I've been toying with the idea of renting a RV and visiting some national parks. I'm targeting a Class C RV, and preferably a small one. When I check Cruise America to just get some ballpark figures for a trip in October, the nightly rate for a large motorhome that sleeps seven is $120 per night, while a Standard Motorhome that sleeps five is $125 per night. Is this typical, and why do I have a feeling that a hotel room would be a better value?
The biggest issue you'll have with National Parks is going to be finding a campground with space. Some of the more notable parks have fierce competition for camping spaces (Yosemite comes to mind). Outside of NPS lands finding campground and just places to park the RV for the night likely will be far easier.
I'm primarily a shoulder season traveler which makes things slightly easier in getting reservations. At the moment, I'm just "toying" with the idea at the moment and doing some basic research. I don't even have any idea on the cost-benefit ratio of this idea. While there are no hotels near Tyler State Park in Texas, some of the hotel/model room rates are at $50-70 which is under the $105 daily rate for a RV. But, that is only one specific state park that happens to be near DFW, and not a great example. I haven't even thought of a real destination. Plus, I'll either be a solo traveler or traveling with his older mother which isn't a typical camping case.
National Forests tend to be my go to for camping spots. They usually don't take reservations but if you're willing to go off road a couple miles it tends to not be an issue. A good examples I use is Grey's Mountain Campground in Sierra National Forest a couple miles south of the Yosemite Park boundary. Forest Road 6S08 in the case of Grey's Mountain is enough to turn around most people in low clearance.