Bill and Molly Webster needed a place to park their boat.
The Georgetown, Maine, residents were mapping out an 11-day drive to Florida for their annual boating trip when some friends told them about a company called Harvest Hosts.
For $99 per year, Harvest Hosts provides RV travelers with access to a map of over 5,000 small businesses across North America, including wineries, breweries, farms, distilleries, museums, golf courses and other attractions, which allow RV travelers to park overnight on their property.
In return, travelers are expected — though not required — to support the businesses by purchasing products from them during their stay.
“The RVers are self-contained, so they have bathrooms on board, they’ve got water, they’ve got everything they need,” said company spokesperson Ashley Fox. “They’re just looking for that safe place to park overnight.”
The Websters, however, are unlike many Harvest Hosts members: They don’t travel with an RV.
“It’s uncommon what we’re doing,” Bill Webster, 73, said. “We are using our boat as an RV when we’re not in the water.”
The Websters used their truck to trailer their boat down to Florida, rather than driving an RV.
They left Maine on Feb 14., their 43rd wedding anniversary, accompanied by Tory, their 1-year-old dark Portuguese waterdog.
They arrived in Florida on Feb. 25 after staying with friends and family in New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia. In total, they’ve driven over 2,000 miles since leaving Maine.
“We need to get out of Maine in the winter so coming down to Florida makes perfect sense,” said Molly Webster, 72.
The first Harvest Hosts destination they stopped at was Homestead Park, a business in Williston, where they purchased barbecue for dinner. The next destination they stayed at was Maxwell Groves Country Store in Highlands County, where they purchased ice cream and a homemade sauce.
“All of the parks we’ve stayed at have never seen a boat in their campground,” Molly Webster said. “We’re the first.”
The Websters launched in Indiantown Marina Feb. 26 and plan to travel to Florida’s west and east coasts and the Bahamas before heading back to Maine for the summer.
“We’ve done KOAs and stayed at state parks and national parks and not that they aren’t fine, but this was a little eclectic,” Bill Webster said about using Harvest Hosts for the first time.
The Websters plan to use Harvest Hosts for overnight destinations and stay in their boat on their way back to Maine for the summer.
Despite the fact it is completely free for small businesses to partner with Harvest Hosts, the service can have limitations for some owners, said Adam LupPlace, owner of The Oaks Golf Club in Crescent City.
The company’s website states, “Harvest Hosts is set up as an overnight program with stays of a maximum of 24 hours. At your Host’s discretion, he/she may invite you to stay an additional night but we discourage multiple night stays as to not ‘wear out our welcome.’ Please do not ask if you can stay additional nights. This is to be an invitation from the Host.”
For most small businesses, this isn’t too much of an issue, but LupPlace said it would be more beneficial for his business if members were encouraged to stay more than one night and play the course multiple times, rather than playing once and getting back on the road.
“We want people to come spend the week or a month,” LupPlace said. “It would be more bang for your buck for us with having somebody here four, five, six days or 30 days as compared to one night.”
However, LupPlace, who bought the course in 2016, said he is aiming to put in about a few dozen RV sites so that future customers could camp indefinitely and play golf.
“We get exposure from people that normally would never come here and a little bit of revenue out of it,” LupPlace said. “And then [RVers] save money because they’re going to eat or drink anyway, so they basically get a free spot to stay for the price of a meal.”
In Florida, there are currently over 150 small businesses partnered with Harvest Hosts.
“The average that our members are spending with small businesses is about $50 for every stay,” Fox said, adding that some small businesses in Florida and elsewhere can see additional revenue in the thousands each year.