You know the ending to The Sixth Sense, that famous twist (for the two people who haven’t yet seen it, we will avoid spoilers).
Not since we saw that ending, literally throwing popcorn into the air, have we been so shocked.
What has had this impact? It is finding out that a lot of people use Google to ask whether they should take a motorhome holiday or go to a hotel.
We find this amazing for two reasons. Firstly, if anyone is weighing up the two, surely it’s an easy decision; choose a motorhome holiday (OK, we’ll give more detailed advice in a bit and have a look at a few pros and cons)
Secondly, we assumed most people fell into one camp or another, or at least had set ideas for each holiday. We didn’t imagine that huge numbers are using Google to work out which one they should use as their accommodation on a holiday.
But, people do ask the question so we better answer it. We think the choice comes down to a few key factors.
Do you like being able to go with the flow?
If you book hotels in advance you are obviously stuck with them. The room and overall feel of the hotel might be great, or they could be lacking in some way.
The hotel might have every luxury but its fixed location might mean that you feel you are always having to travel a fair distance in different directions for days out.
The hotel might be fine, but you might happen upon a better hotel, gaze at the pool, and wish you’d booked that one instead. We’ve certainly done that in the past, taken great care to book a hotel only to arrive and find the one 100 yards away looks so much better in hindsight.
If you are travelling in a motorhome, you have far more flexibility and it is far easier to stay wherever looks best.
For example, you might have a night or two booked somewhere, but then find a wonderful site in a perfect location. Rather than thinking ahead to how you might like to go there in a future year, you can simply tweak your plans and find a spot.
In a motorhome, you also have more freedom to move around, easily exploring different parts of a country as part of a continuous journey, rather than always heading out from a central base and then returning.
If you want your holiday to be any sort of adventure, motorhomes (or camping or caravans for that matter) beat hotels.
A life of luxury
Hotels and motorhomes can both have a luxurious feel, though we would accept that a five-star hotel has a level of grandeur that a motorhome will struggle to match.
What about away from the top end though? Hotels have facilities such as pools, gyms and restaurants, but then so too do leading sites in the UK and Europe.
A motorhome will also often have more in the way of entertainment and finishing touches than all bar the best hotel rooms. You will have a fully equipped kitchen, all the entertainment equipment you could want and, of course, all the home comforts you can pack. With a motorhome you can pack it full of all those little extra touches, whereas in a hotel you will be far more limited to bringing what you can cram into the one or two suitcases you get within a tight baggage allowance.
Luxury means different things to different people. If you want a marble staircase, gold buttons in the lift or a bar area with chrome taps then a hotel might be for you. But, if you want a site with a great pool and to enjoy a home-cooked meal while gazing out to sea or with any number of amazing other views (and without having to sit three metres away from other diners) then maybe a motorhome is better.
Financial sense
Which makes better financial sense – booking a hotel or going on a motorhome holiday?
This one is almost impossible to answer. For an individual holiday, if you want to hire a motorhome, you have to work out the cost of hire, then the site fees (which will be far less than a hotel).
There’s the cost of food, in a motorhome you might eat in, whereas staying in a hotel is likely to ramp up those food bills. Even drinks, ice creams and the like cost far more in a hotel (one of the joys of a motorhome holiday is that you can stock up and fill the fridge and freezer).
What is certain is that it is easier to control the costs once you have embarked on your motorhome holiday. You can eat cheaply, a day trip can simply be a drive to somewhere interesting rather than an expensive excursion. You can even camp for free across much of Europe, villages keen to welcome motorhome owners knowing that in return local tourism takes a boost.
Longer term, if you invest in a motorhome it can really reap dividends. There is of course an initial outlay, though it is worth remembering that motorhome depreciation is nothing like that seen in cars and so much of this initial cost can be recouped.
Every year holidays will be cheaper – no need to book flights and hotels, instead you can make use of your motorhome. Better still, having a motorhome also encourages people to take extra holidays, whereas a weekend break at short notice is hideously expensive when looking at hotels or B&B, when you have a motorhome you can just decide to go away to the coast, or the Lakes or wherever and it will cost next to nothing.
A motorhome allows you to be far more impulsive.
A final thought on the relative cost is that motorhome owners can rent out their vehicle to avoid it being sat on the drive for long periods, this can bring in thousands per year, there are sites to smooth the whole process, matching owners with those looking to rent.
We wrote about the cost of buying a motorhome in a previous blog post.
The fun factor
Hotels are a safe option and there is nothing wrong with that. You can get excellent service, a great room, superb food and enjoy top class facilities. There is nothing wrong with hotels and they are the right choice for many on certain occasions.
However, hotels are rarely fun and they are rarely an adventure (and when hotels are an adventure it is in a bad way, it is not what they are for).
If you’re on a business trip across the globe, an adventure is probably the last thing you want, you want certainty, everything in its right place.
However, when did you last make a really good friend for life in a hotel? When did you wake up to a truly amazing view? When did you stumble across a great hotel and stay there for a few days, enjoying a truly memorable trip? When were you on holiday, in a hotel, and took the recommendation of someone who knew a better hotel? And, if that did happen, were you able to change to this hotel?
A motorhome holiday opens up opportunities. You can have the safety of being booked into a great site, but perhaps have the flexibility to then go on to an yet unknown site, you could simply make a booking at wherever takes your fancy.
Motorhome holidays are also holidays of like-minded, helpful people.
So, which to choose?
For your next trip, it’s hard to say. What we do find, though, is that once people have given motorhome holidays a try they tend to love them.
We would heartily recommend giving a motorhome holiday that try, whether that is for a summer holiday or just easing into a weekend away.
If you do enjoy that taste of motorhome holidays then a whole new world of adventure is yours. Opportunities and also long-term savings opens itself up to you.
Whatever you decide, we hope you have a great holiday. If, at any time, you find yourself considering buying a new or used motorhome then please do get in touch, even if for a bit of advice. We love talking motorhomes!
About Emm-Bee Motorhomes
Emm-Bee is a leading UK family-run motorhome dealership based in Bury, Greater Manchester.
As well as stocking the latest models from leading makes such as Burstner, Chausson, Bailey and Laika, we also have an unrivalled stock of used motorhomes for sale.
We pride ourselves on customer satisfaction and offering unmatched levels of service – we have been in business for 25 years and have flourished on word-of-mouth recommendations.
Please have a look round the site to check our range of used motorhomes and do get in touch with any queries, or just to pick our brains.
