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Travel · head to head

FareHarbor vs ThinkReservations

FareHarbor logo

FareHarbor

Travel

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

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
ThinkReservations logo

ThinkReservations

Travel

Property management and booking system for North American inns, B&Bs and small 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.; ThinkReservations no pricing is published anywhere, so you cannot compare it against Cloudbeds or Little Hotelier without first sitting through a sales call and extracting a quote.
  • They diverge on capability: FareHarbor covers Availability and capacity, ThinkReservations covers Reservation calendar.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which FareHarbor and ThinkReservations actually diverge.

Attributes where FareHarbor and ThinkReservations differ
AttributeFareHarborThinkReservations
Pricing modelPer booking fee added at checkoutquote
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWeb

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 ThinkReservations

  • Reservation calendar
  • Direct booking engine
  • Channel management
  • Integrated payments
  • Yield rules
  • Reporting

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 ThinkReservations
  • An attraction wanting waivers, manifests and OTA distribution in one system without an upfront licencenot ThinkReservations
  • A new operator launching with no capital who needs professional checkout from day onenot ThinkReservations
  • A multi-activity business needing guide and equipment assignment across overlapping departuresnot ThinkReservations

ThinkReservations

  • A fourteen room inn moving off a spreadsheet and a phone diary that needs breakfast counts and minimum stay rules handled nativelynot FareHarbor
  • A B&B selling gift certificates and packages that wants them redeemable in the same system that takes the bookingnot FareHarbor
  • An owner of three small New England properties wanting one login and consolidated occupancy reportingnot FareHarbor
  • A campground or cabin operator needing nightly and multi-night rules plus OTA distribution without buying a separate channel managernot 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.

ThinkReservations

  • No pricing is published anywhere, so you cannot compare it against Cloudbeds or Little Hotelier without first sitting through a sales call and extracting a quote.
  • The product is built for North American operations, so European tax handling, guest registration requirements and local OTA mix are not supported and it is effectively unsellable outside the region.
  • There is no revenue management or dynamic pricing, so rates rely on manual seasonal and day of week rules that go stale unless someone actively maintains them.
  • Payment processing is bundled, which is convenient but means the effective card rate is negotiated inside a software deal rather than shopped separately, and operators rarely check it against a standalone merchant account.
  • There is no native point of sale, spa or restaurant module, so an inn with a dining room runs a second system and reconciles revenue by hand.

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

ThinkReservations

On request
  • ThinkReservations$undefined/month
    • Property management system
    • Direct booking engine
    • Channel management to major OTAs

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 ThinkReservations if

  • You need reservation calendar.
  • You also want direct booking engine.
ThinkReservations review

Questions people ask

Is FareHarbor or ThinkReservations better?
Neither clearly leads. FareHarbor starts at On request and ThinkReservations at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, FareHarbor or ThinkReservations?
FareHarbor starts at On request and ThinkReservations at On request.
Does FareHarbor or ThinkReservations run on more platforms?
FareHarbor runs on Web, iOS, Android. ThinkReservations runs on Web.
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 ThinkReservations is typically brought in for.
What can FareHarbor do that ThinkReservations cannot?
FareHarbor covers Availability and capacity, Customer checkout, Digital waivers, Manifests and dispatch. ThinkReservations covers Reservation calendar, Direct booking engine, Channel management, Integrated payments.

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.

ThinkReservations: How much does ThinkReservations cost?

It is not published. Pricing is quoted per property, generally scaled by room count, after a sales conversation.

FareHarbor: Who pays the booking fee?

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

ThinkReservations: Is the channel manager an extra subscription?

No. OTA connectivity is part of the platform rather than a separately priced module, which is the main saving against a PMS plus channel manager pairing.

FareHarbor: Who owns FareHarbor?

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

ThinkReservations: Does it work outside the United States?

In practice no. Tax, payments and support are built around North America.

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.

ThinkReservations: Can it handle more than one property?

Yes, small portfolios are supported, but it is designed for a handful of properties rather than dozens.

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