By Sydney Leyerle

Special to the Sentinel-Tribune

Snook’s Dream Cars is happy to host RVs and their owners who are looking for a one-night stay during their travels.

The museum, which is located on County Home Road, close to U.S. 6 and Interstate 75, has opened its parking lot to Harvest Hosts, which is a nationwide RV membership program that allows members to stay overnight at local businesses.

“They approached me in 2021, after COVID, and basically it’s a no-brainer,” said museum owner Jeff Snook. “They come and spend the night in our empty parking lot that’s just sitting there and they camp out overnight.”

The local business gets a boost, when the RV owners buy a ticket to the museum.

“They come into the museum that afternoon or the next day,” Snook said. “We get visitors that we would not have had.”

He said that Harvest Hosts is helping Snook’s have their busiest year in 21 years. There were 550 people who visited the museum last month.

“We are having record year of attendance,” Snook said. “It’s exciting to see all these people coming in.”

Snook said there are 20-plus cars in the museum collection. The floor was recently staged by Bowling Green State University design class students, who did a senior project at the museum.

Snook’s, the Wood County Museum and Sugar Creek Farm are just a few of the local businesses that have become involved in the Harvest Hosts program, said Bill Zhang, chief marketing officer.

Over 4,000 local businesses are involved across the United States and Canada. Any business with enough space to host multiple RVs can be involved and businesses pay nothing to be part of the program. Hosts do have to go through training so they know what to expect and can make sure everything is safe and comfortable for members.

Members pay $99 a year to be in Harvest Hosts and can stay wherever they choose. Members don’t pay to rent a spot, but they must request it.

It is asked that members purchase something from the business they are staying at to help boost revenue.

“There are some exceptions, but by and large the majority, vast majority of our members understand that this is an agreement that you’ve made, you’re staying overnight,” Zhang said. “They’re providing this amazing, quiet, safe location for you to park and you should reciprocate.”

Harvest Hosts was founded in 2010 and has since grown and been purchased by new CEO, Joel Holland, who was once a member himself. Zhang said since Holland’s purchase of the company in 2018, it has grown from about 8,000 members to 250,000.

Members come from all around the country and typically only stay for a night at each business.

Zhang said they’ve found that local businesses make about $50 per stay from new sales through the program. This year, he said they estimate that they’re on track for about $50 million of additional sales at their host locations.

“We know that a lot of the local businesses are kind of the backbone of many towns and cities,” Zhang said. “So we want to get people there and our members also just want unique experiences.”

A variety of businesses are involved with Harvest Hosts, but Zhang said the most common are farms, wineries, breweries and distilleries.

Often, Zhang said members will stay at the same hosts each time and begin to build friendships and community.

“They’ll stop at the exact same host every time, twice a year, while they’re driving through and give updates,” he said. “And then they become friends. And then they’ll actually correspond. And that’s one thing that we’ve actually shown, a lot of our hosts, they’re plugging into the RV community and they kind of stay connected by hosting many of our members.”

More information can be found at harvesthosts.com.

“I know it’s cliché, but it really is a win-win business and that’s why it’s so interesting,” Zhang said. “As we watch, our members are extremely passionate about discovering the local businesses and the businesses are extremely happy to have members come in.”

(Sentinel-Tribune Editor Debbie Rogers contributed to this story.)