Total price previews (including taxes and fees) for online booking

Price previews can be enabled by users with Director-level permissions or any user with the Edit prices of items, availabilities, and custom fields permission enabled. This permission can be enabled for a permission group under Setup when editing the permission group or creating a new permission group.

If you would like to enable price previews:

1. Navigate to your Dashboard Settings.
2. Click the cog icon in the top right corner of your screen to access your Advanced company settings.
3. Select Pricing from the Advanced company settings menu.
4. Check the Automatic online price previews box.
5. Click Save changes.

Once you enable price previews in your Advanced company settings, you also have the option to:

• Include booking fees in price previews
• Include taxes in price previews
• Show no price as “Free”
• Enable price previews on small calendars
• Enable price previews on availabilities

When taxes or fees are included, price previews will display a starting price, for example, “From $39”. In previews with limited space, only the numeric value will be displayed, for example, “$39”.

If taxes and fees are not included, price previews will display a price range. This display type overrides the item-level Use for starting price setting and always displays the full range. On small calendars, price previews will display the start of the range, except in the combo selection view, if Combos are enabled.

How prices are determined

Price previews are based on the current price sheet, but the context in which the price preview appears will determine which price is displayed:

• For specific availabilities, the preview displays the lowest price across all selected customer types (see note below).
• In item grid and item description views, the preview displays the price of the next bookable availability.
• In small calendars, the preview displays the lowest price across all availabilities for each day. All items are factored in when viewing multi-item calendars or multiple items in a search-by-date view.
• In the search-by-date view, the item-level preview displays the price of the lowest-priced availability for the selected date.

In the example below, the lowest price reflects the item’s Adult customer type pricing ($72.80).

How prices are localized

Prices are localized (not converted) based on the language the customer is using to view the book form. For example, if the item’s price is in U.S. dollars and the customer’s language is set to French, then the item will display with a notice that it is in U.S. dollars (“From US$72.80”). Language is auto-detected using the customer’s browser settings, but customers can manually change their preferred language using the menu at the bottom of the book form. Learn more about translation and online booking.

Price preview with search by date enabled

When search by date is enabled, a price preview is displayed next to each item name when viewing all items for a given date. This price represents the lowest starting price of the availabilities on that selected date.

Price previews within item details

Price previews are shown above the item description. The price of each customer type offered on the next bookable availability (including exclusive customer types, if applicable) are displayed.

Customer types with no price will not show a price preview by default. If you would like to display these customer types as “Free” instead, check the Show no price as “Free” box under Automatic online price previews in the Advanced company settings.

Price previews on availabilities

When a customer selects a date from the calendar, the availability-level price display will appear on both search by date and default item pages. If an availability uses dynamic pricing rules, the price display is based upon the least expensive price listed in the relevant active rule or sheet.

Price previews on the small calendar

When price previews are enabled, you also have the option to enable price previews for the small online calendar that appears in the booking flow. This provides customers with an at-a-glance view of the price for an activity without having to click on a date.

Price previews on the small calendar can be enabled by users with Director-level permissions or any user with the Edit prices of items, availabilities, and custom fields permission enabled.

To enable small calendar price previews:

1. Navigate to your Dashboard Settings.
2. Click the cog icon in the top right corner of your screen to access your Advanced company settings.
3. Select Pricing from the Advanced company settings menu.
4. Check the Price previews on small calendars box.
5. Click Save changes.

The price displayed on the small calendar is determined based on one of the following conditions:

• If no customer types have Use for price preview starting price enabled, the lowest-priced customer type will be used.
• If one customer type has Use for price preview starting price enabled, that price will be used.
• If multiple customer types have Use for price preview starting price enabled, the lowest-priced customer type’s pricing will be used.

Hiding price previews on specific items

Additionally, price previews can be hidden per item by any user with Director-level permissions.

To hide price previews on an item:

1. Navigate to Items.
2. Select the relevant item.
3. Click Listing.
4. Select Basic info.
5. Check the Hide automatic online price previews for this item box.
6. Click Save changes.

Important notes

• When a customer browses your activities, price previews are based on the current date and the next bookable availability.
  • In the search by date view, price previews are based on the date the customer is viewing and the lowest priced availability on the selected date.
  • For example, a customer looking at activities for July 4th will see prices for the next available time starting on that date (such as July 4th at 11am).
• FareHarbor finds the next bookable availability by searching the next 30 availabilities (starting at midnight on the relevant date) set to a change status of Auto close or Open override. If none of these availabilities are bookable, FareHarbor will not display a price.

