends on what you want your holiday to be. If you are looking for the finances......I think our holidays cost about the same.......whether we were camping or timesharing.......we like a certain level of comfort and found the money to support our vacation mode whether is was rving or something else comparable.

Thanks for sharing! I think I would use it to go for small time frames. Ideally, it would be nice to go to marathons and running events in various cities. Usually, they're around weekends. RV camps are also everywhere.

 

[JudyH]

We RV, but not as much as we used to.

Originally the TS was for overseas exchanges only. Not any more. We had a trailer, two motorhomes with problems (think $$$), and now a small trailer and new Suburban we don't use much.

Now we go on lots of overseas trips with Road Scholar or a river cruise, maybe tack a TS exchange onto that.

The trailer sort of sits. However, after several months recently in hotels, eating the same breakfast everyday, missing my bed, missing my cats, hating the hotel sheets and pillows....I am now looking forward to our cross country trip in our trailer this October.

It was nice not having to drive. I am the only driver.

All travel has its good and bad points.

 

[Julian926]

We RV, but not as much as we used to.

Originally the TS was for overseas exchanges only. Not any more. We had a trailer, two motorhomes with problems (think $$$), and now a small trailer and new Suburban we don't use much.

Now we go on lots of overseas trips with Road Scholar or a river cruise, maybe tack a TS exchange onto that.

The trailer sort of sits. However, after several months recently in hotels, eating the same breakfast everyday, missing my bed, missing my cats, hating the hotel sheets and pillows....I am now looking forward to our cross country trip in our trailer this October.

It was nice not having to drive. I am the only driver.

All travel has its good and bad points.

Are you taking your cats?

 

[presley]

I think a trailer would be convenient. A motorhome would be inconvenient as you'd have to drive the whole thing around with you vs. unhitching the truck and using the truck to go see some sights.

It's in our long term plan to have a trailer and not timeshares, but I'll still have the things I hate about timeshare stays - constant dirty dishes and taking out the trash. I love hotels because I don't have to to take out the trash and do dishes every day. Geez, when we bring extra people, I often end up doing dishes twice per day in a timeshare. At any rate, we envision being able to stay inside state and national parks and bringing our dogs along. At this time, we have to pay a petsitter and that often ends up being about 50% of the cost of our vacations. So, we believe we will come out slightly ahead with a trailer, but since we haven't done that, yet, we can't say for sure.

 

[ace2000]

We've thought about getting a smaller camper (teardrop style) and towing it with a car for use in between timeshare stays. I know many timeshares will not allow parking RVs and/or trailers, but perhaps they'd be more accommodating of a small trailer? Has anyone checked into the smaller sized trailers being allowed?

 

[WinniWoman]

To me RV's are not only expensive a lot of work and a lot of maintenance. Plus, to me it is like dragging "cement" around with you on vacation. You might need to tow a car also. A big hassle. As roomy as they might seem to some people, I would be claustrophobic.

 

[WinniWoman]

I think a trailer would be convenient. A motorhome would be inconvenient as you'd have to drive the whole thing around with you vs. unhitching the truck and using the truck to go see some sights.

It's in our long term plan to have a trailer and not timeshares, but I'll still have the things I hate about timeshare stays - constant dirty dishes and taking out the trash. I love hotels because I don't have to to take out the trash and do dishes every day. Geez, when we bring extra people, I often end up doing dishes twice per day in a timeshare. At any rate, we envision being able to stay inside state and national parks and bringing our dogs along. At this time, we have to pay a petsitter and that often ends up being about 50% of the cost of our vacations. So, we believe we will come out slightly ahead with a trailer, but since we haven't done that, yet, we can't say for sure.

We have had extra people (outside our immediate family) with us and I am just about done with that. I wish they would just spring for the money and rent their own unit so we can enjoy each other's company while on vacation without having to live with them for a week or two! No more for us! We are using our timeshares by ourselves from now on.

 

[Julian926]

I think a trailer would be convenient. A motorhome would be inconvenient as you'd have to drive the whole thing around with you vs. unhitching the truck and using the truck to go see some sights.

It's in our long term plan to have a trailer and not timeshares, but I'll still have the things I hate about timeshare stays - constant dirty dishes and taking out the trash. I love hotels because I don't have to to take out the trash and do dishes every day. Geez, when we bring extra people, I often end up doing dishes twice per day in a timeshare. At any rate, we envision being able to stay inside state and national parks and bringing our dogs along. At this time, we have to pay a petsitter and that often ends up being about 50% of the cost of our vacations. So, we believe we will come out slightly ahead with a trailer, but since we haven't done that, yet, we can't say for sure.

That's a good point about pet sitters. They do cost a lot.

 

[Passepartout]

A good point about being able to have the pets along on the RV, unlike hotels. But beware, everyone else in the RV park has their pets too. And Fluffy doesn't always get along with Fido, and some pet owners are not as responsible as others about picking up after their 'fur-kid'.

Oh yes, and it's not so big a deal right now, but these $2.50 gallons of gas won't be around forever, and at about 10 mpg, getting between here and there can get 'spensive.

Btw, my RV is sitting in the driveway with a 'for sale' sign on it if anybody wants a very nice 5th wheel with all the trimmings.

Jim

 

[Julian926]

A good point about being able to have the pets along on the RV, unlike hotels. But beware, everyone else in the RV park has their pets too. And Fluffy doesn't always get along with Fido, and some pet owners are not as responsible as others about picking up after their 'fur-kid'.

