Harvest Host

[goducks14]

You mean those Harvest Host owners don't own yachts? How tangible is that cheese after you eat it? The campground offers a value for your money too. Personally I think the owner of a vineyard is more likely to own a yacht than the owner of a campground.

Point being I get a bottle of wine or maybe some fresh veggies or fruit vs a place to screw my sewer hose. For a quick overnighter I'd rather drop $20-30 for a bottle of wine than $50-70 for nothing.

[orbsah]

Here's how we manage the costs for HH stays. . . .

We track our expenditures in categories which include groceries, entertainment, eating out, lodging (campsite fees), etc.

When we stay at a HH winery, the $20 bottle of wine gets lumped into the groceries category. When we stay at a HH museum, the museum entrance fee gets lumped into the entertainment category. When we stay at a HH brewery and eat dinner, the bill gets lumped into the eating out category. In all cases, the lodging for that night at HH is $0.

I call that creative accounting

[Benton Harbor]

Brilliant!! Excellent idea. Thank you!

[jleonard]

Probably the most interesting thing about Harvest Host is the wide variations on places we've stayed. Yes a few wineries and distilleries and breweries, and they are different, but also:
Tallahassee auto museum
Speedway motors museum
A Bison ranch (and we bought some excellent bison steaks)
North Platte RR depot/museum (Golden Spike Tower), largest and noisiest in the US.
A farm where we took a wagon ride on part of the Oregon trail
An apple farm

We had reservations at a metal forge in MI, (but got cancelled when the forge blew up. I was scheduled to spend a day hand forging a knife)

[Ynot4me2]

Sorry......What is BDW?

As Rob already mentioned BDW Boondockers Welcome.

[Ynot4me2]

To add to all of the comments, we also found that some regions will have mostly HH while others will be mostly BDW. Having access to both opens up more possibilities.

[Rgpracer]

I knew it Benton, thanks for the input. I will probably go ahead with the $99 membership soon.
Thanks
Ray

Ray, I was being sarcastic. Every stay at a HH usually results in us buying wine, beer or whiskey that costs us more than what camping at a campground would cost for the night. We really enjoy those sites, but it rarely ends with us not buying from the vendor. 🤣

[Rgpracer]

Hey Fsalmy, your write up was awesome and makes me want to come visit you from KS. Thanks so much. I believe we will sign up for the $99 HH membership and see how it goes.
Again, thanks and hope we can come visit sometime.

Ray
Wichita
316-two four nine-3876.


QUOTE=Fsalmy;466071]We are both HH members and hosts (on our farm). We owned a 22' bowrider once, but alas, no yacht.

For our HH listing, we try to be as up front as possible about the area, the access, the parking spots, the expected experience and life on our farm. We clearly state access is down a gravel road and the turn onto the gravel road can be a challenge for big rigs/large Class As and although we can accommodate any length rig, we suggest a 40' max length because of that turn. Our parking area is in a hay pasture. I cut a "big rig friendly access path/road" and parking areas in the most level areas so we can provide a couple of site options for our guests - mountain views, shade or sunny, etc. However, because the sites are grass and although it drains well, we watch the weather forecast closely and if there are heavy rains, snow, or ice forecasted, we let our guests know prior to their arrival and will even suggest other HHs in the area that have paved or gravel pads. We have a 4wd farm tractor that we can use to pull folks out but have never had to use it in 5+ years.

As HH guests/travelers, we have had mostly great experiences and those experiences influence what we do as hosts. We do our due diligence before reserving a spot as we have been in some situations with very tight access (a winery in NC). Only once have we pulled into a HH location (in CT) and decided to move on because the area was very sketchy. The other "rig" that was already parked there looked like Cousin Eddie's "that right there, Clark, is an arrrrr veee". Some places are completely no frills (a church parking lot in PA) and others have full restaurants, bathrooms, and activities (a winery in MA). Most of the hosts we have met are incredibly hospitable (like us ) and some have even invited us for dinner.

We used to be BDW hosts several years ago before it was acquired by HH. A couple of sketchy BDW guests and some host policies with which we didn't agree, and we ended that pretty quickly. After the acquisition, HH committed to ending some of the objectionable policies instituted by BDW, but so far, we have chosen not to renew our listing with BDW.[/QUOTE]

[Rgpracer]

Thanks goducks.....wife and I feel 100% the same..........and it will be awesome meeting new people.

Thanks
Ray

Point being I get a bottle of wine or maybe some fresh veggies or fruit vs a place to screw my sewer hose. For a quick overnighter I'd rather drop $20-30 for a bottle of wine than $50-70 for nothing.

[Rgpracer]

Orbsah......you got THAT right.

Here's how we manage the costs for HH stays. . . .

We track our expenditures in categories which include groceries, entertainment, eating out, lodging (campsite fees), etc.

When we stay at a HH winery, the $20 bottle of wine gets lumped into the groceries category. When we stay at a HH museum, the museum entrance fee gets lumped into the entertainment category. When we stay at a HH brewery and eat dinner, the bill gets lumped into the eating out category. In all cases, the lodging for that night at HH is $0.

I call that creative accounting