• Price previews will not display in some cases. For example, no price preview will show if an item has no future bookable availabilities, or if all of the future bookable availabilities have a change status of Closed & Call to book or Closed & hidden.
• Price previews are not shown on retail items.
• Exclusive customer type prices will display in customer type-level price previews (visible when displaying an item’s details). Exclusive customer type prices will not be included in the item grid, availability, small calendar, or item-level search by date previews.

In addition to the default price preview behavior, price previews may also be defined by selecting a specific customer type’s price to be displayed as the price preview starting price for your item.

To select a customer type for the price preview starting price, you must first enable price previews in your Dashboard. If this option is not visible in your Dashboard, contact FareHarbor Support to enable it. Alternatively, this functionality is automatically enabled when Combos is activated in the Advanced Company Settings. More information on setting up Combos can be found here.

To enable customer type selection for total price displays:

1. Navigate to Advanced company settings > Pricing > Automatic online price previews.
2. Select Include booking fees in price previews, Include taxes in price previews, or both.
3. Click Save changes.

Once you have enabled this feature in Advanced company settings, you may define your desired customer type price to be displayed as the price preview starting price for your item.

To select the customer type for which you’d like to display prices:

1. Navigate to Item > Options & Prices > Customer Types.
2. Select your desired customer type.
3. Click the Use for price preview starting price checkbox.
4. Click Save.

Once you have defined a preferred customer type for the price preview, that customer type’s price will be displayed as the starting price for the associated item. If no customer type has been selected for an item’s price preview, the feature will revert to the default total price display behavior as previously described in the Overview section of this page.

If an item has multiple customer types selected for a price preview starting price, and the selected customer types have been added to an availability, the lowest price out of all of the selected customer types will be used for the Total price.

If an item has a selected customer type, and the selected customer type has not been added to an availability, then the feature will revert to the existing total price display behavior.

Note: Customer types with a price of 0, regardless of whether they are selected customer types or not, will not be displayed.

How prices are determined when total price previews are in use

An item’s total price previews are determined by the next bookable availability for the current price sheet. The starting price will reflect the item’s selected customer type(s) for price previews, inclusive of the booking fee (if Include booking fees in price previews is enabled), and/or the taxes (if include taxes in price previews is enabled) added to the item. If the item does not have any customer type(s) selected for price previews, the starting price will reflect an active customer type that matches “Adult” or “Person”. If there is no active customer type that matches “Adult”, the lowest price out of all active customer types will display.

Note: Some regulations may prohibit “[a]dvertising, displaying, or offering a price for a good or service that does not include all mandatory fees or charges other than government-imposed taxes or fees.” These regulations can vary, and some may require that taxes are included when displaying prices.

In addition to the booking fee, regulations may also apply to any mandatory fees and/or taxes charged to customers by you. Check your local regulations to identify what mandatory fees and/or taxes are needing to be accurately reflected in the prices displayed on your website and during the online booking process.

Booking fees

In the order summary, fees are visible in an expandable section under Total. Fees are included in the Subtotal:

In addition to the order summary, booking fees are also included in custom field and customer type card prices:

Best practices

To reflect pricing inclusive of the booking fee and/or taxes, we recommend:

• Ensuring the prices listed on your website match the final pricing displayed in the FareHarbor booking experience.
• If you are using price previews, ensure that you have enabled the proper total price preview settings needed to follow local regulations.
• If you are not using price previews, ensure any pricing manually added into your dashboard is inclusive of the fees and/or taxes needing to display.
• Reviewing mandatory priced custom fields and making them optional if they aren’t truly necessary

Why don’t I see a price preview for some of my items?

There could be various reasons as to why some items are not displaying price previews, please review the following to see if they may fall into any of these scenarios:

• The automatic price preview feature is not enabled in your Dashboard; follow the instructions in the Enabling price previews section of this help page to enable it.
• You have over 30 availabilities in one day.
  • Try shortening the online booking cutoff to allow more availabilities to be bookable that day or lower the amount of availabilities within one day.
• The item has no bookable future availabilities, or all of the future bookable availabilities have a change status of Closed & Call to book or Closed & hidden.
  • Try changing the status to Auto close so more availabilities will be bookable online.
• The item is a retail item.
• A custom field determines the pricing of the item and no pricing is added to the customer type. Pricing from a custom field will not be visible in price previews.

Note: Exclusive customer type prices will display in customer type-level price previews (visible when displaying an item’s details). Exclusive customer type prices will not be included in the item grid, availability, small calendar, or item-level search by date previews.

Why is the price preview different from the price I see when I’m booking?

If automatic price previews are enabled but total price previews are not, the price previews shown will not include taxes and fees. Enable total price previews by checking the Include taxes in price previews box under the Automatic online price previews setting in your Advanced company settings.

