Thoughts on Harvest Hosts

[J&JD]

I do all the trip planning, reservations, etc for our trips. Jerry does the driving, and all the hard work of maintaining our Dutch Star. I know there has been a bit of discussion on this subject, but hoping for more. We have paid for this for a couple of years, but have not used it once. I have been making reservations for a long trip, and have thought it would be fun to try one. However, nothing has seemed a good fit in the late spring, early summer for a big, heavy coach. I have no interest in grass or dirt parking at that time of year. Has anyone had really fun, interesting stays at a Harvest Host??? If not we will not keep wasting money. Many Thanks, Judy D

 

[Joe Hogan]

We have had a couple of stays over the years that were entertaining, typically a ranch or vineyard. However, it appears that you have to go out of the way to get to and from for an overnight, which typically doesn't work for our travel schedule. Personally the amount of time in planning to verify routing is safe for the MH and additional travel time is just not worth it normally.
Travelling in a smaller RV might work out more of the time.

 

[newmarokie]

Last Spring we stayed at the Shreveport, Louisiana Elks Lodge. Full hookups, $25 donation. I am an Elk so I knew where they were. You can google Elks campsites and it will take you to the Grand lodge website. I checked and there are 81 lodges in California that offer camping facilities. Eleven in Oklahoma. Many lodges have figured out that RV sites can be a profitable endeavor with more coming online. Some list a suggested "donation", many do not. And if you are an Elk you might catch a lodge on "steak night".

 

[Rich W.]

I like the golf course add-on for HH. Golf courses generally close at night so they are quiet, they are in nicer areas so you don’t have strange people wandering around (like walmart parking lots) and they have good access and paved parking lots. Other than that I occasionally use HH when making one night stops on a long trip if they are within 10 miles of my route and I don’t need hook-ups and I typically enjoy the stay. I also find the route planner on the HH website fairly helpful.

 

[sheridany]

I have stayed at 2 HH in 4 years. I don’t do grass or dirt parking so that leaves less options and with a 45 ft bus and a tow car I focus on trees and ease of access. I also don’t want to travel 20 miles off the main road where I am going just to have an overnight. The experience of visiting the venue and buying something is not really something I am interested in. I just want an easy place to pull into for the night and resume the trip the next morning. I cancelled my membership as I didn’t get the value out of it. If I had a smaller coach or a class b van HH might be a great option.

 

[Neemer]

I’ve stayed at likely a dozen places in the past 2-3 years. I’m not crazy about grass or dirt parking, but if the weather is favorable, I’ll go for it. If you exclude those types of parking situations, you really limit yourself.

I have two locations that are now “must stops”. Both are breweries/wineries. One in North Platte, NE and the other in Wauseon, OH.

 

[John&Andrea]

We have used several times. We have stayed at a few micro distilleries and wineries. We plan to use on our trip home in April from Arizona. One night stay on the way to your destination it’s great. Some we have visited had power but no water. We have not stayed at one with FH.

 

[Underboss]

I had a membership and dropped it. I found it useless for me as many of the locations only had grass parking spots and I will not park in a non compacted field. Also, if I am stopping just for the night, I do not want to have to disconnect the toad and I have found to maneuver in many of these I would have to unhook.
I can see how it can work for some, just not for me.

 

[Neal]

My last one was on pavement in a parking lot behind a restaurant and it had good food. It was near the Air Force museum so it was not only just a HH but a convenience in the closest place to the museum. I think there are some great HH's out there and they are adding them fast, some unique opportunities such as the famous hangar I stayed at, on the tarmac, I've stayed at a nice apple orchard, not on grass, unfortunately out of season or half bath would have been stacked with pies! I've stayed at vineyards, both grass as well as parking lots, grass was dry and no issue or concern. You just have to keep this in your crosscheck and it's a nice break from KOA overnights, etc. for something different to add to your RV experience. I haven't used it as much as others but having heard of some great experiences (as well as bad) I do try to use them from time to time, at least to recoup my membership. It's not really a cost savings as the business you give them equates to a CG reservation, however, my last stay was good food which I needed anyways. Keep trying...it's good.

 

[DKRITTER]

Thank You Judy, you've reminded me to turn off auto-renewal. We decided last year to not renew and forgot about auto-renewal.

We too are in the same boat; we just don't use it. We are what I call destination travelers where you go from A to B then back to A. I have traveled most of my adult life and just hate hotels, so we now have a rolling condo.

We've been a member of Harvest for several years and we love the concept. Like I said we just don't use it. I Think if we traveled more, we would.

 

[Scooterfan]

Thank You Judy, you've reminded me to turn off auto-renewal. We decided last year to not renew and forgot about auto-renewal.

Hmmm...same here. If and when you figure out how to turn off "auto renewal" please let me know. Apparently I am too inept to figure it out Thank you. Blessings

 

[DKRITTER]

Hmmm...same here. If and when you figure out how to turn off "auto renewal" please let me know. Apparently I am too inept to figure it out Thank you. Blessings

Just figured it out and they make it a huge PIA. The guilt and fear tactics are ridiculous.

Login go to Membership
Manage Membership
Scroll to the bottom of the page and click cancel membership.
In reality you are not canceling current membership you're only turning off auto-renewal.
You have to go through a bunch of BS tactics to keep you but persevere and at the end click cancel membership and it will turn off auto-renewal.