Oh yes, and it's not so big a deal right now, but these $2.50 gallons of gas won't be around forever, and at about 10 mpg, getting between here and there can get 'spensive.

Btw, my RV is sitting in the driveway with a 'for sale' sign on it if anybody wants a very nice 5th wheel with all the trimmings.

Jim

Funny, the reason why I was thinking about a RV is because of the price of gas. I actually think they will remain this low, simply because the oil cartels are deadly afraid of natural gas. The low gas prices is an attempt to stop natural gas as being an alternative fuel. Even Saudi Arabia admitted to that. If they even go back to the high prices, you're just helping the natural gas companies in the US.

 

[presley]

Oh yes, and it's not so big a deal right now, but these $2.50 gallons of gas won't be around forever, and at about 10 mpg, getting between here and there can get 'spensive.

Those prices have been gone for me for a very long time. Our incredibly low prices are running about $3.20/gallon, but there are still plenty of stations charging well over $4.00/gallon. http://www.sandiegogasprices.com/

 

[Passepartout]

Those prices have been gone for me for a very long time. Our incredibly low prices are running about $3.20/gallon, but there are still plenty of stations charging well over $4.00/gallon. http://www.sandiegogasprices.com/

That's 'cause you folks have 'special' gas. (with best 'church lady' accent). $2.61 here- and falling a few cents a week. Rumor has it, $2.00 by Christmas. Who knows. It'll reverse direction sooner or later.

 

[vacationhopeful]

Today's gas at Wawa ... a gas/snack shop chain here ... $2.15 regular.

NJ also only allows gas to be pumped by employee .. no self served by us drivers.


$2.15 for a gallon of REGULAR GAS in New Jersey.

 

[Phill12]

We thought of buying about 15 years ago and rented a very nice one to try on a Colorado vacation! Thought it would be away to try it out and take my wife and daughter back where I lived years ago near Pikes Peak.
What we found was we never want one of our own and when we returned we told the RV company this.
First problem was it took longer to drive some where then paying to park and sleep.Second was cost of fuel and third was out in the rain hooking up everything at the camp site finding the camp site bath rooms and shower area's dirty.
In Colorado we found the motor home wouldn't fit in some of the locations and ended up paying for a parking site up in Woodland Colo and renting a car to sight see.
All this well we had a timeshare sitting empty in Vale for five of our seven days. Only fun part was driving down the road after driving a big rig for many years.
We enjoy driving our car and stopping at nice hotels at the end of the day.

 

[Ty1on]

Today's gas at Wawa ... a gas/snack shop chain here ... $2.15 regular.

NJ also only allows gas to be pumped by employee .. no self served by us drivers.


$2.15 for a gallon of REGULAR GAS in New Jersey.

I was close today. $3.40.

 

[MuranoJo]

We have a 26' self-contained trailer and I think it 'just depends.'

On longer trips (say a week or more) I get claustrophobia--just too small of a space for that long, even though we're out and about most of the day. To me, the biggest bennie was being able to bring our pet, but sadly, we lost her two weeks ago.

We do not like camping in the typical park campsites, with trailers 10 feet to either side and leash laws, etc., so that pretty much limited us to primitive camp sites for quite some time.

DH loves to fish, so he often uses it with the guys for fly-fishing trips. Only time I use it is if we get a 'convoy' of trailer friends together for a group exploration trip. And that's fun.

And now DH wants a P/U/camper combo again so he can pull a boat behind for fishing.

Remember the extra costs such as where do you store it? You need a sheltered area and covers for open areas are not cheap and are often shredded in windy areas. Ongoing maintenance, inside cleaning, etc. are also another thing to consider. It's basically like traveling with a mini-second house.

 

[Kel]

I don't think buying an RV to save on hotel costs would be a good reason to buy an RV. Wanting to camp and take your pets with you is a good reason to buy an RV. We like to timeshare, stay in hotels and camp.

For the last 30 years we have always had a motor home, 5th wheel, travel trailer, toybox, or other. What we have owned has depended on our needs and activities (desert motorcycle/ATV, river water ski, beach kitesurfing, mountain hiking, lake boating). And, it's nice to take our dogs with us.

For the last 4 years we have had a 4X4 truck with a Lance Camper with a nice slide out. We travel to Baja Mexico a lot and didn't want to drive a motor home or tow a trailer in Baja. And, we just got back from a Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Washington/Oregon trip and we were able to fit in every State Campground we came across. The truck/camper works great. There are times I miss having something larger with more space, but there are pros and cons with every RV we have owned. And, we have always lived in places where we can store the RV on our property (which is economical and convenient). We are in our late 50s and as long as we can climb up into the cab over bed we will stick with the camper. When we cannot climb up into the cab over bed we will switch back to a travel trailer.

Happy travels!

 

[MULTIZ321]

'Airbnb for RV's' Launches Nationwide - by Katy Steinmetz/ Business/ Travel/ time.com

"Embrace your inner Airstream

Have you ever wanted to take an RV on a camping trip without having to actually own an enormous vehicle? Do you own a $90,000 RV that spends 11 months of the year languishing in your driveway? Then the startup for you has just gone live..."

Andrew Watson—Getty Images/Lonely Planet Images


Richard

 

[Bikeguy]

I think it depends on the RV. I am interested in Rialta's, or their current counterparts based on Sprinter vans. They are 20 feet in length, can be parked on city streets and sip fuel (relatively). I met a couple travelling the country in a Rialta a year or two ago and loved the idea. They have a cult following and books on amazon. I can see alternating between the RV and less expensive hotels.

My wife is not nearly as keen on the RV idea however.