RV vs. Hotel: Which is Better?

June 18, 2025

RV vs. Hotel: Which is Better?

My family recently had the privilege of spending a night at a well-known hotel and waterpark. We were beyond excited for this special opportunity! An overnight at this location is not something that we do on regular basis, or ever really, but we were blessed with this hotel experience as a Christmas gift. Our weekend was amazing, and the waterpark was so much fun, but as we soon discovered, we have become spoiled with our RV adventures! Hotels, while exciting, have begun to lack some of their charm for our family.

As our mid-winter, tropical, water-park-weekend approached, we began preparing by digging out the suitcases. And yes, suitcases, plural. Keep in mind, we are staying ONE-NIGHT, about twenty minutes from our house. Pajamas, swim suits, towels, clothes for the next day, toiletries…you know the packing routine. Each girl prepared their own little rolling box of goodies. One was filled with stuffed animals, leaving barely any room for actual items of need, the other couldn’t leave a blanket behind for the short stay. As I’m inspecting their suitcases and checking for important items, like underwear, I’m thinking, “My goodness! These suitcases don’t have enough room in them for us to spend ONE-NIGHT away!” But, somehow we manage to stuff them full with everything we think we need, including the sound machine.

Adam and I begin to pack. This will be easy, right?! It’s ONE NIGHT! I don’t need much to stay ONE-NIGHT at a hotel…and, we will be in our swim suits most of the time anyway! Bare minimum basics! Over-confidently, I scoff, “We could use a backpack!” That plan is shot with the first sweatshirt packed. Remember, it is mid-winter in Minnesota, so our clothes are a little thicker than Florida attire, and therefore take up more room, but I can’t even blame the number of bags we brought on this ONE-NIGHT adventure on the bulkiness of our fabrics. Turns out, I like to have everything I think I might need when I leave my house for the night. Okay, clothes
and creature comforts packed…we will be set! Then my brain switches to food…what will we eat?! Oh my goodness, I don’t want to pack a cooler for ONE-NIGHT! I recognize that this is getting out of hand, and throw some microwave popcorn into someone’s suitcase, Adam packs a few sodas in a small cooler, and at the last second I add some chips and dip. I know how ravenous little swimmers get, and throw my hands up, knowing this will not be enough to keep us full, and we will have to resort to the resort food.

Load up! We are dressed in layers with our suits on under our sweatshirts and pants (this will become important later), to make the most of our limited time at the pool. That way, once we check-in, we can head straight to the pool, even if our room is not ready! We pack the car with two kid suitcases, a large duffel bag for Adam and I, a pool bag with towels, goggles, and pool goodies, a small cooler, and life jackets. Our dog, Minnie, gets dropped off with a neighbor for the night, and we set off on the twenty minute drive. We arrive, check-in, lug all the bags in, get settled into the room, squeal and explore all the coolness that is a hotel room (especially with
kids), and head to the pool. We swim, work up the courage to try some big slides, loop the lazy river, ride the waves, we do it all (except for all the super expensive add-ons that await right outside the pool doors)! Dinner time arrives and we tell the girls we are ordering pizza at the pool! They are thrilled, but want to take it back to the room because its so loud in the pool. Great idea, girls! Love your train of thought! We go back to the room, change into our pajamas, eat pizza on the bed, and watch a show. As we wind down for the night, I begin to realize that I didn’t do as well at packing as I thought I had. Things that are always in our camper, I forgot to
pack…like a toothbrush, deodorant, and my hair brush. I laugh it off and borrow what I need from everyone else. 

We settle into our beds and get ready for a restful sleep so we can hit the pool early in the morning before checking out. This is where the differences of hotels and RVs becomes glaringly obvious. Katie and myself find the beds lacking a decent blanket of warmth, tucked in was only layers of sheets…maybe the whisper of a blanket, but honestly was just an extra thick sheet, and not nearly enough for either of us to feel sufficiently comfy and cozy. We make do with an extra blanket (thick sheet) from the closet and try to find sleep again. This is when I realize that the child who couldn’t leave home for ONE-NIGHT without her blanket, was quite smart! Adam finds sleep easy, without the extra blanket, because he can sleep anywhere, without a blanket at all! Midnight approaches, and I hear a little voice from the bunk bed say, “Mom, I can’t sleep…Daddy’s snoring is keeping me awake, and I miss my camper bed!”

” She proceeds to tell me all the things that make her camper bed better than the hotel bunk that she was so excited about a few hours ago, and this is when I realize that even though our camper has bedrooms, a kitchen, living room, and a bathroom all compacted into 32 feet, we have more personal space in it than we do in this fancy hotel.

When night arrives in the camper, we all retreat to our own sleeping space, with just the right amount of fluffy blankets, and plush pillows. The girls create their own sleep-haven with a sound machine, ambient lighting, and close their curtains to block out any distractions from the rest of the world. Our master bedroom, has doors to separate us from the rest of the rig, the perfect bedding, and our own TV. When Nana and Papa camp with us, they have the living room to themselves. We can give six people decent, divided sleeping space in the camper, and couldn’t even manage to sleep with just four of us in the hotel.

After we all achieve some form of sleep, some better than others, the morning comes and we organize the suitcases and pool bag. We plan on loading the car up with all our belongings, going to the pool for a few more hours, showering off in the locker room, changing into clothes, and making our way over the mall for a few more hours of fun. I pack everyone’s outfits and shoes into the pool bag for changing into later, and as I’m packing the last of it, I realize that I don’t have everything I need! Because we left the house in our suits, I never even thought of packing a undergarmets! There is nothing left to do but giggle, shake my head at my dismal packing skills, and be thankful that its winter in Minnesota and our fabrics are bulky! 

When our Starcraft RV was brand new, and I began sharing our adventures with the social media world, our girls were 3 and 5. Being someone who previously hated camping with young kids, I instantly fell in love with the comforts of the new rig and the whole experience with my family. I remember a high school friend reaching out to me on social media. She told me it looked like we were having so much fun, and she had no idea how that was possible with two little kids in the camper. She shared that their overnights at hotels with kids were so much work with everyone leaving feeling drained, sleep deprived, and over-packed. I agreed with her, that hotels were hard, and you had to pack an entire car to the brim to feel like you had everything you needed for the kids to make it through the short experience. As I thought on it, I quickly told her that the camper made staying overnight with two little kids so much more enjoyable, because you easily have everything you need already packed in the rig, the kids have their own predictable and comfortable space, and you are in control of the surrounding environment. There is a fair amount of work involved when camping as well, but my family tends to agree that the work needed to camp for a weekend is so much easier than packing for a weekend hotel stay. Plus, doesn’t the idea of feeling like you are at home, no matter where you go sound so enticing?!

 

 

Jodessa and Adam Waldhauser

@thewaldhauserweekendwanderers

Jodessa, Adam, Callie and Katie are true weekend warriors. Buying their Starcraft Super Lite Travel Trailer in 2020 at the peak of COVID still allowed their family to explore their sense of adventure. Traveling has always been a source of enjoyment and a way of life before and after having children. Camping has become their hobby; they enjoy exploring and learning about any area they travel to, near or far away. While COVID was the motivating factor for their beginning, once they began, it was clear that their lives had been forever changed, and camping opened new ways to explore.

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