No commission
We don't take a percentage of your bookings, whether a guest books one night or a two-week retreat.
Same activities, different length
Thinking about moving from FareHarbor? You're not the first experience business to ask. Dive schools with beds upstairs, boat operators with multi-day stays on board, guided trekking and rafting trips: many of them use FareHarbor for the activities and run the rooms somewhere else. That gap is where Bookinglayer comes in. FareHarbor is built around the single time slot: a tour, a rental or an attraction ticket, with guides and gear assigned to it, and a guest who goes home the same day. Bookinglayer was built as a reservation and operations software for overnight experiences. A bed, a dive, a guided hike, a bike rental, a meal and a transfer are all inventory on the platform, sold together in one booking.
Packages
Multi-day activities in one package
A five-day trip isn't five single-day bookings. It's one product, with one price, one schedule, and one guest record.
Bookinglayer
In Bookinglayer, the room, activities, meals, rentals, transfers, and any other extra services are combined into one package with one price. A package can hold a three-day rafting trip with or without accommodation, plus a massage or sauna session and transfers to and from the location.
It works without a room too. Accommodation plus activities is our core, but Bookinglayer also runs multi-day activities on their own. A three-day rafting trip, or a guided trek, with massage, meals, and transfers but no lodging. This is especially worth it when prices are high, because on a fixed monthly fee, a USD 1,200 course doesn't cost you more than a USD 60 ticket.
FareHarbor
FareHarbor has no rooms to sell. Its product pages talk about tours, rentals, time slots, gear, and guides, and nothing about beds or nights. There is a field called Lodging, but FareHarbor defines it as the hotel where a guest stays before the activity. That hotel belongs to someone else.
FareHarbor does bundle. With Combos, guests choose extras to add to a booking. With Packages, guests must book the items together, and a package can now include three or more items. FareHarbor's own examples are a tour with a meal, an activity with branded gear, and two experiences sold as one.
So a dive school with six beds upstairs ends up running the rooms in a spreadsheet next to FareHarbor. On changeover day, someone checks two screens to see who is leaving and who still has a dive tomorrow.
Activities and Resources
Who goes out, with whom, and with what
This is FareHarbor's home ground, so it's worth being precise about where each platform stops.
Bookinglayer
Bookinglayer covers the session side. Rooms or activity spots have a live inventory. When the last dive spot on Thursday is gone, the booking flow stops selling it, and the waiting list activates.
The Session Planner shows every class and session, along with the assigned instructors and resources, daily, not by hours. The Capacity Manager controls how many spots each activity has. Guests choose their sessions when they book. By Monday, you know how many people want the 7 am surf lesson on Friday, and you can book a second instructor before the week starts.
FareHarbor
A resource in FareHarbor can be a guide, a surfboard or a kayak, and FareHarbor tracks them and assigns them to experiences. Staff get their shifts by email and push notification. The manifest lists every item and booking for the day, so the morning crew checks guests in from one screen.
If your hard problem is tracking a large fleet of boats or bikes, FareHarbor goes further than Bookinglayer does today.
Customer Portal
All information in one portal
A five-night stay asks for more than one booking link. The kitchen, the guides, and the organizer all need something from the guest before they arrive.
Bookinglayer
Bookinglayer's Customer Portal is built around automating and reducing admin work. Guests fill in their personal data, dietary needs, or surf level, sign digital waivers or rental agreements, and add on something they forgot*. It reminds guests when a payment is due, and lets them download invoices and revisit their itinerary.
You can also add your own pages, like a packing list for the trek, to cut down on back-and-forth emails answering the same questions.
*27% of guests with portal access add something extra after booking.
FareHarbor
FareHarbor gives guests real self-service for a single booking. They can rebook or cancel online, and FareHarbor sends automated emails and text messages about where to meet and what to bring.
Its waivers are signed inside the booking flow, and they can also collect any relevant information, such as height, weight, and shoe size.
Payments
Big trips, paid over time
A guest paying a few thousand for a dive week rarely pays it all at once. Both platforms take deposits on what they sell; the difference is how much you sell and how much control you have over the rest.
Bookinglayer
Bookinglayer lets you set the payment rules for each package: a fixed deposit, a percentage, or full payment. You set the balance due date relative to arrival.
With Bookinglayer Pay, you can split a big trip into installments, and each one charges the saved card when its due date arrives. Reminders go out on a schedule you set, with a payment link inside.
FareHarbor
In FareHarbor, guests pay part of the activity booking at checkout and the rest later. In some regions, FareHarbor also offers Afterpay, so guests can book now and pay the balance over time. If the guest also stays with you, they pay for the room elsewhere, with its own deposit and reminders.
