Corona has given the motorhome industry a real boom. But not everyone has to have their own vehicle for a camping holiday. Stiftung Warentest tested 12 booking portals for mobile homes in a new edition. Only one thing can convince – read more here.
Camping holidays with a motorhome are all the rage. In the Corona year 2020 alone, the number of new motorhome registrations increased by more than 40 percent compared to the previous year, according to the Federal Motor Transport Authority. But not every vacationer buys a camper straight away. The vehicles can also be rented from common portals.
Stiftung Warentest (Issue 1/2022) has now put twelve providers of such mobile home booking portals under the microscope. The results will come just in time for rents in the coming summer.
A special focus during the test was on vehicle search: How detailed are the campers described? Which and how many filter options can be set for the search? After all, active vacationers who want to be self-sufficient often need different equipment than senior citizens who move from campsite to campsite.
The result also included how convenient the booking and cancellation process is, and how clearly the websites of the individual providers are structured. In all portals, deficiencies in the data protection declarations led to deductions.
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Stiftung Warentest: Only a portal is “good”
The test winner was Camperdays. The booking portal was the only one in the test to receive an overall rating of “good” (2.2). CU Camper followed in second place (grade 2.6). Both online portals were able to convince the testers with the search and filter options. Camperdays scored particularly well in terms of booking and cancellation and also offered the largest selection of countries in Europe. Third place went to Campanda and Tui Camper, both with the grade “satisfactory” (2.8).
Cheap alternatives
Those who are less interested in commercially rented motorhomes and more interested in individually designed campers will find what they are looking for with providers such as Yescapa and Paulcamper. Stiftung Warentest has also examined these portals and assessed them separately. Yescapa (grade 2.8) was slightly ahead of Paulcamper (grade 3.0).
With these portals, the prices are agreed individually with the landlord, depending on the season, bargains are also possible. However, the vehicles are usually older and therefore more vulnerable than those of commercial providers.
The Stiftung Warentest advises to compare offers from several portals with each other. According to the testers, this can be worthwhile because the providers calculate differently. One and the same camper at the same travel time on different portals can also cost different amounts. In a test run by Stiftung Warentest, the price of a camper for the same holiday week varied between 800 and 930 euros, for example.
You can read the detailed test for a fee at Stiftung Warentest.