Choice Hotels Just Spent $130 Million to Sleep at a Winery
For decades, the American road trip and the corporate hotel stay have occupied parallel universes — one defined by freedom, campfire smoke, and the open highway; the other by loyalty points, breakfast buffets, and standardized pillow menus. On September 30, 2026, those two worlds collided in a deal that no one in the outdoor travel space saw coming, or maybe everyone should have. Choice Hotels International announced it would acquire Harvest Hosts, widely described as the largest private RV camping network in North America, for approximately $130 million in cash — a transaction that closed on October 1 and expands Choice Hotels beyond traditional hotel franchising into a membership-based outdoor hospitality model covering more than 11,200 host locations across the continent.
The deal is the company's first move outside of traditional lodging, and the outdoor industry is paying close attention. It signals something bigger than one balance sheet transaction: the entire hospitality establishment is now convinced that the future of travel runs through the woods, the vineyard, and the farm — and the big hotel chains are not about to be left behind.
What Harvest Hosts Actually Is
If you haven't heard of Harvest Hosts, you're not the target customer — yet. The platform operates as an annual membership that gives self-contained RVers unlimited overnight stays with no camping fees at more than 9,700 farms, wineries, breweries, distilleries, museums, and other unique small businesses across North America. The concept flips the traditional campground model on its head. There are no hookups, no ranger stations, and no sites numbered 14A through 14C. Instead, the host isn't a campground operator — they're a winemaker, a farmer, a brewer running their own operation who has agreed to let member RVs park overnight. The entire arrangement hinges on one exchange: you support their business, they give you a place to sleep.
Instead of paying camping fees for the first night, members support their host by buying something during the visit — think a bottle of wine, a flight of beer, or fresh produce. There's no minimum spend requirement, and the social contract is kept deliberately loose. What members get beyond overnight parking varies entirely by host — some wineries offer private tastings after hours, some farms let you wander the property freely, some breweries hand you a welcome flight. It's an exchange built on goodwill rather than transaction, which is precisely what makes it stick with the kind of traveler who buys a diesel pusher and spends their retirement chasing state lines.
The Booking Experience
Members browse and book stays through the Harvest Hosts app, which shows available locations along a route, host details, photos, and reviews from other members. Booking is straightforward — request a stay, wait for the host to approve, and arrive during business hours. The whole thing is notably less fraught than fighting for a reservation at a national park campground in July. Because Harvest Hosts is membership-only, the locations aren't publicly available, which makes the program feel exclusive and ensures sites don't get crowded the way public ones often do. That privacy is a meaningful selling point for the RV crowd, which has watched popular boondocking spots get blown up on social media and trashed within a season.
Tiers, Pricing, and What You're Really Getting
Harvest Hosts is fundamentally a subscription business, not a lodging one: members pay $99 to $179 a year, hosts collect nothing, and revenue comes from the membership fee. The classic tier runs about $99 a year and covers the core network of farms, wineries, breweries, and attractions. Step up to the combined tier and you also unlock Boondockers Welcome, which connects self-contained RVers with a network of up to 9,600 unique RV camping locations, including 5,900 small businesses like farms, wineries, breweries, and attractions, plus 3,300 private property hosts if you purchase the All Access plan. The math is straightforward: classic membership pays for itself in roughly three nights versus a $40 campground. Everything after that is a vineyard sunset or a brewery tasting instead of an asphalt pad next to the freeway.
The Portfolio Choice Hotels Is Actually Acquiring
The headline number — $130 million for an RV camping membership network — undersells the scope of what Choice is really buying. Harvest Hosts isn't just a list of friendly wineries willing to let you park your rig out back. Harvest Hosts also owns Boondockers Welcome, Escapees RV Club, CampScanner, and Brit Stops, giving Choice a much broader foothold in the outdoor and RV travel market. Each of those properties represents a distinct slice of the RV ecosystem.
