RV Travel: The New Trend

By Travel Agent staff Aug 13, 2020 10:57am

With international travel remaining on hiatus, premium travel and tour operator Overseas Leisure Group has launched an alternative luxury travel option for the adventurous to explore America while taking responsible health and safety measures to ensure a minimum risk within the remote wilderness: RV excursions.

“Discover America” has been developed in response to the European travel ban and a surge in demand for domestic travel by offering a series of luxury RV excursions that are customized for affluent travelers. Designed to reconnect travels with the natural wonder of the U.S. via a state-of-the-art recreation vehicle, each package is tailored to suit the client’s profile and their required level of on-the-road service or self-sufficiency, while providing authentic experiences along the way. A “Discover America” luxury RV excursion, Overseas Leisure Group says, offers travelers “all the conveniences and comforts of a hotel,” while keeping to secluded areas of the country and being as safe as possible.

A wide array of luxury RVs are available, ranging from compact luxury Mercedes vans for two or three people, to a 45-foot, converted coach for six people that is fully serviced and includes rooms with a queen- or king-sized bed, full-sized bathrooms, kitchen, laundry facilities, spacious dining area and satellite TVs with 4G Internet. In addition to providing an experienced driver if required, Overseas Leisure Group’s Chase Road Concierge offers an all-inclusive service that provides tech assistance, cleaning, groceries, meals, maintenance, as well as a chauffeur for transportation when the RV is parked. Clients may also choose an alternate mode of transport, including an SUV, convertible car or even a Harley Davidson motorcycle.

A “Discover America” luxury RV excursion offers all the comforts of a hotel.

“Discover America” offers scenic road trips that are tailored and pre-determined by the required period of travel that can often be up to two weeks for a single trip. From touring the Great Lakes or experiencing Wyoming’s National Parks, such as Grand Teton or Yellowstone, to visiting a ranch in Montana, any type of RV retreat can be planned for any region in the country. Trips can also include staycations at hotels, villas, ranches and resorts along the way that accommodate RVs on-site and encompass activities from cattle drives and archery, to a river rafting camp trip with an Olympic gold medalist.

The following are some examples of the excursions available from “Discover America” by Overseas Leisure Group.

“The Invisible House” at Joshua Tree, California

Located in the middle of the desert on the border of the Joshua Tree National Park (two hours from Los Angeles) and built by “American Psycho” film producer, Chris Hanley, this 90-acre private retreat consists of three fully furnished bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms, floor-to-ceiling windows and a 100-foot indoor pool adjacent to the living room. The master suite has a freestanding tub and sliding glass doors open at either end of the property for unobstructed views of the desert.

“From Wyoming To Montana”

This 10-day road trip across the northwest United States allows trekkers to experience two of the most popular National Parks in the country and stay for multiple nights at locations nearby. A drive from Jackson Hole Airport brings visitors to Wyoming’s Jackson Hole Valley Mountain Resort and the longest vertical rise of any mountain area in the U.S., known for its wildlife and National Elk Refuge. Guests are booked for two nights at the Amangani Suites resort overlooking the Teton Mountains, before continuing on to Yellowstone to experience its hot springs and geysers. An overnight stay at the nearby Headwaters RV Campground is arranged before continuing on toward Montana and a two-night stay en-route in a Deluxe Tent at Under Canvas, a glamping destination located on the edge of Yellowstone and the gateway to Montana’s hydrothermal and geological sites. After hiking the trails of Montana’s Glacier National Park, a four-night stay is booked in a Big Timber suite at The Resort at Paws Up.

The eight-day “A California Conquest” excursion will take travelers to the Yosemite National Park.

“A California Conquest” From Los Angeles To San Francisco

This eight-day excursion takes travelers on a voyage through California’s wilderness. A three-hour drive from Los Angeles is Sequoia National Park, home to its giant sequoia trees and General Sherman tree, the largest tree on earth. Guests are booked for two nights at the Sequoia Campground and Lodge, located within the adjoining Kings Canyon National Park, before continuing on to Yosemite National Park. A three-night stay at the Yosemite RV Resort, in the foothills of the Yosemite Valley, is followed by a trip to Carmel-by-the-Sea, a beach city on California’s Monterey Peninsula, where a two-night stay is arranged at Carmel by the River RV Park.

“On The Road Again” From Salt Lake City to Las Vegas

Originating from Salt Lake City Airport, the journey begins with a short drive to The Lodge at Blue Sky, followed by Paddle Board Yoga in a 10,000-year-old hot spring and a stay at Sorrel River Ranch. Next up is a river rafting camp trip guided by an Olympic kayaker, an off-road jeep trail and iPhone photography tour in Utah’s Arches National Park. Travelers will then head for a stay at The View Hotel in Arizona, and will be given a tour by an authentic Medicine Man in Monument Valley. It will be followed by a stay at Amangiri in Utah, a cruise along Colorado’s Lake Powell with a U.S. Coast Guard, a private photo tour through Arizona’s Antelope Canyon, a stay at Utah’s Bryce Canyon, an evening of stargazing with a professional astronomer, a glamping experience at Under Canvas Zion, and a hiking trail through the rock formations of Utah’s Zion National Park.

RV Travel: Just the Facts

As travel restrictions lift in the U.S., VacationRenter has seen growth in travelers interested in RV rentals, indicating a major surge in this mode of travel. Travelers are increasingly turning to this method as a way to enforce social distancing and travel safely.
VacationRenter announced a partnership with Outdoorsy back in February, adding RV rentals to their site offering.
Top RV Destinations in May were: Denver, Las Vegas, Houston, Phoenix, San Diego, Los Angeles, Austin, Dallas, Anchorage, Chicago

Additional Travel Industry Data

Key findings from the latest wave of MMGY Global’s Traveler Intentions Pulse Survey (TIPS) show that there is a growing interest in road trips and destinations that are close to home.
RVshare, an RV sharing site, has recently seen “the highest recorded booking numbers in company history,” computing to a 650 percent spike in reservations since early April.
Though many states were still locked down in May, Airstream (the retro trailer brand) saw retail sales climb 11 percent compared to last year. RVshare said the number of days booked via its site has more than doubled year-to-date compared to last year.
According to a 2019 survey, 73 percent of travelers said they would rather take a road trip than fly to their destination. This holds even more true now that road trips offer the safest travel option available.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that “Traveling by RV means you may have to stop less often for food or bathrooms,” making RV travel far less of a risk than traveling by plane, train, cruise or automobile.
CNBC spoke to experts such as Mark Wong, an executive for Small Luxury Hotels of the World, who say this summer will be the summer of road trips for families who do still book vacations, again citing the security associated with a personal vehicle rather than public transportation.