--- title: "Choice Hotels Is Buying Harvest Hosts for $130 Million. Here’s What RVers Should Know" url: "https://camperfaqs.com/choice-hotels-is-buying-harvest-hosts-for-130-million" author: "Tory Jon" published: "2026-09-30T21:27:30-05:00" modified: "2026-09-30T21:27:32-05:00" --- # Choice Hotels Is Buying Harvest Hosts for $130 Million. Here’s What RVers Should Know Harvest Hosts is about to have a new owner, and the name is familiar to millions of hotel travelers. Choice Hotels International announced Sept. 30 that it has agreed to acquire Harvest Hosts in an all-cash deal valued at approximately $130 million. The transaction is expected to close Oct. 1, pending customary closing conditions. The deal brings Harvest Hosts, Boondockers Welcome, the membership and events side of Escapees RV Club, CampScanner and Brit Stops under the same corporate umbrella as a hotel company with more than 7,500 properties worldwide. For current Harvest Hosts members, however, the immediate experience is expected to look much the same. ## Harvest Hosts Will Continue as a Separate Business According to [Choice Hotels' acquisition announcement](https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/choice-hotels-to-acquire-harvest-hosts-expanding-its-reach-with-the-value-minded-traveler-into-outdoor-and-rv-travel-302894366.html), Harvest Hosts will continue operating as a standalone business under its existing name. CEO Joel Holland will remain in charge, the current leadership team will stay in place, and Harvest Hosts employees will become Choice Hotels employees when the transaction closes. Choice said the plan is to preserve the existing Harvest Hosts member and host experience while continuing to grow the business. The announcement does not include any changes to Harvest Hosts membership prices, existing benefits or the way members book stays. ## Choice Is Buying More Than Harvest Hosts Harvest Hosts has grown considerably beyond its original network of farms, wineries and other businesses offering overnight RV parking. Choice says the company now connects RV travelers with more than 11,200 host locations. Its family of businesses also includes Boondockers Welcome, CampScanner, Brit Stops and Escapees RV Club. Harvest Hosts has been building that portfolio for years. Its own company history says the network grew from about 600 hosts in 2018 to more than 9,700 Harvest Hosts locations in 2026, while acquisitions expanded the broader business into home-hosted RV stays, campground availability alerts and other RV travel services. Escapees requires a little clarification. Harvest Hosts acquired the membership and events portion of Escapees RV Club in 2024. The Carr family retained the separate Escapees Mail Service and Escapees RV parks. Those businesses are not part of Harvest Hosts and therefore are not included in the Choice Hotels acquisition. ## Why Does a Hotel Company Want an RV Membership Network? Choice Hotels operates brands including Comfort, Quality Inn, Sleep Inn, Cambria, Econo Lodge and several Radisson brands in the Americas. The company says its system includes more than 7,500 hotels and 650,000 rooms across 49 countries and territories. Buying an RV membership company may seem unusual, but Choice gave a fairly direct explanation. The company says Choice Privileges members are particularly active in RV travel. Adding Harvest Hosts gives Choice another way to serve those customers without owning campgrounds or building another lodging network from scratch. Harvest Hosts also fits the business model Choice already uses heavily in hotels. Choice describes the acquisition as part of its "asset-light" strategy. Harvest Hosts provides access to thousands of overnight locations, but it generally does not own the properties where members stay. Instead, farms, wineries, breweries, museums, golf courses, and other participating businesses provide the overnight locations. ## What About Choice Privileges? This may become one of the more interesting parts of the deal, although details are limited so far. Choice specifically pointed to its Choice Privileges loyalty program when explaining the acquisition, saying it could connect its existing customer base with Harvest Hosts. Its Sept. 30 announcement does not say that Harvest Hosts members will earn Choice Privileges points, redeem points for memberships, or receive hotel benefits. No specific loyalty integration was announced. That gives Choice several possible directions to take the relationship, but anything beyond the company's current announcement would be speculation. ## What RVers Should Watch Next For now, Choice appears to be buying Harvest Hosts largely as it exists today rather than immediately folding it into its hotel operation. Harvest Hosts keeps its name, CEO and leadership team, and Choice says it intends to preserve the existing member and host experience. Longer term, the more interesting questions will involve membership pricing, Choice Privileges, bundled benefits, and how aggressively Choice promotes Harvest Hosts to its hotel customers. Those answers have not been announced yet. What is clear is that a major hotel franchisor is putting $130 million into an RV travel membership business. For a company with more than 7,500 hotels, Choice's decision to expand into RV travel is a notable sign that it sees RVers as part of a much broader travel market rather than a separate customer base.