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Travel · head to head

FareHarbor vs Stayntouch

FareHarbor logo

FareHarbor

Travel

Booking and reservation software for tour and activity operators with no subscription fee

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Stayntouch logo

Stayntouch

Travel

Cloud property management system for independent hotels

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: FareHarbor the roughly 6% booking fee is added to the price your customer sees, so your headline price appears higher than a competitor absorbing their software cost, which is a direct disadvantage when guests price-compare.; Stayntouch quote-only pricing scaled by rooms, with no published rates
  • They diverge on capability: FareHarbor covers Availability and capacity, Stayntouch covers Mobile check-in.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which FareHarbor and Stayntouch actually diverge.

Attributes where FareHarbor and Stayntouch differ
AttributeFareHarborStayntouch
Pricing modelPer booking fee added at checkoutquote
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb, iOS, Android, Cloud

Identical on both: starting price (On request), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Travel).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in FareHarbor

  • Availability and capacity
  • Customer checkout
  • Digital waivers
  • Manifests and dispatch
  • OTA distribution
  • Gift cards and point of sale

Only in Stayntouch

  • Mobile check-in
  • Guest self-service
  • Cloud PMS
  • Open API
  • Housekeeping
  • Payments

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

FareHarbor

  • A kayak tour operator with strong seasonality that cannot justify a fixed monthly software fee through the winternot Stayntouch
  • An attraction wanting waivers, manifests and OTA distribution in one system without an upfront licencenot Stayntouch
  • A new operator launching with no capital who needs professional checkout from day onenot Stayntouch
  • A multi-activity business needing guide and equipment assignment across overlapping departuresnot Stayntouch

Stayntouch

  • Hotels wanting to check guests in away from a fixed desknot FareHarbor
  • Properties reducing lobby queuing at peak arrivalnot FareHarbor
  • Independents replacing an on-premise PMS with cloudnot FareHarbor

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

FareHarbor

  • The roughly 6% booking fee is added to the price your customer sees, so your headline price appears higher than a competitor absorbing their software cost, which is a direct disadvantage when guests price-compare.
  • With card processing on top, the effective cost is commonly 9 to 11% of booking value, so a high-volume operator pays far more over a year than a flat subscription would cost.
  • There is no published rate card, so the fee you are quoted depends on the deal you negotiate and you cannot compare terms without going through onboarding.
  • FareHarbor is owned by Booking Holdings, so your reservation system, your customer data and your availability sit inside the group that owns the largest OTA competing for your direct bookings.
  • Because pricing is transactional, switching away is expensive in effort rather than money and operators tend to stay past the point where a subscription product would be cheaper.

Stayntouch

  • Quote-only pricing scaled by rooms, with no published rates
  • Mobile-first depends on property-wide wireless coverage that many older hotels do not have
  • A smaller vendor than the major PMS providers, with a narrower integration ecosystem
  • Strongest in North America, with less coverage elsewhere

Pricing, plan by plan

FareHarbor

On request
  • FareHarbor$undefined/month
    • No monthly subscription and no setup fee
    • Booking fee of around 6% added to the customer checkout price
    • Card processing charged separately, giving an effective 9 to 11% of booking value

Stayntouch

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Stayntouch review.

Which should you pick?

Choose FareHarbor if

  • You need availability and capacity.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want customer checkout.
FareHarbor review

Choose Stayntouch if

  • You need mobile check-in.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, Cloud.
  • You also want guest self-service.
Stayntouch review

Questions people ask

Is FareHarbor or Stayntouch better?
Neither clearly leads. FareHarbor starts at On request and Stayntouch at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, FareHarbor or Stayntouch?
FareHarbor starts at On request and Stayntouch at On request.
Does FareHarbor or Stayntouch run on more platforms?
FareHarbor runs on Web, iOS, Android. Stayntouch runs on Web, iOS, Android, Cloud.
What is FareHarbor best used for?
FareHarbor is most often used for a kayak tour operator with strong seasonality that cannot justify a fixed monthly software fee through the winter, an attraction wanting waivers, manifests and ota distribution in one system without an upfront licence, a new operator launching with no capital who needs professional checkout from day one, a multi-activity business needing guide and equipment assignment across overlapping departures. Of those, a kayak tour operator with strong seasonality that cannot justify a fixed monthly software fee through the winter and an attraction wanting waivers, manifests and ota distribution in one system without an upfront licence are not what Stayntouch is typically brought in for.
What can FareHarbor do that Stayntouch cannot?
FareHarbor covers Availability and capacity, Customer checkout, Digital waivers, Manifests and dispatch. Stayntouch covers Mobile check-in, Guest self-service, Cloud PMS, Open API.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

FareHarbor: What does FareHarbor cost?

No subscription. Around 6% is added to the customer checkout price, plus card processing, giving roughly 9 to 11% of booking value in total.

Stayntouch: What does Stayntouch cost?

Quoted per property by room count; not published.

FareHarbor: Who pays the booking fee?

By default the customer, shown at checkout. Operators can choose to absorb it into their own price instead.

Stayntouch: What does mobile-first actually change?

Check-in happens on a tablet anywhere in the property or on the guest's own phone, rather than at a fixed counter, which changes both queuing and front-desk staffing.

FareHarbor: Who owns FareHarbor?

Booking Holdings, the parent of Booking.com, Priceline and Kayak.

Stayntouch: What does it need to work well?

Reliable property-wide wireless. A mobile-first PMS is only as good as the network it runs on.

FareHarbor: At what volume does a subscription tool become cheaper?

Broadly once annual bookings exceed a few hundred thousand in value, at which point 6% dwarfs a fixed monthly plan.

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