shouldiuse.io

Categories

VERDICT

FareHarbor Review

Depends

Should I use FareHarbor?

Online Booking Software for Tours and Activities - fareharbor.com

· 1 month ago

A proven, widely used booking platform for tour and activity operators — take it if a ~6% per-booking commission beats running your own stack. Avoid it if margins are thin, you want flat pricing, or you need to own your website and data.

Confidence

Medium. Based on 40+ public sources; review snippets were truncated in places, so some quotes are partial.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support quality
  • Security posture

Pricing

Per-booking commission

~6% per booking (third-party guides cite 6–8%)

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly fees6%
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierNo

Best for

  • Tour and boat operators
  • Escape rooms and rental businesses
  • Operators wanting network reach
  • Teams replacing phone-and-spreadsheet bookings

Not for

  • Tiny operators — a 6% cut guts thin margins
  • Anyone wanting flat monthly pricing instead of commission
  • Businesses that must own their website and hosting
  • Anything outside tours, activities, and rentals

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

Per-booking commission of ~6% (guides cite 6–8%) replaces a flat fee; costs scale with revenue.

medium

FareHarbor Sites hosting creates lock-in; agencies report difficult migrations to self-hosting.

medium

Pricing isn't clearly published — buyers rely on third-party fee guides before committing.

medium

Its WordPress plugin has had XSS vulnerabilities; keep it patched or skip the plugin.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • 4.7/5 Capterra rating; reviewers call it very easy to use.
  • Users consistently praise customer support on G2.
  • Owned by Booking Holdings since 2018 — built-in distribution reach.
  • All-in-one: bookings, payments, website builder, and API.
  • Large installed base: 23,000+ businesses.

Cons

  • 6–8% per-booking fees; competitors call them 'astronomical'.
  • Some Reddit operators flatly call it 'not great'.
  • Hosting your site on FareHarbor makes migrating away painful.
  • A Capterra reviewer complains of 'no warning' before changes.

Sources & method

- 12 sources - Core platform markets PCI-compliant payments and runs a trust center; its WordPress plugin has two disclosed XSS CVEs.

official x2review x7security x2news x1
  • CVE-2023-25021 — Stored XSS in WordPress plugin, Admin-level stored cross-site scripting in the FareHarbor for WordPress plugin, disclosed 2023.
  • CVE-2023-5252 — XSS in WordPress plugin, Medium-severity (CVSS 5.4) cross-site scripting in the FareHarbor for WordPress plugin.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 2/5

    Rating

  • ~6% per booking (third-party guides cite 6–8%)

    Starting price

  • 12

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 2/5. 6–8% commission draws fee complaints
  • Ease of use: 4/5. Capterra reviewers call it very easy
  • Feature depth: 4/5. Bookings, payments, sites, API in one
  • Support quality: 5/5. G2: users consistently praise support
  • Security posture: 4/5. Trust center plus two plugin XSS CVEs
  • 4.7/5 Capterra rating per 2026 third-party pricing guides
  • 6% Booking fee guides cite 6–8% of each booking
  • 23,000+ Businesses onboard 27,766 live sites tracked by BuiltWith
  • 2018 Acquired by Booking Holdings

Pricing

Per-booking commission

~6% per booking (third-party guides cite 6–8%)

  • Online bookings, payments, and dashboard included
  • Website builder billed separately, per guides
  • No flat monthly plan reported

Security

Core platform markets PCI-compliant payments and runs a trust center; its WordPress plugin has two disclosed XSS CVEs.

  • CVE-2023-25021 — Stored XSS in WordPress pluginAdmin-level stored cross-site scripting in the FareHarbor for WordPress plugin, disclosed 2023.⁹
  • CVE-2023-5252 — XSS in WordPress pluginMedium-severity (CVSS 5.4) cross-site scripting in the FareHarbor for WordPress plugin.

What users say

Reviews skew positive (4.7/5 Capterra, 4-star Trustpilot) with praise for support and ease of use, offset by Reddit complaints about fees and lock-in.

“Fareharbor is not great.”
Reddit, r/escaperooms
“FareHarbor understands its clients.”
Trustpilot reviewer
“Fareharbor is a great software”
G2 reviewer

Companies that use it

  • Marriott
  • Hilton
  • Kelsian Group
Full analysis

Based on 40+ public sources; review snippets were truncated in places, so some quotes are partial.

Trusted booking system for tour operators — 23k+ businesses — but 6–8% per-booking fees and site lock-in sting.

Methodology

Based on 40+ public sources; review snippets were truncated in places, so some quotes are partial.

Read how a report is made.

Sources

  1. FareHarbor official sitefareharbor.com
    official
  2. FareHarbor Capterra reviewscapterra.com
    review
  3. FareHarbor G2 reviewsg2.com
    review
  4. FareHarbor Trustpilot reviewstrustpilot.com
    review
  5. Reddit r/escaperooms — FareHarbor opinionsreddit.com
    review
  6. Reddit r/webhosting — migrating off FareHarbor Sitesreddit.com
    review
  7. CaptainBook — FareHarbor pricing and fees explainedcaptainbook.io
    review
  8. TrekkSoft — FareHarbor pricing guidetrekksoft.com
    review
  9. CVE-2023-25021 — NVDnvd.nist.gov
    security
  10. Wordfence — FareHarbor WordPress plugin vulnerability historywordfence.com
    security
  11. Skift — Booking Holdings acquires FareHarbor (2018)skift.com
    news
  12. FareHarbor customer stories — 23,000+ businessesmarketing.fareharbor.com
    official

Add this review to your site

This check for FareHarbor says Depends.

Put the badge on your site.

Visitors see the independent review.

The link points here, and search engines follow it.

This is the badge visitors see on your site.

Depends FareHarbor Independent review on Should I Use It

Paste one snippet. Keep the link as it is. A nofollow tag stops search engines from following it.

Rate this review

Anonymous. You can change your vote.

Loading votes…

Comments

One queue. No nested comments. Give a display name first. Limit: 200 words per comment and 7 comments per day. You can edit or delete yours.

Save a name to write a comment.

0 / 200 words

No comments yet.