Harvest Host if you are listening I am very, very disappointed in your tactics and fear mongering for someone wishing not to renew. Your process is appalling.

 

[ARD]

I've been having wonderful experiences with HH. I've been to some fun museums, farms, wineries and distilleries. Met up with @NWIP last year at Greycliff Mill in Montana. Awesome. Although it's dirt parking, it was a good stop. I probably only go to 3-4 a year, but I really like the option. I also stayed at a Pecan Farm in Arkansas. It was fabulous parked by the pecan trees with gorgeous sunrises and sunsets. If it is a firm no to grass and dirt parking, you still have options on pavement.

You do have to check the weather to confirm the place is truly big rig friendly. The reviews are very helpful in discerning if a place will work for you. Yes, some of them are out of the way a little, but I like having experiences that I otherwise would not have had.

 

[LMHS]

I wonder, do the places that list with Harvest Host do so exclusively? Or are they listed in other places (like the review sites, hipcamp, etc). I don't do HH (and I won't as it does not suit my needs). But I've noticed that sometimes people mention staying at museums and I have seen museums that allow parking overnight listed in other places (like freecampsites.net).

 

[osuallen]

We have had good luck with HH. I am not fond of grass parking, but have found lots on some sort of paving or gravel. We start with a general path from A to B with general overnight zones. Then start looking to see if there are any HHs that interest us not too far off our path. If we do - great. If not, oh well.

 

[Wemustrv]

I do all the trip planning, reservations, etc for our trips. Jerry does the driving, and all the hard work of maintaining our Dutch Star. I know there has been a bit of discussion on this subject, but hoping for more. We have paid for this for a couple of years, but have not used it once. I have been making reservations for a long trip, and have thought it would be fun to try one. However, nothing has seemed a good fit in the late spring, early summer for a big, heavy coach. I have no interest in grass or dirt parking at that time of year. Has anyone had really fun, interesting stays at a Harvest Host??? If not we will not keep wasting money. Many Thanks, Judy D

We Have been Harvest Host member for over 5 years and we absolutely love it. We travel in a 40" diesel pusher with a F150 SuperCrew in tow. We have never had to unhook our toad.

We have used all aspects, Vineyards, breweries, museums, Living History developments, golf courses, bars and Boondockers Welcome. We have only been to one host that we need not care for. As mentioned some of the vineyards can be a bit off the path but we figure we are on an adventure any right? We have also used Walmart on a few occasions.

 

[weathermantim]

I do all the trip planning, reservations, etc for our trips. Jerry does the driving, and all the hard work of maintaining our Dutch Star. I know there has been a bit of discussion on this subject, but hoping for more. We have paid for this for a couple of years, but have not used it once. I have been making reservations for a long trip, and have thought it would be fun to try one. However, nothing has seemed a good fit in the late spring, early summer for a big, heavy coach. I have no interest in grass or dirt parking at that time of year. Has anyone had really fun, interesting stays at a Harvest Host??? If not we will not keep wasting money. Many Thanks, Judy D

We have had absolutely wonderful stays at HH. I utilized it several times last year on the out and back trip from E. Long Island NY to Alberta canada. Part of the fun was the planning out the trip. It takes time and work with the planning, but the results were great. We enjoyed the farms the most, where parking was wide open and mostly flat. The biggest issue for me, was to get to the host before the "closing time"...or required tine to get there by. Again, this is where the planning comes in.

 

[fluffywhitedogs]

I got a full membership last year (HarvestHost, HH golf, and Boondockers Welcome) but will probably only renew the HH portion. I’ve had some amazing HH stays! But none of the Golf club options have been appealing to me and I’m an extreme introvert so socializing with strangers (as seems to be the not-unreasonable expectation at BW) would be really difficult for me.

 

[bpaikman]

I had a membership for a year and was never able to use it. HH locations tended to not be where we wanted to go - I tried, i really did, but even when I found one, I found a lovely, cheaper, state park very close by.
The main objection I have to HH is most of the ones I looked at …ban generators, especially after certain hours. Not good in hot weather
(At first, I’d become interested in HH due to mentions by the “today is someday” couple on Youtube. But they’re fulltimers.).

 

[GlampDaddy]

I'm opting to not renew my HH membership. We have been members since 2019 and have had a number of quality stays and good times. So, here's why I am quitting:

• It has become more difficult to find usable locations. While there are more locations than ever before, I have to open each one and read it see if it can accommodate a 45' motorhome (which most don't) and what type parking surface it has. Sometimes it rains and mud sucks.
• The online reservation system is a problem. For most locations, we can no longer just call and make a reservation. We now make a request and the response is not automatic, yes or no. We have to wait until someone approves our request, which has taken up to a week recently. By that time, my plans are already made somewhere else.
• I had a case recently where the host approved our stay about a month in advance, so it became part of our trip. We had already started the trip when I got a message saying that they had decided to no longer accommodate a 45' coach and that now their maximum is 40'. Well damn Sam, just make a new plan!
• And, I finally figured out that paying for two flights of skimpy wine samples and buying a bottle or two, plus dinner, was a lot more money that just paying for a site at an average campground - one that has full hookups versus boondocking.

So, I don't have a problem with Harvest Hosts, generally I like them. But, they just don't work for us and the way we travel anymore.