Summer Vacationers Are Budgeting And The RV Market Is Responding

Americans are trying their best to keep their summer vacation plans intact through budgeting efforts and trying new forms of accommodations, according to a new survey by RV rental marketplace Outdoorsy.

Fifty-eight percent of Americans have been saving more money to keep their vacation hopes afloat while 72 percent said they are having to pull from vacation savings to make ends meet. Some are negotiating in the form of “nearcations”, as 58 percent of survey respondents said they plan to vacation closer to home this summer to adjust to the rising gas prices. 

Amidst efforts to reduce weekly spending and search for affordable vacation options that won’t compromise on the quality of the stay, vacationers are finding that RV trips could be a solution to their woes. The survey showed that 52 percent of travelers said they turn to rental vehicles while on vacation in order to save money, while nine in 10 respondents said they would prefer to rent something they can easily sleep or stay in, rather than book a hotel. First-time RV renters accounted for 79 percent of rentals on the Outdoorsy platform for this upcoming Memorial Day weekend.

“We compared the cost of an RV vacation to the cost of a typical hotel stay or airfare expense, which have both increased by 40 percent and 25 percent respectively,” said Jennifer Young, co-founder & CMO of Outdoorsy. “In the RV world, those prices don’t have to go up because we don’t carry all the fixed costs associated with renting a hotel or airline, so as a budget option for a vacation plan, those other types of vacations are proving to be almost too expensive.”

Read the rest of the article on Skift here.