It’s time for your next family vacation. You’ve decided on the location, you’ve chosen the dates and now only one question remains – should get there in an RV or stay in a hotel?
Comfort level:
Hotel room – depending on the hotel you choose to stay in, the accommodations can be very nice. Most hotel rooms are big enough to spread out in, and you can often get separate but adjoining rooms if you want additional space for the kids.
Unfortunately, many hotels get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason – paper thin walls and noisy neighbors, recent reports of bedbug infestations and sheets and bedspreads that haven’t been changed since the 1970s all make many travelers wary of even the most luxurious hotels. Also, the lack of kitchens in most hotel rooms means your mealtime options are pretty limited.
RV – while RVs don’t have the space of regular hotel rooms, they’re usually much roomier than you might think. Most can sleep five to six people comfortably, and with a full kitchen, bathroom and shower, you have all the accoutrements of a normal hotel and more.
Best of all, you know that everything on the RV is yours – your bed, your fridge, even your soap and shampoo. You know the last time you cleaned the sheets, you know what’s been done on the couch and you never have to worry about finding anything you don’t want to find or seeing what you don’t want to see.
Cost:
Hotel room – again, this fluctuates depending on the hotel you select. It is possible to find hotel rooms for less than $100 a night, but if you want to be comfortable you may have to shell out much more than that (sometimes over $400 per night and beyond!) – and that’s before factoring in things like airline tickets, three meals out per day, etc.
RV – looking to stay at a premium campground? 50 bucks a night will get you a prime campsite with full hookups (sewer, water, cable and electric) that’s close to hiking trails, kayaking, swimming – whatever you want to do! The simple kitchen in your RV will also allow you to cook eggs for breakfast, turkey sandwiches for lunch and hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner, making going out a treat rather than an obligation.
Flexibility:
Hotel room – if you choose to stay at a hotel, especially during their busy season, you’d better hope you made your reservations well in advance. Hotels can book up fast, and once you’ve got a date, it’s pretty much set in stone.
RV – while some of the more popular destinations do tend to fill up, campgrounds tend to offer much more flexibility than big hotels and last-minute alternatives are almost always available.
Convenience:
Hotel room – in a hotel, everything is done for you – you wake up and set off on your day’s adventures, and when you come back the beds are made and everything is back in its proper place. You don’t have to take any time out to do dishes or worry about anything.
RV – in an RV, you don’t have the benefit of someone else coming and picking up after you. What you do have, however, is all of your own stuff. Even if you’re having a great vacation, living out of a suitcase gets to be a pain, and going out to eat for every single meal is time-consuming and expensive. If you find somewhere else you’d like to stay for a night, just hop in and hit the road – no need to cancel reservations and make new ones elsewhere. Best of all, you’ll always have drinks and snacks available on hand and your own comfortable bed for an afternoon snooze, allowing you to take on each day at your own pace.
Neighborly bonding:
Hotel room – in a hotel, the closest you’ll usually ever get to your neighbors is from their sounds coming in from through the walls.
RV – you find a different kind of person when you stay at a campground – every time you visit one, you’re invited into the small, friendly community. You’ll meet interesting people from all over and always have a big enough group for some pickup softball games.
Before you set out on your next vacation, stop by Beckley’s for an RV tune-up, then get ready to hit the road!
