So What Exactly Is Harvest Hosts?
Harvest Hosts is a membership program that connects self-contained RVers with a network of up to 9,600 unique RV camping locations. This includes 5,900 small businesses like farms, wineries, breweries, and attractions, plus 3,300 private property Hosts if you purchase the All Access plan.
Picture rolling up to a family vineyard at golden hour, doing a tasting, picking out a bottle to take home, and then sleeping right there under the stars. Or pulling into an alpaca farm where the kids get to feed the herd before you cozy up in your rig. That's Harvest Hosts.
The program was founded in 2010, inspired by France Passion (the original French version of this concept), and acquired in 2018 by CEO Joel Holland and his team. Today, the community includes 500,000+ RVers and 9,700+ Hosts, with Members spending more than $200 million directly at Host businesses to date.
How a Harvest Hosts Membership Actually Works
The mechanics are refreshingly simple. Once you join:
- Open the Harvest Hosts app or log in on the website and browse the map of 9,700+ Hosts.
- Filter for what matters to you - host type, RV length, hookups, extra nights, same-day availability.
- Send a stay request through the platform. Most Hosts confirm within hours. Be sure to read the profile closely to make sure the Host is right for you, and learn their house rules.
If you booked a Harvest Hosts Classic location (farm, winery, brewery, distillery, attraction) or a golf Host:
- Show up at the agreed time, park where your Host directs you, and enjoy the property for the agreed-upon duration of your stay - taste the wine, tour the brewery, pet the goats, browse the gift shop.
- Support your Host with a purchase (Harvest Hosts recommends around $30+ per one-night stay), then sleep peacefully in your rig.
- Wake up, thank your Host, and head to the next adventure.
If you booked a Boondockers Welcome location:
4. Show up at the agreed time, park where your Host directs you, and enjoy the property for the agreed-upon duration of your stay - chat with your Host, or unwind back at your RV.
5. If your Host offers hookups, expect to pay if you want to use them. Otherwise, there's no obligation to pay your Host for your stay.
6. Sleep peacefully in your rig, then Wake up, thank your Host, and head to the next adventure.
That's it. No surprise camping fees. You traded campground costs for an experience that often becomes the highlight of the trip. If your Host charges fees to stay extra nights or use hookups, that will be made clear in advance.
Is Harvest Hosts Camping?
Short answer: yes and no. You're sleeping overnight in your RV, so in a casual sense, sure - it's camping. But Harvest Hosts is not a campground network. This is a really important distinction, both for setting your own expectations and for understanding why the program works the way it does.
How Harvest Hosts is different from a campground
Traditional campgrounds and RV parks are commercial properties designed for camping. They have hookups, dump stations, bathhouses, picnic tables, and dedicated sites you reserve and pay for nightly.
Harvest Hosts locations are working small businesses - wineries, farms, breweries, distilleries, museums, and other attractions - that have agreed to let Members park their self-contained RVs overnight as a courtesy. You're a guest of the business, not a paying camper. The closest mental model is staying overnight at a friend's farm: you arrive politely, you don't make a mess, you don't expect amenities, and you say thank you with your wallet by supporting their business.
Harvest Hosts does also offer "Campground Partners" as a member benefit, a network of 1,200 private campgrounds offering discounts to Harvest Hosts Members. Filter these on or off of your Harvest Hosts map at your own leisure.
Who can use Harvest Hosts
Because Hosts are small businesses (not campgrounds), Harvest Hosts requires that every Member travel in a self-contained RV. Self-contained means your rig has an interior toilet and an interior cooking setup so you can stay overnight without needing external facilities. Class A, B, and C motorhomes, fifth wheels, travel trailers, truck campers, and Class B vans with a built-in bathroom and galley all qualify.
Tents, rooftop tents, and vehicles without a built-in toilet aren't a fit for the program. This isn't about being picky - it's about respecting Hosts who are letting RVers stay on their working property.
Harvest Hosts offers permission-based overnight stays at small businesses. It's not a campground, not boondocking on public land, and not the same as overnight parking at a big-box store parking lot. It's its own category, and that's the whole point.
