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Travel · head to head

FareHarbor vs Travelport Smartpoint

FareHarbor logo

FareHarbor

Travel

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

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Travelport Smartpoint logo

Travelport Smartpoint

Travel

Travelport GDS booking desktop for travel agents, now on version 12

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.; Travelport Smartpoint travelport retires older Smartpoint versions on its own schedule, and agencies that do not track release notes can lose sign-on access to Travelport+ or Apollo with little warning.
  • They diverge on capability: FareHarbor covers Availability and capacity, Travelport Smartpoint covers Graphical and cryptic modes.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which FareHarbor and Travelport Smartpoint actually diverge.

Attributes where FareHarbor and Travelport Smartpoint differ
AttributeFareHarborTravelport Smartpoint
Pricing modelPer booking fee added at checkoutquote
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidWindows, Web

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 Travelport Smartpoint

  • Graphical and cryptic modes
  • Multi-GDS content
  • Smartpoint Cloud
  • Automation scripting
  • Marketplace distribution
  • Queue and PNR management

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

Travelport Smartpoint

  • A retail agency already on a Travelport segment agreement needing the current supported desktop versionnot FareHarbor
  • A TMC running mixed cryptic and graphical booking teams on one workspacenot FareHarbor
  • An agency migrating from an older Smartpoint build after Travelport retired 8.1 to 9.1not FareHarbor
  • A consolidator wanting Apollo, Galileo or Worldspan content behind a single agent interfacenot 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.

Travelport Smartpoint

  • Travelport retires older Smartpoint versions on its own schedule, and agencies that do not track release notes can lose sign-on access to Travelport+ or Apollo with little warning.
  • Pricing is never published and is folded into a segment incentive agreement, so two agencies of similar size can be paying materially different effective rates with no way to compare.
  • Cryptic command knowledge is still needed for a meaningful share of servicing tasks, so a newly hired agent takes months to reach full productivity.
  • It is a Windows-weighted desktop product, and agencies wanting fully remote or Mac-based teams need Smartpoint Cloud or virtual desktop infrastructure to compensate.
  • Switching to Sabre or Amadeus means retraining staff on a different command language and renegotiating a separate incentive deal, which locks agencies into their existing GDS relationship longer than pure product quality would justify.

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

Travelport Smartpoint

On request
  • Travelport Smartpoint$undefined/year
    • Usually bundled into a GDS segment agreement
    • Distribution and version entitlement managed per country via the Marketplace
    • Segment incentive payments to the agency

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 Travelport Smartpoint if

  • You need graphical and cryptic modes.
  • You work on Windows, Web.
  • You also want multi-gds content.
Travelport Smartpoint review

Questions people ask

Is FareHarbor or Travelport Smartpoint better?
Neither clearly leads. FareHarbor starts at On request and Travelport Smartpoint at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, FareHarbor or Travelport Smartpoint?
FareHarbor starts at On request and Travelport Smartpoint at On request.
Does FareHarbor or Travelport Smartpoint run on more platforms?
FareHarbor runs on Web, iOS, Android. Travelport Smartpoint runs on Windows, 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 Travelport Smartpoint is typically brought in for.
What can FareHarbor do that Travelport Smartpoint cannot?
FareHarbor covers Availability and capacity, Customer checkout, Digital waivers, Manifests and dispatch. Travelport Smartpoint covers Graphical and cryptic modes, Multi-GDS content, Smartpoint Cloud, Automation scripting.

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.

Travelport Smartpoint: Do we pay a separate licence fee for Smartpoint?

Usually not directly. It is typically bundled into a GDS segment agreement in which Travelport pays incentives per booked segment.

FareHarbor: Who pays the booking fee?

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

Travelport Smartpoint: What happened to older Smartpoint versions?

Travelport retired versions 8.1 through 9.1 as of 30 April 2026; agencies must be on Smartpoint 12.0 to keep signing on to Travelport+ or Apollo.

FareHarbor: Who owns FareHarbor?

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

Travelport Smartpoint: Is there a browser version?

Yes, Smartpoint Cloud runs in a browser for agents without a managed Windows desktop.

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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