Four reasons campervans are better than hotels

You might be dreaming of a lovely hotel while planning your summer getaway this year, but let us try to convince you why investing in a good campervan is actually a far better idea.

It’s a slight adjustment if you’re used to staying in hotels, but we’re convinced that once you’ve been bitten by the bug you’ll be a campervan convert.

1. It’s cheaper in the long run

If you’re planning your summer holiday right now, you don’t need us to tell you that the price of staying in a decent hotel – or even a less-than-decent one – is really pretty high. Considering it’s a place you’ll be spending much of your time unconscious, does the price of comfort really need to be so much?

Sure, the initial outlay of a campervan is higher than a couple of weeks in a hotel room, but once you have it there’s no limit to the number of times you can use it. For a fun game, try and work out how many nights you could stay in a hotel for the price of a second-hand campervan.

Once you’ve done this maths, you’ll understand why owning your own hotel on wheels is actually the very best way to make sure you can continue going on holiday in the future.

2. You can customise it

There’s always that fear, when booking a hotel, that you don’t really know what you’re getting until you arrive. The beds might be too hard or too soft, the air conditioning loud, the hotel grubby or the staff rude or negligent.

So many of TripAdvisor’s complaints about hotels mention the unexpected disappointments people have experienced once they have arrived at a strange hotel.

With your campervan, you can make absolutely sure it’s up to scratch before you head out on holiday. No longer do campervans need to be the squeaky and uncomfortable experiences of old.

Get a mattress you like, give it a thorough clean, add some nice lighting, get your travel kettle and mini fridge ready, and pack up all your favourite bed linen. You can even get it fitted with Wi-Fi and solar panels if you like. By the time you set off, you’ll know that the place you’re sleeping during your holiday is everything you want it to be.

3. The ultimate choice of destination

When you stay in hotels, you’re very much restricted to the location of the actual bricks and mortar. You can’t move the hotel if you want to be a bit closer to the sea, or push it somewhere a bit less crowded.

With a campervan, you can park up anywhere you’re legally allowed to, and you can move your accommodation at any time of the day or night. Don’t like the neighbours? Drive on. Don’t like the view? Drive on. Don’t like the way that seagull is looking at you? Drive on!

4. Perfect foreign holidays with almost zero planning

Think of the fuss you need to work through to plan a foreign holiday if you’re staying in a hotel. Choosing the right place, scoping out the area, and making sure it’s somewhere you would be happy to stay for a couple of weeks. Foreign holidays might be a once-a-year treat, so it’s important to make sure you’re committing to the very best hotel and deal you can find.

That’s not the case when you have a camper van, because you can take your accommodation abroad with you. All you need to do is book it onto a ferry or into the Channel Tunnel and you can be in Europe in no time, giving you even more choice of beautiful places to park up.

Don’t like the first place you visit? No problem, drive on somewhere new. You don’t need to complain to the manager or holiday company to change your room or hotel, and you don’t need to put up with a resort you don’t like, all you need to do is drive on.

Before you run off to get a campervan

There’s just one more thing to consider before you start browsing campervan models, and that’s the licence you might need to drive it. Some campervans will need you to slightly upgrade your current driving licence so you can safely and legally drive a larger vehicle like a campervan, and that’s where we can help.

HGVT don’t only train HGV drivers, but drivers of all kinds of vehicles, including campervans. Speak to one of our friendly team today and they’ll talk you through the different licence options you might need, and how to get them added to your current licence as quickly and as cheaply as possible.