Beyond its flagship network, Harvest Hosts also owns Escapees RV Club, a long-established RV community organization, as well as Boondockers Welcome, CampScanner, and Brit Stops, a UK-focused version of the same model. Escapees is particularly interesting from a strategic standpoint — it has been one of the foundational community organizations in full-time RV culture for decades, with a member base that skews toward serious, year-round travelers rather than weekend warriors. CampScanner is a campsite availability tracking tool that monitors reservation systems and alerts users when sites open up. Together, the combined portfolio represents a diverse ecosystem of outdoor travel and RV membership services that touches nearly every stage of the modern RV trip-planning process.
And the scale of that network is hard to overstate. Harvest Hosts connects RV travelers with distinct overnight experiences at more than 11,200 host locations, including wineries, farms, breweries, museums and other attractions. That's not a boutique operation — that's a national infrastructure for alternative lodging that most hotel chains couldn't build from scratch in a decade.
The Deal's Structure and Financial Context
Choice Hotels International is acquiring RV travel membership company Harvest Hosts from Stripes, a New York-based growth equity firm, for about $130 million in an all-cash transaction. The transaction will be funded with cash on hand and borrowings under Choice Hotels' existing revolving credit facility. The acquisition is not expected to materially affect the company's 2026 financial results or its previously announced share repurchase plans.
The price tag tells a compelling story about value creation in this corner of the outdoor market. Choice is buying the company from Stripes, a New York growth equity firm that bought it for $37 million in 2021, and other shareholders — meaning Choice paid roughly 3.5 times what Stripes paid just five years ago. That kind of appreciation reflects both the explosive growth in RV travel during the pandemic years and the sustained interest that followed. In 2021, Stripes invested in Harvest Hosts and became its primary financial backer, helping fund further expansion of the Harvest Hosts network and its related RV businesses.
"At Stripes, we believe the best businesses start with amazing products that customers genuinely love, and Harvest Hosts is a great example of that. Joel and the team have built a differentiated experience that makes RV travel more memorable, accessible and rewarding, while creating real value for thousands of local businesses across the country. We've been proud to partner with the team as they've scaled that experience and built an incredibly passionate community, and we believe Choice is an exceptional home for Harvest Hosts as it enters its next chapter of growth," said Chris Carey, partner at Stripes.
What This Means for Choice Hotels — and Its Members
The Harvest Hosts acquisition is the first deal under Dom Dragisich, who was named permanent president and CEO last month, and the hotel franchisor's first move outside of hotels. That makes it a statement of strategic intent as much as a financial transaction. Dragisich isn't just filling a gap in the product lineup — he's signaling to investors, franchisees, and the travel market that Choice is willing to operate in spaces where no one is sleeping in a bed with a mint on the pillow.
"Choice Hotels has a long history of delivering quality travel experiences for value-minded consumers, and our acquisition of Harvest Hosts extends that reach into an attractive segment of the outdoor travel market. Together we offer even more stay options for both of our companies' guests," said Dom Dragisich, president and CEO of Choice Hotels International.
The strategic logic rests on a data point about loyalty overlap that Choice has been careful to highlight. Many travelers already enjoy both hotel and RV travel, and Choice Privileges members are particularly active in both. Research shows that Choice Privileges members over-index among RV travelers, creating a natural opportunity to connect Choice's traveler base with Harvest Hosts' network of RV experiences. In plain terms: the company already has millions of customers who also own RVs. Now it has something to sell them when they're not sleeping at a Quality Inn.
The Loyalty Question
For Choice Privileges members, the immediate question is obvious: can I earn points parked next to a Napa vineyard? For now, the answer is no. Choice hasn't announced any Harvest Hosts integration with Choice Privileges. For now, members won't be able to earn Choice points on a Harvest Hosts stay, and cannot redeem them either. But the framework for that connection is clearly being built. The outdoor company will continue to operate as a standalone business under its existing brand but will now become part of the Choice Privileges loyalty program. The exact shape of that integration — whether it looks like point-earning, bundled memberships, or cross-promoted discounts — remains to be announced.
There are two distinct ways the business logic could play out. Choice could sell more Harvest Hosts memberships to its loyalty members, which would grow Choice's own revenue. Or Harvest Hosts members could book more Choice hotels, which would support franchisee revenue. The announcement makes the first opportunity clearer than the second. For Choice's franchisees — the actual owners of the Comfort Inns and Quality Inns that form the backbone of the company's portfolio — that second scenario is the one that really matters.
