Campers get appealing destinations, businesses get customers as firm pairs RVers and hosts

Options for overnight parking on a cross-country recreational vehicle trip used to boil down to three choices, aside from sometimes costly, noisy campgrounds: Walmart, Cracker Barrel or a rest stop.

But a website and app known as Harvest Hosts is now matching up small businesses ― a network made up primarily of farms, wineries, breweries and distilleries, as well as nonprofits like museums and churches ― with RVers seeking an overnight spot to park.

Providing a more attractive alternative for overnight RV parking has led to a Harvest Hosts motto: “Wine over Walmart, Rosé over rest stops.”

For RV customers, Harvest Hosts offers access to sites for overnight stops, including more than 150 in Iowa, for the $85 to $150 cost of an annual membership.

Hosts, meanwhile, can tap the RVers to augment revenue from their primary operations. They pay nothing to participate, and can benefit from overnight stops that bring customers to their doors.

“It's pretty simple, right? The hosts are already busy running their businesses and so our pitch to them is, ‘Hey, here's a way to get more business if you want it, and we're not going to charge you for it,’ so there's no downside to trying it,” Harvest Host CEO Joel Holland told the Des Moines Register.

Holland, of Vail, Colorado, said RVers get “a real cool place to stay in return for supporting a small business, so everyone involved comes out ahead."

He estimates his RVers spend more than $50 million annually purchasing products from small business hosts.

Iowa vintner, Living History Farms among the Iowa hosts

John Barber of The Cellar Winery in Madrid is a believer. He said he has been a Harvest Host for four years and that it has generated “a couple of hundred dollars a week” in additional sales for the winery.

“We’ve had people from California to New York and we get a chance to meet some very interesting people,” Barber said, including retired executives from the corporate world, musicians and even an engineer who worked at a nuclear facility.

He called Harvest Hosts “a robust website” with a streamlined process for visitors to make reservations. And there’s another benefit to having at least one RV parked at his business every night.

“It’s like having a night security team onsite after I go home,” Barber said.

Living History Farms in Urbandale also offers overnight stays through Harvest Hosts.

“We’ve been doing it for three years and the people who RV are the nicest people,” said Elizabeth Keet Sedrel, director of marketing and communications for the agriculture museum.

Sedrel said Living History Farms has six spots open for recreational vehicles and even has had some utilize spots during the winter months.

“We have RVs here almost every night,” she said. “It’s wonderful. They come from all over the country. Some are living the RV life on the road and have kids and are looking for places like this and museums to make for an educational experience. It’s ingenious that they included cultural attractions.,”

And like Barber's night security, Sedrel said, Living History Farms has been on the receiving end of an unforeseen benefit.

“We had some RVers committed to volunteer service here in the fall of 2022 who donated 1,200 hours of work right after we had closed for the season,” she said.

Owner says company has grown quickly, with farmers joining in

For RV owners, Harvest Hosts offers convenient options, particularly on longer trips, said Karen Corning, an RVer from Indianola.

Corning said she has used Harvest Hosts spots in Florida, New Mexico and Vermont.

“It’s very convenient and you don’t have to pay other than to buy a meal or drinks at the place you stay at. They are all really nice places and its better than at a parking lot,” she said.

Holland said the company has enjoyed exponential growth since he purchased the company from an Arizona couple in 2018. At the time, Harvest Hosts had 600 hosts and 6,000 members. Today, it has more than 10,000 hosts and more than 250,000 members.

He said he would like to see the number of hosts triple to 30,000 over the next three to five years.

“There are so many good small businesses in the country that could benefit from having our members visit,” he said.

Holland said he's also seen a trend in recent years with the concept of “agritourism” being embraced by more farms.

“A lot of operating farms are starting to incorporate some sort of agritourism into their location if they can, whether it’s a produce stand, Christmas trees, pumpkin patch or just providing a farm tour,” he said.

Harvest Hosts provides a menu for farmers on how they can generate additional revenue, capitalizing on the interest people have on where their food comes from.

“People today really don't know for the most part how farming works. They just eat the food, but they're really curious about where it comes from. And I think what's neat is a lot of farmers are happy to share their lifestyle, they like people knowing that, hey, there's a lot of hard work that goes on behind the scenes of that hamburger,” Holland said.

Kevin Baskins covers jobs and the economy for the Register. Reach him at kbaskins@registermedia.com.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Harvest Hosts site, app pairs RVers with Iowa hosts for mutual benefit