How's the RV business? 'From completely dead to crazy busy'

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — Kacey Marner calls her family's recreational vehicle her part-time job. The stay-at-home mom of four puts in hours on upkeep: tightening loose cabinet doors, washing windows and vacuuming upholstery.

She also juggles the calendar of renters who tap the online marketplace Outdoorsy to reserve the Marners' 32-foot motorhome.

"It hasn't sat still very long," said Marner, who lives in north St. Louis County.

It's a good time to be in the RV business. Campers and mobile homes have become more appealing during the coronavirus pandemic, when flying, staying at a hotel and even eating out can induce anxiety. Competition for recreational dollars, such as cruises and resorts, has all but evaporated. And RV dealers expect virtual schooling and work-from-home flexibility to keep families on the road beyond Labor Day.

The Marners make about $200 a night, and did 50 rentals this summer before their own big trip: a 6,000-mile sojourn through the Rockies and along the West Coast.

But rentals are just part of the RV boom this year.

"The lot is the emptiest it's been in 20 or 30 years," said M.B. Thomas RV Sales co-owner Lonnie Hall, who has worked at the Lemay dealership since 1967.

They typically have 80 vehicles for sale, but were down to 11 this month. Their 32 rental units have been in constant rotation to families no longer tethered to home by Little League games or dance recitals.

The RVs are on and off the lot before the engines get cold, said Hall, whether they are $9,500 foldout trailers built for two or souped-up motorcoaches that top six figures.

"No matter what, we've got something you can afford," he said.

Or at least he will, when production catches up. Delivery lags orders by up to two months.

Byerly RV in Eureka is more than double the size of M.B. Thomas, but its lot looks much the same: mostly bare.

"We went from completely dead to crazy busy in May," said assistant sales manager Dave Hubatka.

The company, founded in Kirkwood in 1948, had three record months in a row, with August shaping up to be the fourth.

"We sold out of everything under $20,000 and have been trying to catch up ever since," said Hubatka, who scrambled in May to bring back 15 staffers who had been furloughed. More first-timers

For RVers, social distancing is not a new concept. The first recreational vehicles debuted in 1910, just two years after Ford's Model T. Shipments of RVs nearly tripled in the decade after the Great Recession before flattening out last year, according to the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association.

The sharp coronavirus slide quickly rebounded to surpass sale and rental high marks. More RVs were shipped to dealers in July than any month in the past 40 years. Outdoorsy and its competitor, RVshare, both reported booking three times the trips they did last year in just the first half of 2020.

Skyrocketing business isn't the only change, said Jon Gray, the CEO of Ohiobased RVshare. This summer's renters are different, too.

More people are first-timers, and many are waiting until the last minute to book. Trips are longer. The peak season is extending into the fall. And travelers are looking for a change-of-scenery "drive-to" rather than a "bucket-list trip," as Gray calls them.

A drive-to might be a day's ride to a state park or a campground a few hours away

More first-timers — rather than an odyssey to Yellowstone National Park, Yosemite or the Grand Canyon, still the top destinations for RVers.

"Even on short trips, it's a different way to see the world," said Gray.

For an owner, an RV can pay for itself through rentals. The average owner who lists on RVshare gets 15 to 20 bookings per year. Rental prices range from $50 a night for popup campers to $1,000 for luxury motorhomes.

Chris VandeLinde of O'Fallon, Illinois, owns a mid-range RV, an "Acura-level" Thor Four Winds Class C, which runs about $110,000 and sleeps eight to 10.

Until he bought one two years ago, he had never been in a recreational vehicle. But his kids were getting older. The number of summers he'd have left to show them the country was dwindling.

In May 2018, the family headed north, to Mount Rushmore, Custer State Park and Lake Itaska, the source of the Mississippi River. Last year, it was Niagara Falls and a baseball stadium tour. Then they listed the vehicle for the rest of the summer, starting at $200 a day.

This spring, everything went topsy-turvy. The VandeLindes canceled their own annual trip and lost all their bookings. Then, by May, 90% of their available dates had been snapped up. Would-be renters were trying to elbow in midweek trips.

Handing off the RV brings an extra benefit, VandeLinde said: "Our family really enjoys meeting people and hearing about their lives."

Inside the Thor, the family keeps a guestbook. They encourage their renters to log stories from the road.

One of the first trips post-shutdown was booked by Brian Dondanville, who grew up in Springfield, Illinois, and now lives in Chicago.

Dondanville, 32, spotted the Thor on Outdoorsy in early May. His father had just died from Lou Gehrig's disease, and his family couldn't hold the funeral they knew he deserved because of the pandemic.

"We thought, what would Dad have wanted us to do?" said Dondanville, the oldest of four sons. He'd want them to take one last spring break, they decided.

His mother and father loved vacationing in Florida when the boys were young, a tradition they continued as empty-nesters. On a farewell tour of sorts, the family put 2,000 miles on the motorhome, picking up brothers on their way south. They boated, relaxed and swapped stories about their dad.

"It's such a great way to see the country and not make it about the destination," said Dondanville. "It was perfect."