Note: Pricing may also look different if there are other fees added to an item (with the use of required priced custom fields), and pricing of these will not display in price previews.

What do I need to do to comply with regulations about displaying prices with mandatory fees?

FareHarbor strives to follow information about the newest laws and regulations that affect our clients. Total price/junk fee laws vary by location and industry. We try to stay on top of developments and reach out to you when we identify upcoming changes that we think might relate to our clients. However, FareHarbor cannot provide legal advice regarding the application of laws and regulations to your business. If you have any questions about whether or not a junk fee law applies to you, and how to comply with it, please consult a legal professional.

What if I don’t want to show a price for customer types that are free?

Customer types with no price will not show a price preview by default.

If you want these customer types to be displayed as “Free” instead:

1. Go to Settings in your FareHarbor Dashboard.
2. Click the cog icon in the top right corner to access your Advanced company settings.
3. Click Pricing.
4. Check the Show no price as “Free” box.
5. Click Save changes.

I am affected by junk fee laws, but I do not want to use price preview in my items/Dashboard. What should I do to comply with the laws?

If you do not want to utilize the total price preview feature, pricing should instead be manually added to each item’s headline and description inclusive of any mandatory fees and/or taxes charged to customers by you. Check your local regulations to identify what mandatory fees and/or taxes need to be included to accurately reflect the prices displayed on your website and during the online booking process. We recommend that you consult with a legal professional to ensure your compliance with laws and regulations affecting you and your business.

Important to remember:

• If you are using multiple price sheets, please use the lowest starting price to advertise in the item’s headline and description using wording such as: “From $X per person”.
• If price previews are disabled, you are responsible for updating the prices in item headline(s) and description(s) if your pricing changes.

The items in my setup have extra fees (fuel surcharge, entrance fees, taxes, etc.) that are required and added as a custom field. What should I do?

If you are already using the automatic price previews feature on your FareHarbor Dashboard, please take the following steps:

1. Check if price previews display the correct full price on your site
   • Please check that the pricing that displays on your site when customers are making a booking is the price that displays in the item listing for the corresponding item in the Dashboard.
2. After identifying any items with inconsistent pricing on your site and in price previews, please reach out to FareHarbor Support for guidance on next steps.
3. After the proper total price previews features have been enabled (and adjustments have been made to applicable items), please remove any manual pricing from the items utilizing the feature.

If you are not currently utilizing the automatic price previews feature on your FareHarbor Dashboard, please review your items in your Dashboard and update the manual pricing added to the headline(s) and description(s) in the item(s) listing to include any fees needing to be visible in pricing. This should include any required priced custom field(s) the customer must pay when completing a booking online.

If you would like to start utilizing the total price preview feature or need any additional support when making adjustments, please reach out to FareHarbor Support for guidance.

I am affected by junk fee laws, what updates do I need to make to my website?

If your website is a FareHarbor Site:

You can use FareHarbor’s Price Sync feature to stay compliant with junk fee laws. Alternatively, you can manually update your pricing by following the steps on the How do I update a price for an activity page or item? help page. Update the pricing for each of your activities affected by junk fee laws so they are consistent with the pricing displayed in the Dashboard.

If your website is NOT a FareHarbor Site:

Please consult with a legal professional to identify the needed updates for your website to ensure your compliance with laws and regulations affecting you and your business.

These are the current regions and market sectors affected by junk fee laws and would be in need of displaying total pricing to end customers (last updated August 2025):

• Europe (27 EU countries + UK)
  • Clients located in this region are in need of displaying all mandatory fees, the FH booking fee, and taxes in pricing seen by end customers.
• APAC (Australia and New Zealand)
  • Clients located in this region are in need of displaying all mandatory fees, the FH booking fee, and taxes in pricing seen by end customers.
• AMER:
  • All clients in California, Colorado (effective Januar 1, 2026), Minnesota and Virginia and all clients within the US that offer Live Events & Lodging:
    • These clients must display all mandatory fees and the FH booking fee in pricing seen by end customers.
  • Clients located in Massachusetts:
    • Clients in Massachusetts must display the total price throughout the booking flow AND at the beginning and end of the booking flow. The nature, purpose, and amount of each mandatory fee must be disclosed.

If a client reaches out to you about junk fee or drip pricing laws within a region/market sector that is not listed here, please fill out a FareHarbor Legal Request form and select “Legal question / report a legal concern” as the type of request to inform legal about the client’s elevation.

Join the #junk-fee-questions, #proj-junk-fee-laws, or #drippricing-emea-apac Slack channels for more information.

