A leading company focused on virtual transformation.
The sun sets in Indio, California, and Dan Cross and his wife, Colleen, drive a golf cart down a palm-lined road.
They head to their friends’ space for dinner, where dinner is served on a personal terrace through the pool. The mountains glimpse in the distance and the blazing sun fades as friends communicate with Desert Shores Motorcoach Resort, the luxurious motorhome hotel the Crosses have been calling part-time for 12 years and where the lot has an average price of $400,000.
Crosses has been a motorhome for up to 35 years and has been in the high-end virtual reality market for the most time. Their specialty is in Iowa, and they chose California to escape the bloody midwest winters. They stay older at Desert Shores from November to April, and living there is having a social existence.
“There’s a lot of socialization in the park,” Cross told Business Insider. “During a typical week, you locate other people who invite their friends and neighbors and dine on their terrace.”
The mobile home has long been a popular choice, however, as the coronavirus pandemic has caused border closures around the world, many Americans have resorted to outdated national roads to alleviate cabin fever. RVshare, a peer-to-peer rental market, reported a 650% increase in bookings since early April.
Recreational cars are hotels, cars and offices at the same time, with the added benefits of baths and WiFi. For families on the move, tourist sites and national parks in western states such as South Dakota, Wyoming, Arizona and California remain the most sensitive destinations for virtual reality. But for travelers who enjoy the smart things in life, luxury resorts, ranging from five-star hotels, are proving incredibly popular.
Not only is it a position to park your recreational vehicles, recreational vehicle resorts have spacious grounds and operate primarily as country clubs, with monthly fees in exchange for a wide variety of amenities.
Just 30 minutes from Palm Springs and Joshua Tree National Park and an hour from Big Bear Lake, Desert Shores has 141 lots.
All visitors to Desert Shores sleep in their motorhomes, but each of those masses also has a villa. They are aptly called “villas”: each has between 1200 and 1800 square feet and is filled with its own pool, jacuzzi and terrace. Inside, the area opens onto a kitchen, a giant bedroom, a bathroom and a garage. Landlords can put their masses in a rental group and tenants will have to stay at least 31 days.
Guests also have a 10,000 square foot clubhouse, swimming pool, spa, kitchen, ballroom, fitness center, tennis courts, dog park and increased security.
Desert Shores runner Darren Leigh Smith says the hotel attracts shoppers for a high-end experience.
“Our visitors are commonly snow birds from the colder states, and the maximum are married couples who have built small businesses together,” Smith said. “All the hard paintings they’ve put in place give them time to enjoy life beyond paintings. They come to Desert Shores because of the additional area we offer them with our giants and cottages, allowing them to invite their children and grandchildren to visit, which can be tricky to do with the typical rvhome complexes.”
These express restrictions correspond to the maximum owners of Class A motorhomes. Like maximum luxury hotel offerings for virtual reality, Desert Shores requires visitors to have Class A camper vans (also known as bus and coach conversions), measuring between 36 and forty-five feet long. They are the largest on the market, with capacity for 8 to 10 people.
These are also the maximum sumptuous recreational vehicles and charge between $50,000 and $3 million.
Among the many corporations that create Class A motorhomes are Monarch, Marathon Coaches, Prevost and Anderson Mobile Estates. These motorhomes are considered “terrestrial yachts” for their beautiful fabrics and floors, high-end appliances and even rooftop spas.
Featherlite Coaches, a manufacturer of luxury trainers, creates conversion camper vans in the Prevost bus chassis with floor plans that can include bathrooms, bunk beds that become closets and dining rooms that become coffee tables for entertainment. Many are even installed with Amazon Alexa voice commands, Apple TV, HDTV satellite antennas and cellular routers to stay connected even in the most remote locations.
Mark Eisenhart, vice president of sales and marketing at Featherlite Coaches, told Business Insider that the company has noticed a sharp increase in bus sales and deliveries since mid-May. Compared to the same months last year, sales and deliveries more than doubled, Eisenhart said.
“As more and more executives have to and more and more families are looking for a safer way to go on vacation, buses offer a focus on meeting both,” Eisenhart said.
Camaraderie and the network of like-minded ideas are what draws other people to resorts for virtual reality.
“People in virtual reality are different. They love being outdoors and love being with their spouse,” said Kyle McCain, an RV and chairman of the Board of Directors of Mountain Falls Motorcoach Resort in Lake Toxaway, North Carolina. “Each of us can board a plane and fly to the Ritz-Carlton. But if you’re in a caravan, you like being with people.”
Mountain Falls attracts a wealthy clientele that includes Fortune 500 executives, developers, oil company executives, hoteliers, and wine connoisseurs. McCain says COVID-19 has had a positive effect on sales in Mountain Falls, reporting a 127% increase in profits and 102% on rents over the following year.
There are 230 lots, the maximum of which come with a cabin and can charge between $1.2 million and $3 million. No shortage of on-site activities: the motorhome park has tennis courts, pickleball courts, a fitness center and spa, a nine-hole golf course and two swimming pools. This is in addition to a concierge who organizes off-site activities, such as an elegant clubhouse with majestic stone fireplaces and a dining room.
“In Mountain Falls, assets are fostered through the good looks that surround us: a wild state park in one respect and the Blue Ridge Mountains in the other,” McCain said. “This, combined with the apparatus and social occasions that we, as VR for 38 years, have experienced.”
Lisa Proctor and her husband, whether retired, have been traveling to Mountain Falls for 4 years. There they spend the summer months to escape the sweltering heat of Tennessee. Her little dog Roxy was a faithful couple on her travels.
“Life in virtual reality is about being away from the noise, confinement and complexity of urban life,” he told Business Insider.
While some like isolation, others resort to their proximity to the ocean and world-class golf. Enter: Naples Motorcoach Resort in Naples, Florida.
Many motorhome enthusiasts love the Naples Motorcoach Resort because they can bring their boats for day trips or for fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, to which the hotel gives direct access. The grounds of the 184-lot luxury resort feature well-kept gardens, palm trees and green, tidy lawns. Amenities include 3 swimming pools, a fitness center, a poker room, a personal theater, a pool hallway and a ballroom.
Chad Geffert, general manager of Naples Motorcoach Resort, told Business Insider that owners generally build traditional cottages with amenities like tiki cabanas, outdoor kitchens and fireplaces. A lot of diversity from $129,900 to $289,000, in charge of tradition.
“Recreational vehicle ownership is higher in the industry, and I think it’s similar to the fact that recreational vehicles are probably the safest way to do so over the next few years,” Geffert said. Speaking about Naples Motorcoach’s clientele, he said: “They’re all stylish A-motorhomes on a giant scale. When other people come from the north, they spend the whole season here. Rather it is a long-term complex with the ability to buy and have a piece of paradise forever.”
At Hearthside Grove Motorcoach Resort in Petoskey, Michigan, travelers can enjoy the outdoors in all the luxury. Many have cottages with elegant amenities and fresh interiors, but they’re not cheap: buying a lot can cost up to $1 million.
Set in a lush forest, the hotel is minutes from the lake with simple categories of golf, sailing, fishing and cooking with local chefs. It is the ideal hotel for families.
The ease of having a motorhome, especially COVID-19, will pay off for many travelers. Cross and his wife will return to Desert Shores for the same season from November to April, however, in the meantime, they hope to go on vacation to Michigan with the old friends they met at Desert Shores Resort.
“We’ve built the most productive friends of our lives there,” he said. “Like a family”.