Pricing
A fixed fee, or a commission that keeps growing
A percentage looks small on a USD 60 zipline ticket. On a USD 1,200 multi-day dive course or trek, the same percentage becomes a real number.
Bookinglayer
Bookinglayer starts at roughly USD 300/month, with no commission on your bookings. What you earn is yours. It lets you pay for the features you need, instead of pushing you toward a predefined plan.
The fee doesn't move when your average booking goes from USD 60 to USD 1,200, and it doesn't take a bigger cut the better your season goes.
It also covers rooms and activities, so you don’t need a second tool to manage the stay.
FareHarbor
FareHarbor charges no monthly subscription. Instead, it charges a booking fee on every activity booking, typically around 6% (third-party sources report 5% to 8%), plus about 2.9% for card processing and a small fixed fee.
The fee is usually added to the guest's total at checkout, and the exact rate is shared on a sales call rather than published.
On a USD 1,200 multi day course, 6% is USD 72 per booking, so five bookings of that size a month already cost more than the Bookinglayer subscription. If you also have rooms, you pay for a separate tool to sell them on top.
When FareHarbor is the better choice
We'd rather tell you we're not the right fit than onboard you and find out two months later. Choose FareHarbor if everything you sell ends the same day: a two hour whale watch, a zipline course, a bike rental counter. You have no rooms, so you don't need a platform built around them. FareHarbor is also the better tool when your fleet is the hard part. Think forty kayaks, three boats, and guides you assign by the hour. If a big share of your bookings comes from GetYourGuide or Expedia, FareHarbor's marketplace connections matter. And if you sell a lot in person, FareHarbor Dock gives you a point of sale at the counter. If you run multi-day trips but your fleet is large and complex, weigh that trade-off carefully, and ask us directly how far Bookinglayer's resource management stretches for your setup.
“The platform itself covers everything you need, everything you didn’t know you needed, and things you may not need, but it’s nice to know they exist.”
Amy L
Owner
Comparison Table
How we compare at a glance
| Feature | Bookinglayer | FareHarbor |
|---|---|---|
| Rooms and overnight stays | Yes:Rooms and activities are booked together and share one calendar | No:No room inventory. "Lodging" only records the guest's hotel elsewhere |
| Room plus activities as one package | Yes:Room, activities, meals and extras at one price | No:Packages bundle experiences, meals or retail. No rooms in its examples |
| Activity time slots and capacity | Yes:Session Planner and Capacity Manager | Yes:Time slot availability with capacity controls |
| Tracking guides and gear | Partly:Instructors and equipment are assigned per daily session, not hourly | Yes:Tracks and assigns guides, boards, kayaks, and equipment hourly |
| Guest self service after booking | Yes:Portal for check-in forms, dietary needs, waivers, session swaps, add-on purchases, FAQ, and packing lists. | Partly:Guests can view their booking, rebook, or cancel online. |
| Group booking with different rooms and activities per person | Yes:One organizer, one booking, each guest's rooms and activities inside it | Partly:Customer Types set price and capacity per type. Individual itineraries not in public docs |
| Digital waivers | Yes:Signed after booking and before arrival, stored in Backoffice | Yes:Signed in the booking flow |
| Guest details before arrival | Yes:Check in forms after booking in the Customer Portal, with custom fields like level, size, and arrival time | Yes:Custom questions on the booking form. Waivers can collect height, weight and shoe size |
| Deposits and installments | Yes:Deposit, balance due date, installments charged to the saved card | Partly:Deposits and installments through Afterpay, where available |
| Activity marketplace distribution | Partly: Lodging channels through Channex. No activity marketplaces listed | Yes:GetYourGuide, Expedia, Tripadvisor, Reserve with Google, Booking.com |
| In person sales and payments | Partly:Card terminals take payments on site, linked to the booking | Yes:FareHarbor Dock, a point of sale for walk up bookings |
| No commission on bookings | Yes:No commission. One fixed monthly fee | No:Its terms allow an aprox 6% booking fee for online and in-person bookings, paid by the booker in addition to the price. |
- Yes
- No
- Partly
Make the switch
1
Request a demo
We look at how you sell, your rooms, activities, and packages. If we're not the right fit, we'll tell you.
2
Onboard in two weeks
Most clients go live in two weeks, working one to two hours a day with a dedicated onboarding specialist.
3
Keep your data
Our technical team imports your guest data, so your history comes with you. Switchers also get a special discount.
