Who pays the FareHarbor booking fee?

The customer, at checkout. FareHarbor states that the booking fee is paid by the customer when completing a booking. Under its alternative commission model, the operator pays a commission and no booking fee is charged to the customer.

How much is the FareHarbor booking fee?

FareHarbor does not publish the amount. Its customer terms say the fee is displayed in the booking flow, and its blog says it depends on the account setup.

Does FareHarbor charge a monthly fee?

FareHarbor states there are no setup fees and no monthly software fees. Its provider terms describe a processing fee and an API fee paid by the operator. Neither amount is published.

Is ARAVIA an alternative to booking software for tour operators?

Yes. ARAVIA covers bookings, payments, capacity, check-in, customers and analytics, so it can replace the current booking system. It is more than a booking engine: it is the platform the whole operation is managed on.

Does ARAVIA have a lock-in contract?

No. There is no lock-in and no minimum period.

Who pays the ARAVIA fee, the operator or the customer?

The operator decides. Azornexus advises operators to absorb it, and it can also be passed to the customer. The fee can be a single flat fee that already includes payment costs, so there is no separate payment fee on top. Offline bookings recorded by the team carry no ARAVIA fee.

Do I have to leave the OTAs to use ARAVIA?

No. Channels that bring customers stay. ARAVIA replaces the booking system, not the distribution.

FareHarbor fees explained: who pays what

What FareHarbor’s own terms say about its booking fee, processing fee and API fee, who pays each one, and which amounts are not published.

Guide · Checked on 13 November 2026

Azornexus builds ARAVIA, a booking and operations platform that competes with the products described here. This guide only reports what each provider states on its own pages.

Quick answers

Who pays the FareHarbor booking fee?: The customer, at checkout. FareHarbor states that the booking fee is paid by the customer when completing a booking. Under its alternative commission model, the operator pays a commission and no booking fee is charged to the customer.
How much is the FareHarbor booking fee?: FareHarbor does not publish the amount. Its customer terms say the fee is displayed in the booking flow, and its blog says it depends on the account setup.
Does FareHarbor charge a monthly fee?: FareHarbor states there are no setup fees and no monthly software fees. Its provider terms describe a processing fee and an API fee paid by the operator. Neither amount is published.

FareHarbor does not publish a fee percentage. What it does publish, in its terms and on its blog, is how the fees are structured and who pays each one. This guide sets that out, with a link to every statement.

The short version

Fee	Who pays	Amount published?	Source
Booking fee	The customer, at checkout	No. Shown to the customer in the booking flow	Customer terms
Commission (alternative model)	The operator	No. Communicated separately to each operator	Provider terms, Annex 1
Processing fee	The operator	No	Provider terms
API fee	The operator, on bookings from third-party websites	No	API fee terms
Monthly or setup fee	Not applicable	FareHarbor states there is none	Solutions page

The booking fee is paid by the customer

FareHarbor says so directly:

“The booking fee is paid by the customer when completing a booking through FareHarbor’s booking system.” FareHarbor blog, 16 October 2026

The amount is not on any public page we could find. The customer terms say only where the customer will see it:

“The amount of the Booking Fee is clearly displayed in the Booking funnel.” Customer terms, effective 1 September 2025

The provider terms apply the fee to online direct bookings and to “offline direct” bookings made from the back office. A second FareHarbor blog post, dated 4 November 2026, adds that the fee depends on the account: “FareHarbor may charge booking fees depending on your account setup and how you choose to structure customer payments.”

No monthly fee and no setup fee

FareHarbor’s solutions page states: “No setup fees. A small charge only on confirmed bookings.” The same page says: “There are no monthly software fees… A small fee is applied during checkout, so your guests cover the cost.”

The commission model is an alternative

Annex 1 of the provider terms describes a second model. The operator pays a commission “calculated as a percentage (to be communicated separately by FareHarbor to Provider)”. Under that model, “FareHarbor shall not charge a Booking Fee to Bookers.” The percentage is not published.

What the operator pays

Two fees fall on the operator under the provider terms. Neither amount is published.

Processing fee. “FareHarbor shall charge a fee to Provider for providing the IT infrastructure required for the technical integration of payment solutions… (“Processing Fee”).”
API fee. “FareHarbor may charge a fee to Provider for Bookings made through, and received from, third-party websites… (“API Fee”).” It covers bookings that arrive from third-party websites, such as online travel agencies. It is invoiced monthly, under the separate API fee terms.

Refunds

On a partial refund, the provider terms say FareHarbor “shall retain the full amount of the Booking Fee.”

Who holds the money, and when it is paid out

The operator is the seller. The provider terms state: “The Provider is the (re)seller and the merchant of record under the Activity Contract, and FareHarbor merely acts as the Booker’s limited purpose agent…” Under the same terms, payments are processed through the provider’s own account with the payment provider (Stripe or Adyen).

