Is Harvest Hosts For You?
Our Boondockers Welcome campsite was near here, Shiprock, New Mexico.
Is a stay at a Harvest Host location an ideal place to go? What is Harvest Hosts? Harvest Hosts is a program for a person that travels in their RV (does not matter if you are part or full time), to stay a night for FREE. But their is a catch: the membership is NOT free, but the stay is, sort of. Lets go into the pros and cons of Harvest Hosts, so you can make an educated decision whether you want to try this membership program or not!
PROS:
A safe place to stay for 1 night.
A unique place to stay, such as a winery, a farm, breweries, or attractions.
A go-between spot for your travel destination.
Low annual membership fee.
No Walmart parking here!
1000s of locations throughout the U.S.
Book online effortlessly.
CONS:
Annual membership fee, with plans ranging from $99 - $179.
Most people purchase something at the Harvest Hosts site they are at, such as a wine bottle if they are at a winery. Not sure if this is a con, but if you are trying to save money, this is something to think about.
Sometimes hard to contact the hosts to book a site online.
Some Harvest Hosts have size restrictions about your rig.
Might be difficult to locate on a map if far away from a city or a town.
There was another RV membership program, Boondockers Welcome, that was separate, but merged with Harvest Hosts, to give more options for people traveling in a RV. My husband and I were members of Boondockers Welcome for a year. While there were plenty of places to stay, we did have a hard time finding one that would accommodate us.
When you have a large setup, like a big rig, and we are 72 feet in length, some places are not large enough for you, especially if you have to turn around. So we sometimes got turned away, even though our trailer was the right size (they do have recommended trailer sizes for each Harvest Host), with our semi, it was tough. Plus, they sometimes would not respond to an email, which at the time, was the most popular way of booking a site. I would book a site, but I would have to wait for an email. Summer is a popular time to travel, and sometimes the hosts travel as well, and will not accommodate you.
We did cancel our Boondockers Welcome membership, or did not renew it when it merged with Harvest Hosts. Instead, we either boondock if not work camping, camp using the Hipcamp program., or find a RV park large enough for our setup. Click HERE for more information about Hipcamp, which I highly recommend!
There are 3 plans with Harvest Hosts:
Harvest Hosts Classics, priced at $99 annually, and you get plenty of hosts at wineries, breweries, farms and more. This is the lowest level for pricing.
Harvest Hosts + Boondockers Welcome, priced at $169 annually and you get more hosts to choose from in addition to #1.
All access, priced at $179 annually, and you get double the guests hosts than #1. This is the best deal as recommended.
My thoughts are this: it is not badly priced, has plenty of places for you to visit, each a unique place, and something you may not see at a traditional campground. It just was not for us due to our large size and challenges with booking a site in the summer. The summertime is the most popular time for camping, like I said even for the hosts. Ultimately, it is your choice whether this is a good choice for you or not.
Have you camped at a unique place before?