Harvest Hosts’ Holland Reviews the Escapees Acquisition – RVBusiness – Breaking RV Industry News
One of the year’s biggest news stories to date within the RV arena is last week’s surprise announcement that Colorado-based Harvest Hosts, a membership organization specializing in private and commercial overnight accommodations, had acquired the family-held Escapees RV Club from Bud and Kathie Carr and current third-generation co-CEO’s Melanie and Travis Carr. (See: “Harvest Hosts Takes Lead Mgt. Role in Escapees RV Club”)
In the final analysis, Harvest Hosts’ acquisition of the 70,000-member club should enable Harvest Hosts CEO Joel Holland, an avid family RVer who purchased the novel network in 2018 from founders Don and Kim Greene, to take things to the next level in terms of the network’s general growth and offerings.
When combining both his Harvest Hosts and Boondockers Welcome brands, the latter of which was purchased in 2021 and includes more private overnight locations than Harvest Hosts’ relatively commercial stops, Holland says the overall network now offers nearly 10,000 locations.
And the Escapees acquisition, he says, fits right in. “I like to say we now have the two pillars that I really wanted, which are camping and community,” says Holland of the Escapees buyout, which did not include the Escapees Mail Service and Escapees RV Parks, both of which remain under their existing management and ownership.
“We had already nailed unique camping with thousands of locations,” Holland told RVB. “You can’t drive more than a few miles these days without finding a Harvest Hosts location – making us the largest private network of camping in the United States, and, I guess, the world. But now we can match that with various Escapees get-togethers and events, state chapters and rallies,” he added. “I love that. It now lets people get together in person. I think that’s going to be a huge part of the program in the future.”
Here’s some edited highlights of RVB’s phone interview with Holland:
RVB: You describe yourself as a family camper. Tell us more about that if you would.
Holland: I love it. I like to say I’m our No. 1 user. I use Harvest Hosts, including wineries, farms, breweries and attractions, all year long. My wife and I and our two kids – ages 3 ½ and 1 – have a truck camper and a fifth-wheel, and I usually get the family out on the road for a cross-country trip at least once if not twice a year. We use Harvest Hosts a lot. So, I’m always trying to design this product for me, selfishly, and my family, but also for members who have similar interests.
I love where the product is, but it’s also influenced a lot of our decisions around these other acquisitions. We bought Boondockers Welcome because I liked the idea also of expanding beyond just small businesses to personal properties. Boondockers Welcome has over 3,000 personal properties that invite these people to come park in their driveways and get to know them. That’s got a really great spirit to it and is a little more community-based than Harvest Hosts.
So, ultimately, this Escapees purchase was to drive the community component forward because when I think about Harvest Hosts and when I ask our members, they consider us a community, but we’ve never, in my opinion, really given them enough community features.
RVB: So, things have clearly gone well in terms of growth since 2018 until now, haven’t they?
Holland: Yes, I’m pretty proud. They had 600 locations when I bought it. Today, we have over 5,500 Harvest Hosts locations, so we’ve radically grown the network. And we have a quarter million members now, so there’s a great number of members who will spend $50 million this year supporting these businesses.
And I should point out that we’ve never changed the model that Don and Kim (Greene) had. It’s all based on annual membership revenue fees. We don’t charge the host anything to be in the program and we take no cut of the revenue they receive from our members.
RVB: And it seems like things, technically speaking, have pretty much followed your plans?
Holland: Yes, it’s been a great ride. I should add that putting those two networks together and making them available on one platform has been great because 40% of our members now have both networks. They can book either one. You can do one search through the app or through the website and now see almost 10,000 locations – 5,500 on Harvest Hosts and 3,500 on Boondockers Welcome – in the country.
The essential deal is our classic plan – exactly 5,259 (Harvest Hosts) locations at this moment, farms, wineries, breweries, distilleries and attractions including 35 drive-in movie theaters, a lot of museums and places like the Elkhart RV Hall of Fame – all for $99 a year. That’s your classic program.