Leadership and Operations Stay the Same
Crucially for Harvest Hosts members who might worry about a corporate takeover scrubbing the soul out of their favorite camping platform, Harvest Hosts CEO Joel Holland will continue to helm the company, alongside its existing leadership team, with the full Harvest Hosts team becoming Choice employees upon the transaction's close. Holland, who has been central to the brand's identity since acquiring the company in 2018, has made clear that the mission isn't changing. "The heart and soul of Harvest Hosts is the unique connections we have built between our members, hosts and employees," said Joel Holland, owner and CEO of Harvest Hosts.
Hotel Giants Are Rushing Into the Outdoors — and Choice Just Caught Up
Step back from the specifics of this one deal and a broader pattern becomes impossible to ignore. The largest hotel companies in the world have been systematically acquiring, partnering with, and investing in outdoor hospitality platforms for the better part of three years. The deal puts Choice into the outdoor lodging race its larger rivals entered first — Hilton with AutoCamp, Hyatt with Under Canvas, and Marriott with Postcard Cabins and Trailborn, now bundled into an Outdoor Collection by Marriott Bonvoy.
Hilton teamed up with AutoCamp, letting Hilton Honors members earn or redeem points on stays in Airstreams, cabins, and luxury tents near national parks. World of Hyatt added Under Canvas, with points earning and redemption at roughly a dozen upscale glamping sites. Last year, Marriott International debuted its Outdoor Collection, anchored by the Trailborn and Postcard Cabins brands. Each of these moves targets a different niche of the outdoor lodging spectrum — from luxury glamping in canvas tents near Zion to budget-friendly winery stopovers in the Willamette Valley — but the underlying thesis is identical: American travelers want to be outside, and they still want their loyalty points while they're at it.
Choice is the last of the big four U.S. franchisors into outdoor lodging, following Hilton-AutoCamp, Hyatt-Under Canvas, and Marriott's Postcard Cabins purchase. Being last to the table isn't necessarily a disadvantage, though. Choice paid for a proven, scaled platform with an established and passionate membership community, rather than building something from scratch or betting on an early-stage glamping startup. The 11,200 host locations and multiple subsidiary brands represent years of community-building that no amount of capital can instantly replicate.
The Asset-Light Play Hidden Inside the Deal
There's something structurally elegant about this acquisition that reflects how Choice has historically operated and how it intends to keep growing. The acquisition's significance extends beyond the size of the transaction. Choice is effectively applying a familiar hotel industry strategy — asset-light growth supported by a large loyalty program and distribution network — to a category where travelers may not stay in a hotel at all.
This is a critical distinction. Hilton's AutoCamp relationship and Hyatt's Under Canvas partnership involve actual physical lodging infrastructure — Airstreams, luxury tents, permanent structures that require capital investment, maintenance, and staffing. Choice also said the acquisition fits its long-term asset-light strategy, which emphasizes growth without owning hotel real estate. Harvest Hosts owns no campgrounds, builds no facilities, and employs no site hosts. It sells memberships. The real estate belongs entirely to the 11,200 wineries, farms, breweries, and museums that have opted into the network. That's a dramatically lower-risk growth model — and it fits Choice's franchise DNA perfectly.
Harvest Hosts is moving from private-equity ownership into the portfolio of one of the largest hotel companies in the world. Choice Hotels operates more than 7,500 hotels across more than 50 countries and territories and includes brands such as Comfort, Quality Inn, Cambria, Ascend Hotel Collection, Country Inn and Suites, and the Radisson brands in the Americas. Layering a membership-based outdoor travel network on top of that existing infrastructure costs relatively little and opens an entirely new revenue stream.
What It Means for the RV Community and Small Businesses
For the RVing community — and particularly for the small farms, craft breweries, and family-owned wineries that form the backbone of the Harvest Hosts network — the transition from private-equity to corporate hotel ownership raises legitimate questions. Harvest Hosts has always marketed itself on authenticity: the idea that you're parking in someone's passion project, not a commodified campsite. A Quality Inn logo in the app's footer doesn't exactly reinforce that brand promise.
