FareHarbor fees explained — and when the “free” platform stops being free
FareHarbor charges no subscription. Here is where the money actually comes from, when that model works for you, and what the alternatives cost.
FareHarbor’s pitch is disarming: no subscription, no setup fee, unlimited everything. For a lot of operators it is genuinely a good deal — they did not become the market leader by accident. But “free” describes where the invoice goes, not what the service costs. Before you sign (or before you leave), it is worth being precise about the money.
Where the money actually comes from
- A booking fee at checkout — commonly around 6% of the booking value, and in the standard setup it is passed on to your guest as a line item, not billed to you.
- Card processing — roughly 1.9% + $0.30 per transaction, on you.
- All-in, public pricing guides put the real cost per online booking at 8–11% of its value, split between you and your guests.
The model is honest once you see it — the fee simply lives in your guests’ total instead of your P&L. Which raises the real question: what does that do to your prices?
The hidden line item: your competitiveness
A $150 snorkel trip costs the guest about $159 through a 6% checkout fee. If the operator across the marina runs a flat-fee platform, their guest pays $150. You will never see the bookings you lost to that gap — abandoned checkouts do not send an email explaining why. For high-ticket products (charters, multi-day trips), the same percentage turns into serious money per booking.
The break-even, worked out
At ~6% guest-side, €2,000 a month of direct bookings already carries ~€120 in fees — more than most flat plans. The switch usually pays for itself earlier than operators expect, because they compare the subscription to zero instead of to what their guests are quietly paying.
| Direct online sales / month | ~6% guest-side fees | Flat plan (illustrative €100) |
|---|---|---|
| €1,000 | ~€60 | worse |
| €2,000 | ~€120 | better |
| €5,000 | ~€300 | much better |
| €10,000 | ~€600 | no contest |
If you decide to move
- Export everything first: products, future bookings, customer list, gift cards and vouchers outstanding. Future bookings are the part that hurts — plan the cutover on a quiet week.
- Rebuild your OTA connections through the new platform’s channel manager before switching the website widget, so availability never goes dark.
- Run both checkouts in parallel for a few days; redirect the old booking links last.
- Ask the new vendor to do the migration with you. (We do it free — most serious vendors will.)
Where TimeKey sits in this picture, stated plainly: free with a small commission on direct online bookings only, or one flat monthly fee with 0% commission — a percentage or a flat fee, never both, and never on OTA bookings your channels bring in. If you are doing the math for your own season, the pricing page has the break-even spelled out.
