This function is sponsored by Harvest Hosts. Cider Tradition and the American Cider Affiliation thank them for his or her help!
Throughout COVID-19, gross sales of RVs went manner, manner up as individuals regarded for a approach to safely journey and acquire a way of freedom from the lockdowns that outlined a lot of 2020. However even nicely earlier than the pandemic, RVing has been a beloved type of journey in America, with followers starting from long-term homeowners to first-time renters spanning demographics and geography.
And now, by means of an revolutionary firm referred to as Harvest Hosts (HH), there’s a straightforward manner for cideries and farms to attach with this vibrant neighborhood of curious vacationers. It’s such a cool idea — right here’s the way it works!
RVers be part of Harvest Hosts for simply $99 a yr, which grants them entry to over 4,000 Host places the place they will take pleasure in free, distinctive in a single day stays. These places embody wineries, breweries, farms and cideries! Doesn’t that sound higher than staying in a Walmart car parking zone or a crowded campsite?
There’s no membership price for hosts. It merely requires signing your cidery up, which will get you added to the HH database. Members request stays at Host places and talk with Hosts by means of the Harvest Hosts app. Their RVs are solely self-sufficient, so there’s no want for Hosts to supply electrical hook ups, loos or every other facilities. Members are inspired to help their Hosts by buying their merchandise throughout every keep!
It’s a complete win-win: RVers take pleasure in stunning environs to remain for the evening, and Hosts, together with cideries, get new advertising and marketing avenues and assured visitors.
For Simon Ingall, co-founder of Grisamore Cider Works within the Finger Lakes (FLX) area of New York state, Harvest Hosts supplied a stress-free various to the agritourism plans he and his crew have been contemplating earlier than the pandemic.
“Harvest Hosts supplied a low-risk approach to attempt this type of tourism with out having to spend the cash to construct a large infrastructure for glamping,” he notes. “The RVers simply park on the garden!”
Ingall, who says that Grisamore hosts between two and 4 Harvest Hosts visitors monthly throughout the busier vacationer season, would like to get extra FLX cideries registered as Hosts.
“The oldsters who’ve come listed below are so nice — we haven’t had one dangerous expertise,” he says. “And as a buyer base, it’s nice for us. The Harvest Hosts guests are fascinated by our cider — that’s a part of why they arrive right here — and normally spend between $50 and $100.”
Ingall additionally loves how environment friendly and simple it’s to handle the guests by means of Harvest Hosts’ web site and app.
“Reservations are normally made wherever from days to months prematurely, and if a date doesn’t work for us, we will decline anytime,” he says. “You’ll be able to select the variety of spots you could have; we began with one spot simply to see the way it went. This yr, I added a second spot so we may accommodate visitors touring collectively in two RVs. Final weekend, we hosted two {couples}, each in Dodge ProMaster vans, they usually each got here to the tasting room and hit it off!”
Ann Torrence, the proprietor of Etta Place Cider in Torrey, Utah, says that her resolution to affix Harvest Hosts as a number was utterly customer-driven.
“We’re in a reasonably tourism-dominated neighborhood, and our clients saved asking us if we have been Harvest Hosts!” she remembers. “I used to be holding off for awhile however, lastly, we jumped in and don’t have any regrets.”
Etta Place turned a Host in November 2021, proper because the excessive journey season was waning for the yr. However, she observed that as a result of so many providers within the space shut down for the winter, being a Host was truly actually useful to the enterprise in these slower months.
“It was enticing to be on the Harvest Hosts map; we needed to provide individuals but another excuse to discover our neighborhood,” Torrence says. “I’m right here making cider all yr spherical, so we would as nicely have the doorways open.”
The Harvest Hosts spots at Etta Place are in its car parking zone, which appears out over an epic view of the Velvet Ridge, a geological function that attracts many vacationers to the realm. Through the busy season, Torrence says that the spots are booked each evening, Thursday by means of Sunday. She estimates that about half of the guests have by no means had a craft cider, and he or she takes it significantly that her cider can be their first introduction to the class.
“We work actually arduous on the tutorial element of internet hosting RVers right here,” she says. “My husband’s a former professor and our tasting room visits are like a category the place all people will get an A!”
Dan Lawrence is a co-owner of Stone Circle Cider, a 36-acre farm simply exterior of Estacada, Oregon, that’s a gorgeous property with views of the Willamette Valley and Coastal Vary Mountains. In 2015, he and his household transitioned from a Christmas tree farm to a cider apple orchard and now make conventional English-style cider.
Although the unimaginable panorama is a part of the cidery’s attraction, it additionally signifies that it’s a bit distant and off the overwhelmed path of the Willamette Valley’s tourist-facing wine trails. This partially influenced Lawrence’s resolution to register the property with Harvest Hosts in spring 2020.
“The one factor we’re on the way in which to is the wilderness, so getting individuals right here and gaining consciousness is all the time one thing we’re seeking to enhance on,” he says. “Harvest Hosts is nice when it comes to attracting new clients and individuals who wouldn’t in any other case discover us.”
Lawrence initially discovered about Harvest Hosts by means of his mother, who bought an RV in 2020 and discovered about this system by means of the RVing neighborhood. They recognized a big, flat space that overlooks the farm as the proper place for 3 RV spots.
In terms of the visitors themselves, Lawrence echoes the assertion that they’re nice to have on the property and nearly all the time go to the Stone Circle tasting room and interact with their merchandise.
“When individuals come right here, they’ve a good time; they’re on trip and are glad to be right here, they usually turn into good clients,” he says. “We’ve met individuals from everywhere, like a household from France RVing throughout America.”
One such customer is Krista Escobar, a Harvest Hosts member who’s been having fun with RV journey along with her husband and their teenage sons since spring 2021. Like many households, they have been on the lookout for methods to journey and discover their area that felt secure and wholesome.
“What attracted us to Harvest Hosts was the flexibility to have a bit of extra flexibility with test in and take a look at occasions, and to get extra of a novel expertise,” she says. “You’re nonetheless hanging out with your loved ones, however you’re at these nice places, and that provides a distinct layer to the expertise.”
She notes that many RV parks and campgrounds are hectic as a result of they’re usually booked months prematurely and might be overcrowded and noisy. Escobar additionally shares a humorous, however anxious, state of affairs that’s a part of RV tradition: While you arrive at your web site, different individuals will hang around and watch you attempt to again your RV in, brazenly judging your progress.
“While you keep at a Harvest Hosts location, there’s nobody grading your parking job,” she laughs.
Escobar, who lives exterior of Portland, Oregon, along with her household, says she’s extra of a craft beer fan, however had an exquisite time staying at Stone Circle final yr throughout a mini journey out of the town.
“My husband and I are homebrewers and it was cool to speak to the cidery proprietor on the tasting room and discover out extra — they have been so educated on all of the issues,” she says. “Though we normally lean extra towards beer, Stone Circle makes scrumptious cider, and we liked studying about their course of and the way they’re rising apples of their orchard.”
For those who’re a cidery seeking to be a part of Harvest Hosts, don’t wait to enroll! City cideries and farm cideries are welcome to affix, and get to set the phrases of their internet hosting capability, like what number of spots and what days of the week are on provide. That is such a rad approach to open up your small business to new individuals with completely no price to your small business! To be taught extra about Harvest Hosts, go to its web site and take a look at its listing of FAQs.
- Characteristic photograph & Stone Circle RV images: Krista Escobar
- Grisamore Cider photograph: Jesse Ingall
- Stone Circle view photograph: Stone Circle Cider
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