But the counterargument is that Choice's resources could meaningfully expand the network's reach. More marketing dollars, more loyalty program integration, and broader national brand recognition could bring significantly more RV travelers into the funnel — which means more business for the small-batch bourbon distillery in Kentucky and the lavender farm in Oregon that depend on Harvest Hosts traffic. The platform provides members with an accessible way to discover distinctive destinations while supporting local businesses. If Choice can amplify that mission without changing its character, the deal could genuinely benefit the independent small businesses at the center of it.
For full-time RVers, particularly those in the Escapees RV Club community that now sits under Choice's umbrella, the concern is whether corporate ownership will alter the culture of a community that has historically been fiercely independent. Escapees has served as something of a surrogate family network for full-timers — members share resources, meet up at rallies, and depend on the organization for everything from mail forwarding to community support. Choice Hotels has agreed to acquire Harvest Hosts, bringing Boondockers Welcome, CampScanner, Brit Stops and the membership and events side of Escapees RV Club into its business. Harvest Hosts is expected to keep its name, CEO and leadership team, with no immediate membership changes announced. Choice highlighted its hotel loyalty program as part of the opportunity, but has not announced points or shared benefits.
The Bigger Picture: Hotels Are Becoming Travel Platforms
Zoom out far enough and the Choice-Harvest Hosts deal looks less like a hospitality acquisition and more like a technology company's land grab. The major hotel chains are no longer simply in the business of renting rooms. They are building total travel ecosystems — platforms that touch a consumer at every point of a journey, whether that journey ends at a Cambria Hotels king bed or a Zinfandel vineyard in the Sierra foothills with a Class A parked beside the tasting room.
The loyalty program is the spine of this strategy. Once a traveler's spending behavior — whether in a hotel, a campsite, or a winery parking lot — flows through a single points ecosystem, the hotel company gains data, frequency, and emotional stickiness that no individual brand could generate alone. The deal could allow Choice to reach the same travelers across both lodging models, while its loyalty program provides a link between them. That's the real prize: not the $130 million asset, but the half-million RV travelers who have already self-identified as adventure-minded, road-obsessed, and willing to pay an annual membership fee to sleep somewhere interesting.
Choice is the latest hotel company to partner with an outdoor accommodations provider to meet growing traveler demand for unique, nature-centered stays. That demand isn't a trend anymore — it's a structural shift in how Americans think about vacation. The campground, the vineyard, the brewery, the national park trailhead: these are no longer the alternatives to a real trip. For a growing segment of American travelers, they are the trip. And now one of the country's largest hotel companies has officially placed its bets on that reality.
What Comes Next
The integration timeline is the thing to watch. Choice has been deliberately vague about when and how Harvest Hosts will connect to Choice Privileges, which is smart — rushing a loyalty integration risks alienating the existing Harvest Hosts membership base before Choice has had time to earn their trust. The more immediate opportunity is probably in cross-promotion: directing Choice hotel guests to Harvest Hosts memberships as an add-on, and exposing Harvest Hosts' existing community to Choice properties for the nights when they need a full hookup, a gym, and a hot shower.
Longer term, the Harvest Hosts acquisition could serve as a template for further non-hotel moves. Choice has now demonstrated an appetite for asset-light outdoor travel businesses, and there's no shortage of them. The outdoor membership space — encompassing everything from dispersed camping clubs to paddling destination networks — is fragmented, community-driven, and largely untouched by major corporate capital. Choice now has a playbook for this category, a distribution network to leverage, and a proof-of-concept at $130 million that its board has already approved.
For now, though, the deal is done. Choice Hotels International announced on September 30, 2026, that it would acquire Harvest Hosts, the largest private RV camping network in North America, for approximately $130 million in cash. The transaction closed on October 1, expanding Choice Hotels beyond traditional hotel franchising into a membership-based outdoor hospitality model with more than 11,200 host locations across the continent. The open road, it turns out, now has a loyalty program. And somewhere in the Willamette Valley, a winemaker is probably wondering what that means for the two Class A motorhomes parked behind the barrel room.
