Harvest Hosts

[Psneeld]

Originally Posted by Bigceasar

If you use Harvest Hosts you should keep in mind the fact those businesses are sold on becoming hosts by the promise the RVers staying will buy their products and services. If a bunch of people just use those businesses as places to sleep for free and don’t patronize the business those businesses will cease being hosts, to the detriment of future RVers.

I have been impressed that out of the dozen or so we used in the last couple trips either didn't have something to sell and flat out said they just enjoyed sharing their place they were proud of.

Other's that were definitely more retail oriented made way more than the suggested $20 (probably going up soon due inflation) as they were fun and had an assortment of goods that were worth the money. Things you were actually consuming or gifts that were nice/reasonable.

I think only one was strictly a farm market/gift shop and without a tour of the maple syrup making shed will probably not do well. The merchandise was really pricey for what you were buying and the parking pretty poor (on a pretty steep hillside with few and small flat spots).

[jleonard]

We stayed at 7 harvest host locations on our trip out west this summer.
Most locations were good, some just ok. Some dead quiet (Bison farm in Iowa) and some noisy (Golden Spike tower in N Platte, NE).
I can say that in total at those 7 we spent much more that we would have in 7 nights in state parks or COEs. But we saw some nice museums, bought some wines and spirits, and some souveniers/gifts.

I'll say that are interesting and different, but they ain't always cheap.

Oh, and we had 2 additional ones cancel us a week or 2 prior. One was because the owner had a bad accident and was hospitalized so that's understandable. Just wanted to make it known that it's not always a done deal.

Most by far were not far off the main road we were on by more than a mile. Some were within site of the expressway.

[Doug29]

We have been HH members for 4 years and have enjoyed every site. From Canada, New England to Florida and multiple trips out west from Maine. On travel days we always look for HH sites first. As stated previously they can end up being expensive, one in Ohio cost over $100 but live music on the patio enjoying a wonderful dinner and a few bottles of wine to take with us. We enjoy meeting the hoist and hearing their stories and compassion for their site. They may be a few miles off your route and some are seasonal but for us they are worth the membership

[Marine359]

In the past year, we’ve had four good, and two horrible experiences camping at HH. Stayed at them on cross-country to CA and FLA to Maine. The good ones were far more expensive than, the NF, SP, COE, BLM, and military campgrounds we normally use. But one could make a case that, you’re buying stuff you are likely to buy elsewhere anyway. NOT!

One of the horrible ones (a farm) charged us $35 when we got there (with reservation), saying that there were no more free spots, so we’d have to use a site with water/elec. it was late, so we agreed, and got doubly perturbed in the morning when we saw only one other rig.

The other horrible one (a winery). Chose not to tell us that there was going to be a party/reception in the reception area close to the spot we were assigned. Went into the winery and paid astronomical price for wine flights, then tried to turn in for the night. No sleep. DJ music blaring at over 100 decibels through enormous loudspeakers until 2am. Music so loud that parts of our camper were vibrating.

The good ones were all farms and museums. We didn’t mind paying the museum entry fees, as their exhibits were great. The farms sold us staple farm goods for almost three times the price of a supermarket. But were a very enjoyable and quiet stay in pastures.

All but one of our HH stays were well off our route, typically 40 miles r/t or more so figuring the cost of additional fuel (4 gal @ $5.00/gal = $20.00) when fuel prices were at their highest, made the choice of using HH very expensive indeed. So, on average, we spent about $60.00 for each HH stay. Great for some, but not for us. We will not be renewing our membership.