8 Best FareHarbor Alternatives: 2024 Comparison Guide

FareHarbor (owned by Booking.com) is a popular online booking system for tours, activities, and rental providers. They have a partner network to help grow your business, the platform has a modern interface with user-friendly features, and it appears free to use.

However, many tour and activity companies look for alternatives because they reportedly charge a 6% booking fee, making them one of the highest in the category. ( Note: They’ve also reportedly started charging fees for Viator and offline bookings in certain countries meaning if you don’t accept the fees on these bookings you may not be able to use the platform).

It’s important to note: FareHarbor passes booking fees to the end customer. The platform is free to use for the tour or activities company, which is why it can seem appealing .

Customers can see the 6% fee during checkout — and many FareHarbor users report that these high fees can negatively impact the booking experience and conversions.

Customers may be deterred by high booking fees — these fees can have a significant impact on pricing, generally, but this is particularly true during cost of living increases. If customers don’t want to pay the extra cost, it could send them in another direction and result in less bookings for your business.

We put together this FareHarbor alternatives guide to compare six online booking and reservation management software. We begin by reviewing our solution, Bókun, and explaining the features to support tour and activity operators worldwide.

You can also explore our online booking solution with a 14-day free trial. Build a customised website; add your tours, activities, and equipment; begin selling across partner channels. Our team is here to help you make the switch and tailor Bókun to your requirements.

1. Bókun

Our FareHarbor alternative to grow your business & avoid high booking fees

Our booking platform, Bókun (a Tripadvisor brand) is a popular FareHarbor alternative because it has very similar feature sets and partnerships with top OTAs — but many of our customers say there are two reasons they choose Bókun over FareHarbor:

Bókun has much lower booking fees — 1%-1.5% vs. 6% — and a 0% fee on all bookings made on Viator and offline bookings. Plus, you have more control over booking fees; you can pass them to the customer or cover them yourself.

As mentioned above, FareHarbor passes booking fees to the customer so the platform remains free for suppliers; but these fees can inflate the price beyond what people are able or willing to pay, and in highly competitive markets, they can push customers to competitors who don’t charge booking fees.

However, with Bókun’s low booking fees, and partnerships with major travel sites, you don’t lose out on business. Not to mention, if you operate in an area where customers *are* willing to pay higher prices (i.e., they’re booking with competitors who charge high booking fees) you know you have the leeway to increase your end price on Bókun and pocket the extra revenue, as you don’t have to account for extra fees.

Users report that FareHarbor has a steep learning curve. With Bókun, anyone can bring their business online, build and customise a bookable website, sell across multiple channels, and establish partnerships with other tours and activity providers. You don’t need to be a digital expert to get started.

Let’s walk through Bókun’s features and how they compare to FareHarbor.

Features

The Bókun platform includes:

• A one-click website builder (we also cover the domain fee in your subscription!)
• Product management & availability engine
• Channel management
• Marketplace
• Reporting & CRM
• Integrations & API

Here’s what that looks like…

When starting with Bókun, you can build a bookable website to represent your brand and offerings.

• We offer templates so you can choose your preferred site design and plug in the details. It takes only a few clicks and you have a branded site in minutes. In addition, our Advanced Website builder lets you use third-party apps and add custom CSS to completely tailor the site to your specifications. Even if you’re not a web designer, our templates make it easy to create custom sites with logos, colours, and fonts.
• Then, you can select your domain, and we’ll push your site live. (We include a free domain of your choosing.)

Note: If you already have a website, you can copy our embed code to make your site bookable and manage reservations through Bókun.

FareHarbor offers a website building service where they’ll design and optimise your site for you. While there are perks to this, there are also cons — you’re limited to what FareHarbor’s team designs, they don’t cover your domain charges (you have to purchase that separately and transfer the site), and they remain in control of your site. It has also been reported that Fareharbor charges for this service anywhere from $2000 to $5000/year. 

From there, you can add tours, activities, rentals, and other offerings to your product dashboard.

Our platform walks you through the steps: create the product and include all the important booking details (pricing, duration, pick-up/drop-off times, etc.). You can specify the number of bookings you can accept per product and choose which channels you want to list products.

• Once you add products to Bókun, they populate on your site and can be connected to sales channels, like Viator, GetYourGuide, Klook, Google things to do, Civitatis, Musement, Tiqets etc. (Note: Viator users can automatically import all their products into Bókun at the click of a button.)
• You can easily manage your availability through Bókun — just update your calendar, and changes will automatically reflect across all OTAs.
• Create tickets with unique QR or bar codes for fast customer check-in. You can also create custom forms that automatically send in booking confirmation emails to collect information from attendees before they arrive.

Real-time inventory management tracks reservations, resources, and availability to prevent overbookings. You can always see your status and adjust as you go.

The Bókun dashboard lets you oversee all bookings (online and offline) in a central hub.

• Connect with OTAs — Viator, GetYourGuide, Klook, Civitalis, and more — to receive bookings from multiple channels.
• Add and track offline bookings like phone reservations and walk-ups in the Bókun dashboard.
• You can integrate Bókun with a payment processing system like Stripe or PayPal (we partner with over a dozen and also offer BókunPay) to manage online and offline payments.