Can I See Harvest Hosts Locations Before I Sign Up?
Yes - and we actively encourage it. The Discover map is the heart of the Harvest Hosts website, and you don't need an account to use it. Anyone can pop in, zoom around, filter, and see exactly which Hosts exist before deciding whether the membership is worth it.
As a non-member you'll see an anonymized name for each Host in lieu of the actual business name, locations on the map, host type, and amenities like "extra nights available" or "hookups available." Member-only details (business name, exact addresses, reviews, contact info, photos inside the property, and the booking button) unlock once you become a Member. But the map is enough to confirm one of the biggest questions new RVers have: are there enough Hosts that work for me in my favorite places to make this worth it?
How to Find Harvest Hosts Locations Near You
Here's a quick walkthrough for using the Discover page to scout your home base or your next trip:
- Go to harvesthosts.com/discover.
- Type your city, state, or a landmark (Asheville, Yosemite, "Paso Robles") in the search bar, or drag the map to your area.
- Toggle Plan a Trip mode if you want to map a route between two destinations and see every Host along the way.
- Use the Filters menu to narrow results by:
- Dates of travel
- Host Type (Farm, Winery, Brewery & Distillery, Attraction, Community Host)
- Total RV Length (so you only see Hosts that can actually fit your rig)
- Hookups (electric, water, etc.)
- Stay Extra Nights
- Same-Day Booking
- Click any pin to see a preview of the Host. Want the full listing, reviews, and booking? That part unlocks when you become a Member.
Pro tip: before you join, do a quick "home base" search and a "dream trip" search. If you can see at least a handful of interesting Hosts in both, the membership is going to pay for itself, usually within the cost of two or three traditional campground nights.
Already have a state in mind?
You can also browse Host directories by state and province directly from the homepage footer. Every U.S. state and Canadian province with active Hosts has its own page - for example, California, Texas, North Carolina, and so on. It's a great way to gut-check how many Hosts are concentrated near where you actually travel.
What's the Difference Between Harvest Hosts Membership Types?
Harvest Hosts offers three annual plans. All of them include the same Happy Camper Guarantee, access to over $2,500 in exclusive Member discounts, Campground Partner discounts, dump station info, satellite and weather map layers. The differences come down to how big you want your Host network to be.
Harvest Hosts Classic - $99/year
- 5,931+ locations including farms, wineries, breweries, distilleries, attractions, and 1,200+ Campground Partner discounts
- Perfect for the new RVer or weekend traveler who wants the core Harvest Hosts experience without paying for add-ons
- Typically pays for itself in the cost of two campground nights
Harvest Hosts + Boondockers Welcome - $169/year
- 9,349+ locations: everything in Classic, plus 3,423 Boondockers Welcome private-property Hosts
- Best for full-timers and frequent travelers who want both small business stays and free private-property boondocking with kind strangers
- Typically pays for itself in three campground nights
Harvest Hosts All Access - $179/year (Best Value)
- 9,695+ locations: everything in Classic and the Boondockers Welcome network
- 346 Golf Course Hosts
- Includes an Escapees RV Club membership ($49.95 value) for community events, education, and retail discounts
- Best for serious RVers who want the largest network and the most member perks
- Typically pays for itself in three to four campground nights
Not sure which Harvest Hosts plan to start with? Lots of Members choose Classic, then upgrade after a season once they know how often they're using the network. If you're already an Escpees Member, travel full-time, or would stay at private property Host locations, the All Access plan is the better long-term value.
When Will My Harvest Hosts Membership Renew?
Every Harvest Hosts plan is an annual subscription that renews exactly one year from the date you joined. So if you sign up on June 10, 2026, your membership runs through June 10, 2027 and renews automatically that day at the standard rate for your plan.
A few specifics worth knowing
- You can manage, pause, or cancel auto-renew anytime from your account settings. There's no penalty, and your membership remains active through the end of your paid year.
- Most sign-up coupons are valid only for the first year. Upon second-year renewal, you will be asked to pay full price.
