Reviewing Unique RV Overnights Memberships: Harvest Hosts and RVOvernights
TL;DR: Explore unique RV camping memberships like Harvest Hosts and RV Overnights, offering access to local businesses for overnight stays. Compare features, costs, and host networks to choose the best fit for your travel needs.
RVers have several options to enhance their overnight experiences while on the road, and one exciting way is through unique RV camping memberships. These memberships provide access to a network of small businesses that offer parking spots to self-contained RVs for an overnight stay. Instead of a traditional camping fee, guests are encouraged to support the host's business by making a purchase as a token of appreciation.
Two membership programs in North America that utilize this model are Harvest Hosts (founded in 2010) and RV Overnights (started in 2023). Continue reading for a look at each program, where we'll explore the advantages and drawbacks to help you decide which might be the best fit for your travels.
Harvest Hosts
Quick Facts*
Price: $99/year (Classic Plan)
Total Host Count: 5,200+
Unique Host Count: 4,900+ Hosts exclusively available to stay at through Harvest Hosts, these are host locations not available on any other platforms
Cost Per Unique Host: $0.02/year
Total Number of Members: Around 250,000
Approved Stay Requests: 1M+
Membership Features Include:
- Unlimited overnight stays with no camping fees
- 5,200+ farms, wineries, breweries & distilleries, attractions, and more
- 7,000+ dump stations
- Map data layers: Cell coverage for Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and US Cellular; Weather layer for precipitation, wind, and temperature
- Member photos and reviews of each location (Members have left over 280K reviews & uploaded 330K photos of their stays)
- Photo categories including parking photos, food, and more to help you know what to expect at the Host location
- Route planning tools
- View average Host response time on host profiles so you know when to expect a response
- $2000 worth of Member Benefits: discounts at retailers like Good Sam, AllTrails, Goodyear, EcoFlow, and more.
Filter For: Rig length, host type, same-day booking, pets allowed, slideouts allowed, electric hookups available, water hookups available, extra nights, available, and separate tow vehicle parking
Additional Plans Available: Harvest Hosts + Golf, Harvest Hosts + Boondockers Welcome, All Access (Harvest Hosts, Golf, & Boondockers Welcome)
About Harvest Hosts
Harvest Hosts was founded in 2010 by Don and Kim Greene, RVers who were inspired by France Passion and wanted to bring a similar program to the United States connecting RVers with small businesses throughout the country– emphasizing the cool experiences you can have RVing off the beaten path.
In 2018, it was bought by Joel Holland. Since then, Harvest Hosts has grown from around 600 Hosts and 5,000 users to 5,200 Hosts in the US & Canada and over 250,000 users. Harvest Hosts has grown from a mom-and-pop shop to a modest company of 50+ employees, which includes a dedicated customer support team, a Host onboarding and success team, and more employees dedicated to improving Harvest Hosts for Members and Hosts alike every day.
In the past 8 years, Harvest Hosts has also advanced a lot technologically, implementing a booking system directly in-platform ("Request a Stay"), growing the Host network to focus on finding Hosts within 5 miles of an interstate (today this is around 40% of host locations), adding customer reviews and photos, sharing detailed Host maps on the Harvest Hosts website so you can poke around and see the types of Hosts you can expect before you buy, making improvements to the usability of the Harvest Hosts map, and so much more.
Harvest Hosts is always hard at work to improve the platform. Stay tuned to see what we do next!
RVOvernights
Quick Facts**
Price: $30/year
Total Host Count: 337
Unique Host Count: 26 hosts exclusively available to stay at through RVOvernights***
Host locations that overlap with Harvest Hosts Locations: 91%
Cost Per Unique Host: $1.15/year
Total Number of Members: Unknown
Membership Features Include:
- Unlimited overnight stays with no camping fees
- 337 farms, wineries, cideries, breweries, distilleries, museums, and more
- 2,300+ dump stations
- 1,800+ propane fills
- See Host average response time
- Google business reviews and street view
- $100 worth of Member Benefits at retailers like Connection Internet and RVSnap Pad
Filter For: Rig length, Host type, same-day booking, pet policy, hookup & Wifi availability, generator policy, and additional nights.
About RV Overnights
RVOvernights was founded by Rob Case and Kurt Nehlig. As an RVer and former Host Success Manager at Harvest Hosts, Rob decided to start RVOvernights in 2023. In about a year, RVOvernights has grown to over 300 Hosts in the US (plus one in Canada), although the vast majority of their locations overlap with Harvest Hosts (91%). Plus, they've built a selection of filter choices to help you find hosts that meet your exact preferences.
RVOvernights promises to grow their number of hosts and recommends you join now at the $30 introductory price before they raise the membership fee to $50/year.
What Do You Think?
Key Takeaways:
- Harvest Hosts has over 5,000 RV camping locations; RVOvernights has over 300, with 91% of their locations overlapping with Hosts already available on Harvest Hosts.
- Harvest Hosts offers a cost of $0.02 per unique host per year; RVOvernights' is $1.15 per unique host (only 26 non-overlapping locations) per year.
- RVOvernights has a couple of extra search filters: pet policy and generator policy.
- Harvest Hosts suits those who travel broadly and desire a large variety of hosts nationwide. RVOvernights may be better suited for those prioritizing those detailed filter options.
Harvest Hosts and RVOvernights both offer a similar business model and camping concept, but they also offer the distinct differences described above. Whether you value a wide variety of unique and accessible RV camping locations provided by Harvest Hosts as an established brand, or prefer the filtering options available on RVOvernights, this detailed breakdown of both programs' offerings is sure to help you decide what Membership is the perfect fit for you!
Footnotes:
*All data regarding RVOvernights has been sourced from RVOvernights.com as of April 30 2024
**All data from Harvest Hosts is up-to-date as of April 30, 2024.
***RVOvernights contains only 26 unique hosts (including the RVOvernights HQ), meaning that the rest of their 300+ locations also host RVers through Harvest Hosts, or have once hosted through Harvest Hosts. Four former Harvest Hosts locations are now on RVOvernights.com, all of whom were determined as not being a good fit for Harvest Hosts.