We also have a seamless connection with Viator, so you can push products between accounts and import Viator data with a click. If you already have a Viator account, set-up in Bókun is nearly instant. Then, you can use either platform to manage Viator listings; if you update products in Viator, the changes will push over to Bókun. (And since we’re both owned by Tripadvisor, we’re the only tour operator software with this complete integration.)

Our Marketplace lets you explore and create partnerships with similar tour operators in your area; you can resell and receive commissions from partners and earn new bookings from resellers.

• Choose if you want to be a supplier, reseller, or both.
• Control reseller bookings (e.g., choose the products and quantities resellers can book).
• Manage all communications, proposals, and reseller activities in Bókun.

Bókun Reporting lets you report on bookings and manage business operations.

We show you:

• Which channels drive the most bookings
• Which tours and activities are most popular
• Your busiest (and slowest) times of year
  
• Revenue and income reports
• The # of bookings and total # of attendees (over any timeframe)

You can use this data to refine business strategies like investing more in the products that generate the most revenue, tracking finances, and making smart changes to your day-to-day operations.

Note: Our platform also has a CRM system to store and organise customer data. You can access these details and filter by region, activity, age, etc., to learn about your audiences, re-target customers, and sell new tours and activities.

Our platform doesn’t overcomplicate booking management; the website builder is straightforward, and it’s easy to connect OTAs, navigate between dashboards, and manage products and reservations. Our team is around when you need help, but most can design their site and learn the ropes without trouble.

Bókun also simplifies the booking experience for your customers, making booking with you an easy and fast process. Customers can:

• Find your tours and activities online (through various sites and partners).
• Book online, instantly, around your availability. (Note: Publishing your availability online also encourages same-day or in-person bookings. Users in the area may find you online, see you’re available, and make a last-minute or walk-up reservation.)
• Confirm their booking via email, reference booking details, and save their ticket on their mobile device.
• Complete any forms or waivers you attach with the booking confirmation before arrival, making check-in easier.
• Edit bookings through the online portal (vs. calling or emailing somebody on your team for help).

Note: Bókun automatically sends booking confirmations, reminders, and follow-up emails to improve customer satisfaction. (You can format and edit these in the Bókun platform.) Reminders can prevent last-minute cancellations and no-shows, and follow-up emails allow you to offer discounts and share review links.

Pricing

We offer a free 14-day trial plan which can be either continued into one of our subscriptions from just $49 per month or downgraded to our limited free plan (restricted to Viator and offline bookings).

Our plans charges the lowest booking fees in the category:

• We have three plans: START ($49/month), PLUS ($149/month) and PREMIUM ($499/month).
• We charge industry-low bookings fees of 1.5%, 1.25% and 1%, per plan, for direct online, OTA and reseller sites. These can be covered by yourself or passed onto the customer
• We waive Bokun booking fees on all Viator and offline reservations
• You can customise Bókun via third-party apps from our app store

We recommend continuing onto a paid plan to access the Advanced Website Builder, connections to dozens of OTAs and the Bókun Marketplace, free Viator product checks, mobile app, API, and more.

We offer a 14-day free trial (no credit card required) so you can build your site and explore our platform. Our team is available to answer questions as you get started. You can upgrade to a paid plan at any time and adjust your Bókun dashboard with ease.

2. Peek Pro

Peek Pro is a worthwhile FareHarbor alternative for teams focused on growth — they work primarily with large or scaling tour operators and attractions. While they may not be any more budget-friendly than FareHarbor, Peek Pro does offer extra features to retarget, upsell, and retain customers.

Features

Peek Pro offers essential features like:

• An online booking engine
• Partnerships with OTAs
• Flexible payment options — send invoices, link your POS, connect with Google Pay, Apple Pay, or another payment processor. Customers can split payments, pay over time, and add tips.
• Product and reservation management tools
• Inventory and availability management
• Reporting dashboard
• Integrations and API

Pricing

Peek Pro doesn’t share pricing online, but research tells us it’s on par with FareHarbor.

Peek Pro charges 6% booking fees and (some users say) a $199 one-time set-up fee. Many reviewers note Peek Pro’s expensive pricing — they report high fees and say fees can unexpectedly fluctuate.

3. Trekksoft

Trekksoft is very similar to FareHarbor in terms of features, usability, and pricing, but they’re a more popular tour operator software for teams based in Europe. Trekksoft, as the name suggests, is marketed towards teams and travel agencies selling adventure tours (hiking, cycling, sightseeing), excursions, and destination getaways. They have packages to suit small and large companies.

Features

Trekksoft features include:

• A website builder to create custom sites
• Online booking engine to accept direct bookings
• Channel management, so you can connect with other booking sites and manage reservations in the Trekksoft calendar
• Integrations with common payment processors (Stripe, PayPal)
• Reseller and Agent network so you can establish partnerships with other tours and activities providers in your area
  
• POS to receive, manage, and monitor payments
• Reporting and back-office tools

Trekksoft has an initial learning curve; they offer website resources to support adoption, but onboarding and training staff members requires time. However, reviewers say it’s not too complicated once you spend time in the software and learn the ropes.