On timing, a FareHarbor blog post dated 15 October 2026 says: “For most businesses, the default is daily payouts with a one-day delay between collecting a payment and initiating the payout.” The provider terms add that “FareHarbor has the right to delay said payouts until Provider has delivered the services”.

What is not published

The booking fee percentage shown to customers.
The commission percentage under the alternative model.
The processing fee amount.
The API fee amount on bookings from third-party websites.

We could not find a public pricing page. When we checked, the address fareharbor.com/pricing did not show one. An operator gets these figures from FareHarbor directly.

Questions worth asking before you sign

What booking fee will my customers see at checkout, and is it the same for every product?
Is the commission model available to me, and at what percentage?
What is the processing fee on each payment?
What is the API fee on a booking that arrives from an online travel agency?
What happens to the booking fee when I refund a customer in full, and in part?
What payout schedule will my account have?

For how this model sits next to eight other booking systems, see tour booking software fees compared.

Sources

All sources are the providers’ own pages, read on 13 November 2026.

FareHarbor Terms of Service for Providers. Last modified 1 January 2025. https://fareharbor.com/legal/tos-providers/
FareHarbor Terms of Service for Customers. Effective 1 September 2025. https://fareharbor.com/legal/tos-customers/
FareHarbor API Fee Terms. https://fareharbor.com/legal/api-fee-terms/
FareHarbor blog: who pays the FareHarbor booking fee. Dated 16 October 2026. https://marketing.fareharbor.com/blog/who-pays-the-fareharbor-booking-fee/
FareHarbor blog: does FareHarbor take a booking fee from my sales. Dated 4 November 2026. https://marketing.fareharbor.com/blog/does-fareharbor-take-a-booking-fee-from-my-sales/
FareHarbor blog: how quickly do I get paid. Dated 15 October 2026. https://marketing.fareharbor.com/blog/how-quickly-do-i-get-paid-with-fareharbor/
FareHarbor solutions page for walking tours. https://marketing.fareharbor.com/solutions/walking-tours/

Prices and terms change. If something here is out of date, write to [email protected] and we will correct it.

Product names are trademarks of their respective owners. Azornexus is not affiliated with any provider named on this page.

How ARAVIA handles the same points

ARAVIA is a booking and operations platform, always evolving, built by Azornexus. On the points this guide covers, it works like this:

Where the booking happens: On the operator’s own website, in the operator’s brand, in about three steps and with no redirect.
Where the money goes: Straight to the operator’s own account. ARAVIA does not hold funds or decide when the operator gets paid.
Who pays the fee: The operator chooses. Our advice is for the operator to absorb it, because a fee added at the end of a booking can send the customer to book on another channel. Operators who prefer to can pass it to the customer.
Payment costs: A booking fee paid by the customer does not, on its own, cover payment costs: in other models the operator can still pay those separately. With ARAVIA the fee can be a single flat fee that already includes them. The operator knows in advance what each booking will pay out, whatever the payment method or the customer’s country.
Offline bookings: No ARAVIA fee. Bookings the team records and takes payment for outside the platform, at the counter or by phone, are not charged.
Contract: No lock-in and no minimum period.
OTAs: There is no need to leave the OTAs. Direct connection to OTAs is in development and is switched on operator by operator.
Price: Set case by case in a personalised analysis, so there is no price list to place in a table like these.
How it starts: With time. We sit down with each operator to understand how they sell and how they work before configuring anything. The aim is for the team to be self-sufficient. If ARAVIA is not the right fit, we say so.
Team management: Built into the CRM: the trips assigned to each person, hours worked and holidays.
A platform that learns: The CRM adapts to the way each operation uses it: the more it is used, the more closely it fits the team’s own way of working. The website improves over time too, continuously optimised for Google and for AI search.
Where it started: ARAVIA began on the operations side, not with a booking button: capacity, check-in, team and customers in one place, so the operation runs faster and simpler.

Live in the Azores: in the 2026 season, 66% of MobyDick-Tours reservations were made online by the customer, and commissions and fees fell 45% against the previous platform.

Common questions about ARAVIA

Is ARAVIA an alternative to booking software for tour operators?: Yes. ARAVIA covers bookings, payments, capacity, check-in, customers and analytics, so it can replace the current booking system. It is more than a booking engine: it is the platform the whole operation is managed on.
Does ARAVIA have a lock-in contract?: No. There is no lock-in and no minimum period.
Who pays the ARAVIA fee, the operator or the customer?: The operator decides. Azornexus advises operators to absorb it, and it can also be passed to the customer. The fee can be a single flat fee that already includes payment costs, so there is no separate payment fee on top. Offline bookings recorded by the team carry no ARAVIA fee.
Do I have to leave the OTAs to use ARAVIA?: No. Channels that bring customers stay. ARAVIA replaces the booking system, not the distribution.

See how ARAVIA works