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FareHarbor Websites: What to Know & How to Get Started

FareHarbor launched FareHarbor Sites in 2024, offering a website building service where their customer success team:

Designs a custom, branded WordPress website for your business
Optimises the site for SEO to boost visibility
Manages and maintains hosting, security updates, server maintenance, etc.

This service seems ideal for small teams and non-technical business owners looking to establish an online presence. However, since its launch, customer feedback has been mixed, with several negative reviews raising concerns.

In this guide, we’ll break down what FareHarbor Sites delivers, how much it costs, and what to consider before getting started.

We’ll also compare alternative solutions, like Bókun’s website builder.

Bókun’s website builder is included in the monthly subscription. Unlike FareHarbor’s managed approach, Bókun gives you the freedom to create your booking site without technical expertise. Plus, you can try it free for 14 days — no credit card required.

What is FareHarbor Sites?

FareHarbor Sites offers custom websites tailored specifically for businesses in the activity and tourism industry. Using WordPress, the FareHarbor team creates a variety of customisable templates, integrating your brand elements like logos, colours, imagery, and more.

The FareHarbor team also optimises your site for both desktop and mobile, providing ongoing maintenance to keep everything running smoothly.

FareHarbor Sites are appealing because they’re designed to maximise user engagement and improve conversions. According to FareHarbor, users see a 9.2% increase in conversion rates when using their sites and services. Additionally, the sites seamlessly integrate with FareHarbor’s booking management platform, allowing you to view reservations from your site, connect other online sales channels, and manage operations all within one platform.

FareHarbor Websites pricing

FareHarbor charges a base rate of $5k* annually (or $499 monthly) for their core website package.

The Web Core Package includes:

Ongoing managed hosting (via Cloudflare and WordPress VIP)
Website creation (including migration and redirects from your old website, if applicable)
Privacy solution services, including ComplianZ for consent management
Google Analytics set-up and integration
Dormant mode (the option to take your website offline)
SEO optimisation
Technical audit to identify and resolve back-end issues
Live support (7 days per week, 365 days a year)
Access to the latest WordPress features

*Note: Rates may vary slightly depending on your location.

FareHarbor also offers two additional SEO packages: Silver and Gold.

SEO Silver add-on ($2.2k/year): Includes a dedicated project coordinator and SEO specialist, two annual SEO audits, and quarterly website performance reports.
SEO Gold add-on ($5k/year): Offers a detailed SEO strategy tailored to your business and goals, 8–12 annual audits (based on FareHarbor recommendations), conversion rate optimisation audits, and more detailed quarterly reporting.

FareHarbor’s website service is just one part of your total investment. They also charge for the tour operator software, including booking fees (up to 6%) and merchant service fees (1.9% plus 30 cents per ticket).

Reviews of FareHarbor Websites

FareHarbor’s website service has received varied feedback from tour operators and activity businesses.

Many appreciate the convenience of a fully managed solution. They can delegate all of their website management tasks and focus their time on other areas of operations.

However, several clients have expressed dissatisfaction with the service, citing challenges like difficulty making changes to their websites, long waits for updates, and concerns over whether the added cost is justified.

The Good

You get a complete solution where their team handles everything from design to updates.
You receive a professionally designed site that aligns with your brand.
The site is built on WordPress, which is reliable and widely supported.
SEO work is included to help your business show up in search results.
The website integrates smoothly with the FareHarbor booking system.

The Not-So-Good

It’s expensive — on top of the booking and merchant service fees you’re already paying for the FareHarbor platform.
It doesn’t offer great value for the money; you can create and manage a similar WordPress site directly through WordPress for a fraction of the cost. Plus, other booking systems (like Bókun!) include website builders in their regular subscription.
Customisation options are limited to what they provide.
You depend on their team for every change, often leading to delays and frustration.
Customer experiences vary widely, with many reporting slow response times and disappointing solutions.
If you decide to leave FareHarbor, you’ll need to create a new website.

This last bullet is one of the biggest pain points for FareHarbor users looking to switch. Unlike other booking solutions that include the website builder in their subscription, FareHarbor’s websites are a separate investment — and one you pay a pretty penny for. Leaving means ditching that investment and starting over from scratch.

Many users see this as FareHarbor’s way of locking them in. After spending a significant amount on their website, they feel stuck — even when FareHarbor raises its booking fees. It’s like being caught between a rock and a hard place: stay and accept increasing fees, or leave and lose your website investment.

Alternatives to FareHarbor Websites

Most tour operator software platforms include a website builder as part of their standard package — at no extra cost. (FareHarbor is one of the few that charges extra for this essential feature.)

Beyond Bókun, other software options that include free website builders are:

Learn more in this guide: 11 best website builders for tour guides & activity operators

Bókun’s one-click website builder & advanced upgrade

Our tour operator software, Bókun, includes a one-click website builder in the entry-level START plan — so every user can get online, take direct bookings, and sync them with our booking system.

We even cover the cost of your domain (website name) and making your site live.

Designed for ease of use — no technical skills needed — our website builder helps you create a professional, branded site without any coding or HTML.

Just pick a template, plug in your content, and you’re off! You can also connect your social media accounts and Tripadvisor profile to highlight your brand reputation and build trust with potential customers. Most users have a fully functional site in just a few hours.

We’ve written a step-by-step guide to help you create your booking site in 7 easy steps.

You can also check out a preview of our sites below:

Our sites are optimised for both desktop and mobile, and run on AWS’s enterprise-grade hosting infrastructure — including CloudFront CDN for faster load times and stronger security.

We also layer in advanced security measures to protect your site from online threats:

Built-in SSL certificates encrypt all communication between your site and visitors.
Regular automated scans detect and eliminate malware and vulnerabilities.
Dual-layer protection with software (CSF) and hardware (Cisco) firewalls blocks unauthorised access.
Automatic security updates and 24/7 monitoring keep your site protected.

While ease of use is a priority in our website builder, we also offer a variety of advanced customisation tools (included in your subscription) to help you:

Translate your site into multiple languages
Customise site navigation and booking widgets
Modify text, buttons, images, and backgrounds
Reorder, manage and create new pages
Add an image gallery
Publish blog content
Optimise your site for SEO
Connect Google Analytics

Bókun vs. FareHarbor

When choosing a website solution for your tour or activity business, it is essential to weigh both immediate convenience and long-term value. While FareHarbor’s website building service offers a hands-off approach with professional design, the additional costs, limited control, and potential long-term lock-in deserve careful consideration.

Bókun includes a comprehensive website builder as a standard feature within every subscription, not as an expensive add-on. (We also offer user-friendly online booking engine widgets for our users who already have websites, so they can instantly enable direct bookings from their existing site.)

Our solution lets you easily create and manage your professional branded site, while maintaining full ownership and flexibility. Between built-in security, mobile optimisation, and seamless booking integrations, Bókun gives you everything FareHarbor offers (and more) without the extra fees or dependency concerns.

Before deciding, consider not just where your business is today, but where you want it to be tomorrow. The right website solution should grow with you, not pigeonhole you or add unexpected costs.

Learn more about how Bókun’s online booking platform compares to FareHarbor. We’ve also compiled a guide of FareHarbor alternatives for users considering leaving the platform.

Ready to get started with Bókun? Start your 14-day free trial.