Our pricing model
A fixed fee. No cut of your bookings.
Some booking software takes a percentage of every booking, so your bill grows with every guest you bring in yourself. Bookinglayer charges one fixed monthly fee, and what you earn is yours.
Know your cost upfront
One monthly fee, set by the size of your operation and the add-ons you choose.
No lock-in
No annual commitment and no cancellation fees. Stay because it works.
Our foundation
The core of Bookinglayer
The four core components are in every plan, at every size. They are not tiers. They are the foundation.
- Dedicated one-on-one onboarding
- 24/7 support
- Upgrade, downgrade, or cancel anytime
Comparisons
See how we compare
Two side-by-side comparisons, feature by feature. Where Bookinglayer is stronger, and where it honestly isn't. We'd rather you find out now than two months in.
FAQ
Questions, answered
Can FareHarbor handle multi day tours?
Only partly. FareHarbor is built around single time slots, like a two-hour tour or a rental. Its Packages feature can bundle several items, but it doesn’t support a day-by-day schedule for a multi-day trip or a way to sell the nights in between.
Can you sell accommodation on FareHarbor?
No. FareHarbor has no rooms, beds, or nights to sell. Its only Lodging field is the hotel where a guest stays before the activity, which belongs to someone else. Operators with their own beds usually manage rooms in a spreadsheet or a second system alongside FareHarbor. If you are looking to sell overnight experiences, Bookinglayer is built for that.
What is the best FareHarbor alternative for multi day activities?
If your trips run across several days, Bookinglayer is built for that. The room, activities, meals, extra services, and transfers are bundled (or not) into one package with one price and a day-by-day schedule, and guests book it all in one go.
Can Bookinglayer be used for multi day activities without accommodation?
Yes. Accommodation plus activities is Bookinglayer’s core, but it also runs multi-day activities on its own, like a five-day dive certification, a three-day rafting trip, or a guided trek, sold as one product with its own schedule.
How much does FareHarbor charge per booking?
FareHarbor has no monthly subscription. Instead it charges a booking fee, most often reported at around 6% (third party sources report 5% to 8%), plus card processing. The exact rate is shared on a sales call. Bookinglayer starts at USD 300/month with no commission, so on a USD 1,200 trip, five bookings a month already cost more on FareHarbor.
Can guests pay for a multi day trip in installments with Bookinglayer?
Yes. In Bookinglayer, you set the deposit and balance-due date for each package, and with Bookinglayer Pay, you can split a big trip into installments that automatically charge the saved card. FareHarbor takes deposits too, and offers Afterpay in some regions.
Can I still sell through GetYourGuide or Expedia if I switch from FareHarbor to Bookinglayer?
Not through the same connections. FareHarbor connects to activity marketplaces like GetYourGuide, Tripadvisor and Reserve with Google. Bookinglayer connects to lodging channels like Booking.com, Airbnb and Expedia through Channex, plus agent accounts so partners can resell your packages. If most of your bookings come from activity marketplaces, factor that in.
Does Bookinglayer take a commission on bookings?
No. Bookinglayer charges one fixed monthly fee and takes no commissions on bookings.
Who should not switch to Bookinglayer?
A business that only sells single-day activities, with no rooms and no plans to add them. The same goes for a rental business where tracking every boat or bike is the main job, and an operator who gets most bookings from activity marketplaces. FareHarbor fits all three better.
Sources
- FareHarbor Multi-day Tour Guide(opens in a new tab)
- Booking.com joins the FareHarbor Distribution Network(opens in a new tab)
- FareHarbour About(opens in a new tab)
- Who is FareHarbor Best For(opens in a new tab)
- FareHarbor Sites activity pricing(opens in a new tab)
- FareHarbor inventory management(opens in a new tab)
- FareHarbor staff management(opens in a new tab)
- FareHarbor Manifest(opens in a new tab)
- FareHarbor Customer Experience(opens in a new tab)
- FareHarbor Payments(opens in a new tab)
- FareHarbor Packages and Combos(opens in a new tab)
- FareHarbor Inhouse Waivers(opens in a new tab)
- FareHarbor Latest Updates(opens in a new tab)
- Bookinglayer Pricing(opens in a new tab)
- Bookinglayer Customer Portal(opens in a new tab)
- Bookinglayer Backoffice(opens in a new tab)
- Bookinglayer Booking Engine(opens in a new tab)
- Bookinglayer Channel Manager(opens in a new tab)
- Bookinglayer Integrations(opens in a new tab)
- Bookinglayer Advanced Features(opens in a new tab)