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With another year of camping season approaching and new floorplans hitting the market, it’s time to start thinking about the best travel trailer brands in 2024.
Figuring out who the best travel trailer brands are can be daunting. Because we’ve been camping for years and have seen behind the curtain of the RV industry, we’re here to help you narrow down your options and get the most out of your investment.
Keep reading to learn how to identify the best travel trailer brands this year!
What Is a Travel Trailer?
A travel trailer is a type of RV (recreational vehicle) that is towed behind a vehicle. Travel trailers come in various sizes, from 12 feet to 40 feet long.
Some have slide-outs, creating extra living space. And you can find travel trailers with amenities such as bathrooms, bunk beds, and kitchen islands.
Because of the many different shapes and sizes they come in, travel trailers are perfect for any type of traveler. From solo RVers to full-sized families, there’s a travel trailer for you.
What Makes a Travel Trailer Brand the Best?
The best travel trailer brands have top-notch customer service, are reliable on the road, and are affordable. Let’s take a closer look at these qualities.
Customer Service
Exceptional customer service is crucial. If you’ve ever owned an RV, you know things are bound to break. That’s why how a manufacturer handles their customer service is so important.
A brand that works with you when things go wrong and fixes things correctly in an efficient manner is one you want to stick with.
Unfortunately, not all RV brands provide the same level of customer service, so it’s crucial to pick one you know will help you out when things go south.
Reliability
RVs go down the road at high speeds, which gives them a higher probability of having maintenance issues.
However, the best travel trailer brands make their products as reliable as possible to limit your risk of having things break in the first place. Look for brands that emphasize quality control and whose reviews reflect reliability.
Affordability
Affordability is important for most of us. Your mindset might be the cheaper, the better! However, you may want to reconsider when it comes to a travel trailer.
Cheap travel trailers are inexpensive because they’re mass-produced and don’t have much quality control. When this happens, you’re bound to be spending more on repairs and maintenance than you’d like.
That’s why you’ll find that the best brands come with a higher price tag than others.
10 Best Travel Trailer Brands of 2024
Let’s take a look at the best travel trailer brands that tick all of the boxes we’ve listed above.
Now, keep in mind that you’re going to see good and bad reviews about every brand out there, but these are the ones that have consistently proven to have happier customers.
1. Airstream
About the Brand: Airstream is a classic brand that keeps improving its technology and innovation every year. They offer ten models of travel trailers with even more floorplan options.
They have travel trailers that range from 16 feet to 33 feet and sleep anywhere from four to eight people.
Their models range from an MSRP (manufacture-suggested retail price) of $46,900 to $191,500.While Airstream is on the pricier side for most, they are one of the few RVs that have great resale values and are built to last.
What Makes Their Travel Trailers the Best: Airstream’s quality puts them at the top of our list. For decades, they’ve been turning out long-lasting, durable RVs. In addition, they’re highly reliable, with excellent quality control and customer service.
Airstream has stepped up its game with new models and floor plans over the years. You have to see the Airstream Basecamp, Airstream Bambi, and the up-and-coming Airstream eSTREAM.
2. Grand Design RV
About the Brand: Grand Design RV produces five different travel trailers, including toy hauler travel trailers. They offer a variety of floor plans, so there’s something for every type of RVer. And while they manufacture countless trailers each year, they don’t skimp on quality and reliability.
However, some would say as the company has grown over the years, the quality has decreased. We were the Solitude Ambassadors for over three years and experienced firsthand how quick their customer service can be. While we did have issues with our RV, they were always fixed.
We won’t deny the uptick in issues after Covid, though. If you do have an issue with this brand, our tip is to be sure to open a case right away and don’t hesitate to mention your problems in the Grand Design Facebook groups. They have a customer service representative monitoring those sites and are quick to respond and resolve.
What Makes Their Travel Trailers the Best: Grand Design RV is in tune with their customers’ wants. Their customer service has helped inform their floor plans, including some that are conducive to full-time RV living. In addition, Grand Design is listening to the market, and expanding into the motorized RVs space as well the budget-friendly spaces.
Pro Tip: If you want to see a few options from this manufacturer. These are the Best Floor Plans for the Grand Design Transcend travel trailer.
3. Oliver Travel Trailers
About the Brand: Oliver Travel Trailers are fiberglass and quality all around. The trailer is a double-hulled fiberglass shell.
In other words, the top and bottom are two molded pieces put together. They make two different single-axle models, one that weighs 3,700 lbs and the larger model that weighs 4,900 lbs.
What Makes Their Travel Trailers the Best: The fiberglass construction with few seams significantly reduces the risk of leaks. It’s why Oliver is one of the best travel trailer brands.
In addition, their luxury small travel trailers are sold directly to the customer without going through an RV dealer. It increases their reliability and customer service significantly since you only communicate directly with the manufacturer.
4. Lance Campers
About the Brand: Lance travel trailers have a reputation for being one of the best constructions and all-season options on the market. They also back all of their trailers with a two-year structural warranty. And they’ve been given Consumer Digest’s highest rating.