Pricing

Trekksoft offers three packages — the more advanced the plan, the more advanced the features. Pricing is as follows:

• Trekksoft offers a free plan where you can build a website, connect sales channels, and accept bookings online. They also provide some access to their reseller network. However, this plan has the highest booking fees (5% on direct bookings and 3% on bookings from OTAs, plus a 2.5% transaction fee for all payments through the payment gateway).
  
• The Starter plan is €140 per month — you pay a monthly fee for this package, but in return, you’re subject to lower booking fees (2.5% on all bookings and a 2.5% transaction fee on all payments.). This package also includes complete access to the partner network and calendar synchronisation tools.
• The Ultimate plan is €280 per month — as far as we know, Trekksoft’s Ultimate plan is the most expensive reservation management solution in the software category. Rezdy also offers some expensive plans, but even their top-tier plan is $50 cheaper than Trekksoft. Opting for this plan means you can enjoy the lowest booking fees Trekksoft offers (2% on all bookings and 2.5% transaction fees) and access to all of Trekksoft’s extras (like the back-office tools and API).

Speaking of Rezdy…

4. Rezdy

Rezdy is a FareHarbor alternative for large, enterprise, or global teams. When they first debuted, they were popular primarily in Australia, but now they work with tour and activity operators, attractions, charter businesses, rental providers, and travel companies across dozens of countries.

They’ve also merged with Checkfront and Regiondo to expand their reach further — more on this below.

Features

Rezdy’s core feature set includes:

• Booking engine with live availability
  
• Channel manager and distribution network
  
• Reseller tools to partner with suppliers in your area and earn commissions for reselling their tours, rentals, and charters. Rezdy lets you create a dedicated reseller website or embed booking widgets on your existing site, they also have solutions for travel agents.
• RezdyPay (Rezdy’s native payment solution)
• Integrations with Stripe, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and other payment processors
  
• Reporting

Pricing

Rezdy offers three plans and a free 21-day trial to get started:

• The Foundation plan for $49 per month — this includes all the essentials to build your site, add products, sync with OTAs, and access agent and reseller connections. Rezdy charges a 2% booking fee on all online reservations and a $1 fee on offline or agent bookings.
• The Accelerate plan for $99 per month — this includes everything in Foundation with extras to create bundles and upsell customers. This plan is better for teams that want to expand and increase revenue. Rezdy charges a 1.9% fee on all bookings and a $0.85 fee on offline or agent bookings.
• The Expansion plan for $249 per month — this includes everything from the plans above, with advanced reporting features, API, and webhooks. Rezdy charges a 1.75% fee on all bookings and a $0.70 fee on offline or agent bookings.
  

Honourable Mentions: Checkfront & Regiondo

Checkfront and Regiondo (merged with Rezdy) are often mentioned in review guides with Rezdy because the software solutions have overlapping features and functionality, and pricing across platforms is now very similar — so you might also consider one of these options if you’re shopping for a FareHarbor alternative.

We have a guide on tour operator software with more detail on these options, but here’s a quick summary:

• Checkfront was established in Canada and is mostly popular in North America and Europe.
• Regiondo is most popular amongst tour operators in Germany and Italy.
• Checkfront has more features (over 100 tools) to appeal to growing teams, it’s usually recommended for teams that have already established their business online and want to increase revenue via upsells or partners.
• Regiondo offers a more simplistic reservation management system for tour operators just bringing their business online, and they offer custom plans for destinations and attractions (like museums, theme parks, and hotels) to support high-volume ticket sales.
• Checkfront has always been a little more affordable than Rezdy — $125 per month or 3% fees on all bookings vs. Rezdy’s base cost + variable booking fees — but recent user feedback reports that Checkfront is shifting its pricing structure to match Rezdy.
• Regiondo does not disclose information about pricing online, but users say the platform can be expensive because Regiondo charges variable booking fees with no cap.

5. Trytn

Trytn markets themselves as “tour operator software made by tour operators” — they work primarily with small (one- or two-person) businesses and market their solution for activity providers (hiking or cycling tours, helicopter tours, kayak tours, fishing charters, and adventure activities). That said, Trytn also offers solutions for growing teams with multiple locations.

Features

Trytn offers:

• Website development services — their team will design and optimise your site
• Online booking engine
• Channel management
  
• Reservation management to edit bookings on the fly
  
• POS tools to manage online and in-person payments
• Extras to upsell customers during the booking process — for example, you could offer merchandise, gift cards, or vouchers
• Staff management to track personnel, their tasks, and their availability
• Marketing analytics tools to track customers from paid ads
• Reporting dashboard

Pricing

Trytn does not disclose any information about pricing on their site — you have to book a demo to discuss your requirements, and then they provide a custom quote. Based on user feedback, we can assume Trytn is pricey: users report 5% fees for all online bookings (almost as high as FareHarbor), and custom website development comes at an added cost (sometimes thousands).

6. Xola