RVB: Seems pretty simple?
Holland: Yes, pretty much. You have to certify that you have a self-contained RV. You tell us what kind of RV you have. You need to have a toilet. That’s the most important part. As long as you qualify for the program, you can join, pay the $99, and then you can download the app or go to the website and just begin searching.
You can search by route, by state or specific location, however you want. All of our Harvest Hosts locations will pop up. You can then look at them and view photos and member-submitted reviews plus other information on whether it’s a back-in or a pull-through and what kind of amenities or things they sell.
Then we have a booking system. You can actually then book right through the website. You can say, ‘All right. I want to come in Friday’ and submit the request, which then goes to the host, which the host reviews and approves, and you’re good to go.
RVB: So, in the big picture, where does Harvest Hosts go next?
Holland: In the short run, the goal is to have nothing change for Escapees. This club’s program has been around for 46 years – longer than I’ve been alive. I don’t want to come in and mess it up. I don’t want to come in and change anything overnight, because it’s a great program. It’s existed for so long because people love it. By the way, I’ve been an Escapees member for years. I love it.
Having said that, I have some ideas for improvements. I like to say, ‘I’m not trying to make changes. I’m trying to make improvements.’ There’s certainly some technology that can be improved. The events booking system is due for a little bit of modernization. So, there’s some things we’ll do.
The nice thing, I should add, is that we brought all 15 Escapees employees over. We hired them all. As of last week, all 15 Escapees employees are now full-time Harvest Hosts employees along with our existing staff of 65. They’re going to keep doing their exact same job. So, to any Escapees members reading this, don’t worry. We’re not changing anything. We’re just trying to make some improvements for you.
At the same time, I’m going to talk to Escapees members and ask them, ‘What do you think we should improve now that we, as a company, are fortunate enough to have a budget and an engineering team. Where would they like us to put our resources? What should we work on?’
RVB: Bottom line, then, is that you’re going to keep an open mind.
Holland: I’m not going to make any assumptions. I’m just going to ask members what they think we should do. And there’s no rush.
Now, Travis and Melanie, they’re not joining Harvest Hosts. They’re going to continue running their campground and the mail service while we’re taking over the membership, the events and all the community aspects of Escapees.
RVB: And will your 80 employees all work out of one Vail, Colo., office?
Holland: No, we’re a fully remote company. We have employees in 26 different states. That’s always been the plan.
RVB: So, all things considered, it sure looks like Harvest Hosts’ general initiatives serve the RV industry as a whole, right?
Holland: Yes, I’m happy to hear you say that because my goal with Harvest Hosts has been to grow the whole pie for the RV industry. I’ve always said that. We didn’t come in to disrupt or hurt anybody. We love campgrounds. Our members still use campgrounds way more than they use Harvest Hosts locations. We’re trying to be the tide that lifts all ship, and I think it’s working.
I think ultimately the big picture goal for me with Harvest Hosts is to be the one membership that every RVer must have. You buy your RV and then join Harvest Hosts because they give you really unique places to stay as well as a community.
I think RVers want to make connections. So, between camping and community, you have to have us. We’re very affordable. We haven’t raised prices in three years. We’re not trying to raise prices. We’re trying to make this an affordable solution for RVers and a good thing for the industry
RVB: And, again, you support conventional campground as well?
Holland: Yes, and we also have the CampersCard program to support campgrounds. We have over a thousand campgrounds in that program because our members cumulatively are spending millions of nights per year in campgrounds. And because of Harvest Hosts, they’re staying on the road longer. So yeah, we’re not stealing nights from campgrounds. If anything, we’re adding nights to campgrounds.
It’s not a zero-sum game where we’re winning at the expense of someone else. Everyone in the industry that works with us wins and that includes Outdoorsy, primarily a rental company, and RVshare. It’s great. I don’t see anybody hurting from it, which is great. That was my goal. I want this to be a feel-good business.