What Makes Their Travel Trailers the Best: Lance’s four-season construction ranks them high. They also have great customer service, and Lance owners tend to keep their trailers for the long-term and purchase Lance again when upgrading to a new travel trailer. This is a very good indication of their reliability.
When we sold our Grand Design fifth wheel, we opted to buy a used Lance. Granted, it’s a truck camper and not a travel trailer, but the build is the same. During our renovation, we could really tell the build quality was there, and we’re so glad we went with Lance.
5. Outdoors RV
About the Brand: Outdoors RV is a lesser-known brand but is being talked about in 2024. The company started manufacturing RVs in 2009 to develop products that could withstand any terrain or weather. Their call is “mountain tough four seasons camping.”
What Makes Their Travel Trailers the Best: Like Oliver travel trailers, Outdoors RV has a limited number of models and floor plans available.
We take this as a good sign that they’re putting a lot of effort into quality control instead of having too many options in the line, which may cause something to be overlooked. Newer RV manufacturers tend to make higher-quality products to get a good reputation, so we’re typically excited for RV buyers when new RVs hit the market.
6. Winnebago
About the Brand: Winnebago is known for its motorhomes, but its pull-behind trailers make it one of the best travel trailer brands in the industry.
They’re a reliable trailer with quality construction. Winnebago stays on top of the latest innovations and is a consistent leader in the RV industry. We believe they are one of the few manufacturers that have made it big and still focus on quality.
What Makes Their Travel Trailers the Best: Winnebago’s experience and strong presence in the RV industry give their travel trailers a lot of creditability.
They tend to do a good job working with customers and listening to owners to improve their products going forward. For example, their travel trailers were one of the first to have lighter furnishings and modern decor options. Change in the RV industry is slow, so it’s always a good sign when a manufacturer takes risks for is customers.
7. Jayco
About the Brand: Jayco has had the label of the most reliable brand for years. While there are a lot of other brands that are moving ahead of the curve in terms of technology and innovation, Jayco still makes our list.
They currently produce seven different lines of travel trailers with various floor plans and sizes, ranging from ultra-light to half-ton.
What Makes Their Travel Trailers the Best: Jayco travel trailers have a floor plan option for any type of traveler. They also have large models with multiple slide-outs, bunk rooms, and room for large families. Their years of experience and reliability keep owners loyal to the brand.
8. Alliance
About the Brand: Alliance is a fairly new manufacturer, as it was started in 2019. What’s interesting about Alliance is that when they first started, many Grand Design owners were the first to ditch their current RVs and buy an Alliance.
This makes sense, considering the Vice President of Sales for Alliance is the same person who created the customer service model for Grand Design. People who trusted Grand Design for their customer service felt comfortable taking the risk on a brand new company.
What Makes Their Travel Trailers the Best: In mid-2023, Alliance announced their first travel trailer, the Delta. This model comes in five different floorplans with modern interiors and great build quality.
Alliance wasn’t far behind Winenbago in introducing lighter colors into their floorplans. They are consistently changing things up based on customer feedback.
9. Heartland
About the Brand: Heartland was created in 2003, but in 2020, it went through a rebrand. The purpose of the rebrand was to represent what Heartland stands for today and in the future.
Just in the past few years, Heartland has built a new customer service facility, increased staffing, and made considerable technology upgrades. Plus, they are one of the few manufacturers to offer “Full-Time Friendly” warranties on their rigs.
What Makes Their Travel Trailers the Best: Whether you’re looking for an RV to live in full-time or a budget-friendly option for weekend getaways, Heartland has you covered. They currently offer eight different travel trailer models with endless floorplans.
Ranging from 21 feet to 38 feet you’re bound to find something you love. Not only does Heartland offer countless floorplans, they strive to put their customers first.
10. Ember
About the Brand: Ember RV is another new manufacturer, but their executives come from a long line of RV industry experts. Founded in 2021 by Ashley Bontrager (the granddaughter of the folks who founded Jayco), Ember RV came out with a bang.
The mission of the company is to build a better RV by offering innovative products that customers want. They encourage their employees to share ideas and build each other up.
What Makes Their Travel Trailers the Best: Currently, Ember RV offers three different models with 22 floorplans between them. All offer modern interiors striking exteriors. The Touring Edition models have 5-sided aluminum frames and double-sided Azdel walls.
The travel trailers range from $42,425 to $69,422, and they sleep between two to eight people.
What Is the Most Reliable Brand of Travel Trailer?
Airstream is well known for its reliability. With decades to perfect their craft, their aluminum construction is meticulous and has extensive quality control. And with reliability comes a heftier price tag than most other travel trailers.
Is a Travel Trailer Worth It?
A travel trailer is worth it. If you’re in the beginning stages of RVing, a travel trailer is a great entry-level option to get your feet wet.
Just keep in mind the size of the tow vehicle you’ll need. There are plenty of small travel trailers on the market that you can pull with an SUV. For example, Airstream’s Basecamp only weighs 3,500 lbs.
Get to one of your local RV dealers to do a walk-through of one of the brands on the list! Are you considering buying a travel trailer?