- Founding-rate Members who keep continuous coverage keep their legacy rate; gaps in coverage may forfeit that rate.
- If you bought through the Apple App Store, your renewal and any refunds are handled through Apple per their standard policy.
- We send renewal reminder emails before your card is charged, so there are no surprises.
- If you forget to turn off auto-renewal, you can receive a refund as long as a) it's been within 30 days of your renewal date, and b) if you've completed two overnight stays or less since the renewal date.
In other words: you're never locked in, and you never need to renew manually. Just travel, use your benefits, and keep your account info up to date.
The Happy Camper Guarantee
In addition to the public Harvest Hosts map that allows you to browse Host locations before buying, Harvest Hosts also offers all new Members a Happy Camper Guarantee.
If Harvest Hosts isn't right for you, contact our customer support team within the first three months of your paid membership and we'll refund your membership fee. It's that simple.
A few quick details so there are no surprises:
- It's a one-time refund per Member.
- To qualify, you can have completed up to one Host stay within the 90-day window (two or more completed stays disqualify the refund).
- If you choose to reactivate your Membership at a later date, refunded accounts reactivate at current rates rather than legacy pricing.
- If you subscribed through the Apple App Store, refunds are processed through Apple.
Do Hosts Offer Same-Day Requests, Hookups, and Extra Nights?
Yes, but availability varies by Host, and the easiest way to find the perfect fit is to filter the Discover map.
Same-Day Stay Requests
More than 50% of Harvest Hosts allow same-day requests, which makes spontaneous travel surprisingly easy. If you're cruising down the interstate and decide you'd rather not white-knuckle it for another 100 miles, you can pull off, open the app, filter for "Same-Day Booking," and request a stay nearby. About 40% of Hosts are within five miles of an interstate, so the network was built with this kind of flexibility in mind.
A few etiquette notes: even when same-day is allowed, give your Host a real heads-up window if you can (a few hours is great), arrive during business hours, and never assume you can show up without an approved stay request. Hosts are running real businesses, and advanced communication makes the experience smoother for everyone.
Electric Hookups
Some Hosts offer electric or water hookups. Hookups are a Host-by-Host decision, and you'll usually pay a small fee for the convenience. Paying to use Hookups does count towards the $30 spend suggestion, so paying to use hookups is a great option when a Host doesn't have a lot for sale.
Because Harvest Hosts is built around self-contained RVs, hookups are a nice-to-have rather than a need-to-have for most stays. Just because a Host offers hookups doesn't mean you have to use them, and you can avoid the fee this way.
To find Hosts with hookups, Click "Hookups" at the top of the discover map, then select electric and/or water hookups. You'll see a curated list of properties that have these available. If you're traveling in extreme heat or cold and want to run AC or a furnace overnight, this filter is your friend.
Extra Nights
Harvest Hosts is famous for the one-night stay, but plenty of Hosts will happily host you for more than a single night. Some Hosts allow up to four extra nights beyond your initial stay, often for a small per-night fee that they set themselves.
You can and should request extra nights during your initial stay request whenever possible. This makes it easy for Hosts to manage their calendars. You can ask your Host if they're willing to let you stay an extra night after you're there, but respect if their answer is no.
This is huge for trips where you want to slow down - say, a long weekend at a vineyard or a working dairy farm. To find these spots, just toggle the "Stay Extra Nights" filter on the Discover map. The Hosts who show up may only offer 1 extra night or up to 4, so be sure to read their profile in advance.
Ready to Stay Somewhere Awesome?
Harvest Hosts is what happens when you stop thinking of your RV as a way to get to a campground and start thinking of it as an opportunity to constantly explore. The wineries, farms, breweries, distilleries, and small museums that make up our network are some of the most interesting places in North America, and you get to wake up at them.
If you've made it this far, you already know what to do:
- Explore the Discover map to scout Hosts in your area.
- Compare plans and pick the network size that fits your travel style.
- Rest easy with the Happy Camper Guarantee - three months to decide whether Harvest Hosts is right for you.
- Sign up for our email list to receive a code for 15% off your first year of Membership.
We hope to see you on the road!
