An RV subscription company just raised $37 million. Here's how it plans to grow ahead of the expected summer travel boom.
- RV membership company Harvest Hosts recently received a $37 million investment from Stripes.
- Harvest Hosts' program allows RV travelers to stay overnight in locations like wineries and farms.
- Joel Holland, Harvest Hosts' CEO, explains how it'll navigate the summer travel boom with this new investment.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Harvest Hosts, an RV membership company that gives RVers access to "unique" overnight stays, has found success during COVID-19, and a new almost $40 million investment will allow the business to continue its fast growth ahead of the predicted summer travel boom.
Road travel vehicle manufacturers specializing in RVs, camper vans, and trailers saw a huge spike in sales during 2020 as COVID-19 stopped would-be travelers from flying and cruising. However, these makers weren't the only travel-adjacent companies that benefited from the coronavirus pandemic: from May 2020 to December, Harvest Hosts' membership base doubled in size, the company says.
Prior to this, the company had already been growing fast due to the millennial #VanLife boom and retirees interested road travel. But when COVID-19 hit the US, "everything went into hyper-speed," Joel Holland, CEO of Harvest Hosts, told Insider in an interview.
Harvest Hosts' expanding business eventually caught the attention of Stripes, leading to its $37 million investment in the RV membership company. Stripes previously invested in companies like GrubHub, Reformation, and Refinery29.
"We look to back ambitious entrepreneurs who are delivering amazing products, and it became clear as we spent more time in the space that Holland is building a really special product for RVers," Chris Carey, a partner at Stripes, said in a press release. "His vision for the company is something we are excited to be part of."
How it works
Harvest Hosts' appeal is in its straightforward membership model. Members can tap into the company's network of over 2,000 locations - known as "hosts" - across the US for overnight RV stays. The company's hosts encompass a wide range of destinations, including breweries, farms, golf courses, and wineries, the latter the most popular option.
There are several stipulations to the membership program. For one, members must have a "fully self-contained RV" with a toilet and wastewater tanks. RV travelers are also required to notify the hosts ahead of their arrivals and are discouraged from staying longer than the allotted 24-hour overnight stay.
Annual memberships start at $79 for the classic package. This price then jumps to $199 for the classic package plus access to golf and country clubs. Overnight stays don't come at any additional cost, but Harvest Hosts encourages its members to spend money at their destinations in order to support the local hosts.
"We keep our membership costs low because we want to encourage people to take the money they're saving and spend it with the local businesses," Holland said. Currently, about 60% of its members are retired, and over half have a six-figure-plus disposable income, making them a "powerful buying force," Holland explained.
Last year, Harvest Hosts' members spent over $25 million at the visited locations. Holland projects this will grow to $30 million this year, which translates to an additional $15,000 for winery-based hosts specifically.
Harvest Hosts has grown quickly. This is how its new investment will help
The company's rapid growth has been a constant for several years now. From 2018 to the COVID-19 pandemic, Harvest Hosts' membership base grew ten times, and this growth only continued to accelerate through 2020.
According to Holland, new members began flocking to the company through the summer - as expected - into the winter. Travel normally hits a lull during winter, but the inverse happened for Harvest Hosts: interest in January and February 2021 were so high, the number of members spiked 400% compared to last year.
Now, the company is anticipating a massive summer travel boom, and consequently, the potential for further growth with the help of its new financial cushion and Stripes' resources.
"Everything in this industry seems to be moving fast," Holland said. "We want to make sure we can keep up, and the funding will help us do that."
According to Holland, this $37 million investment will help Harvest continue the growth of both its host and member communities, all with the goal of becoming "the trusted resource for RVers when they're looking for a place to stay."
To do this, Harvest Hosts is now using the money to boost its location catalog from a little over 2,000 hosts, to 3,000 hosts by the end of the year. Looking even further ahead, the company is "racing to 10,000," Holland said.
Along with this host growth, the Harvest Hosts is also building out features like improved "route planning tools" and a new reservation system meant to ease the hosting process.
"The faster we can get more hosts onboard, the better for our members and these small businesses," Holland said. "The more we scale, the better everyone does, so I'm excited to [do so] as quickly as possible, and that takes money. "
Are you a travel industry employee or have a travel industry story to share? Contact this reporter at bchang@insider.com.
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