Communication

We will communicate about the mandatory pricing update via email prior to the enactment date. Email communication going out to clients will offer assistance with Dashboard updates, and will include a link to this help page.

This change is happening to align with regulatory expectations in applicable regions.

Blog resource available to share with U.S. operators: New FTC rule on mandatory fee disclosure: What FareHarbor tour operators need to know.

Depending on the feature flags enabled, prices shown during the booking process will remain consistent and include fees and/or taxes.

Please note:

• Some regulations may also require any mandatory fee charged by the client to their customers to be included in pricing seen by end customers. In these cases, all mandatory fees (including required price custom fields added to any items) must be reflected in the prices displayed on the client’s website and during the online booking experience.
• Some regulations may also only affect certain types of activities and businesses (such as live ticket events and lodging offers), and updates for displaying total pricing may only need to be applied to those activities.

Prices can include all taxes and/or fees depending on the region’s requirements.

In region(s) where mandatory fees are required to be displayed

Price previews will reflect the starting price of either the selected customer type(s) for price previews, the “Adult” customer type or the lowest-priced Customer Type price, inclusive of:

• FareHarbor booking fee
• Mandatory Custom Field charges (collected by operators, e.g. cleaning fees or parking passes)

In region(s) where fees & taxes are required to be displayed

Price previews will reflect the starting price of either the selected customer type(s) for price previews, the “Adult” customer type or the lowest-priced Customer Type price, inclusive of:

• Applicable taxes
• FareHarbor booking fee
• Mandatory Custom Field charges (collected by operators, e.g. cleaning fees or parking passes)

Can a client opt out of the change?

No, it is not possible for clients to opt out of the change. By adhering to regulations in the region, FareHarbor has to ensure that the mandatory price component (the FareHarbor booking fee) is included in every price displayed on the online booking experience. This can be accomplished by either enabling the proper feature flags for total price previews, or manually adding pricing that includes the necessary fees.

If the client is not satisfied with the set up, we can recommend rounding the pricing to the next whole dollar/Euro. The cents resulting from rounding up the total price will be included in the booking fee and paid by the customer.

For APAC and Europe clients: If a client is interested in this option, please discuss with your manager or the client’s Account Manager before implementing.

What if a client is concerned about OTA pricing being more competitive?

First of all, remind the client that the reason we are implementing the changes is to ensure price transparency for their customers during the booking process. This will optimize their website user experience, ultimately improving the conversion rate.

You can suggest to the client different ways to ensure price parity across different channels:

• Adjust prices on other channels to ensure website rates are more competitive.
• Offer online discounts to reduce prices and incentivise website sales.

If client is not happy with these solutions:

With manager approval, we can recommend that clients cover their FareHarbor booking fee to reconcile the pricing differences. Follow the process laid out here.

What if a client is not registered for taxes because they are a sole trader, freelancer or self-employed and are concerned about the new display?

Taxes haven’t been added to the client’s items if taxes are not enabled in the client’s Dashboard. The price preview will display the retail price plus booking fees only. Please double-check the tax settings for the client to make sure it was set up correctly.

Note: If taxes were enabled during on-boarding, inform the client we can change this immediately. Explain the price preview will display the retail price and booking fees. If the client is not happy with the price display including booking fees, you may offer to turn off price preview.

What if price previews do not seem to work for a Dashboard?

There may be cases where the total price previews feature will not be compatible with a client’s current setup of an item. In these cases, manually add pricing to the item and follow the steps and best practices in the Items with Price Previews Disabled (either at the dashboard or item level) section above for when an item is not a good fit for the total price previews feature.

Here are some common examples of when it would be best to utilize manual pricing instead of the total price previews feature:

• Different customer types are added to different (online) availabilities within the same day in an item’s calendar.
• An item’s calendar has over 30 availabilities in one day and the client does not want to make any adjustments to the item’s online booking cutoff or the amount of availabilities offered.
• A price schedule is in place or customer types added to availabilities cause for pricing to change depending on the day of the week/time of day.
• Complicated price schedule set ups
• Permanent call to book items

Are there certain setups that use required priced custom fields that should utilize manual pricing instead of total price previews?

Yes, if an item has any of the following setups the total price previews feature should not be utilized because the pricing that would display would not be compliant with a majority of junk fee laws in place:

• Deposit workarounds
• Items with an “Eating the fee” hack implemented with custom fields
  • If there is an “Eating the fee” hack in place in items, this should be removed and the client should instead be moved to the “Allow zero minimum booking fee” feature. More info on this feature in this help page.

Instead, manual pricing should be added to item descriptions and the steps/best practices in the Items with Price Previews DISABLED (either at the dashboard or item level) section above for when an item is not a good fit for the total price previews feature should be followed.