ApproveThis manages your FareHarbor Integration approvals.

Why Combine ApproveThis and FareHarbor?

FareHarbor is the backbone of tour and activity businesses, managing everything from booking reservations to cancellations. But when approvals enter the picture—whether for large group bookings, refund requests, or last-minute changes—manual processes slow things down. ApproveThis removes bottlenecks by automating approval workflows, ensuring decisions happen faster without sacrificing oversight. Together, these platforms create a seamless bridge between booking management and decision-making.

For example, a scuba diving company using FareHarbor might need manager approval for bookings exceeding 20 guests. Without automation, this requires back-and-forth emails or Slack messages. With ApproveThis, the moment a large booking hits FareHarbor, an approval request is automatically routed to the right person. Approvers can review details and respond directly from their inbox, even if they don’t have a FareHarbor license. This is especially useful for involving external partners or executives who need visibility but don’t require full system access.

Key Benefits for Tour and Activity Operators

Combining FareHarbor’s booking expertise with ApproveThis’s approval automation unlocks three major advantages:

1. Faster Turnarounds: Automatically route bookings, cancellations, or updates for approval based on predefined rules. A whale-watching tour operator could set thresholds to auto-approve bookings under $1,000 while flagging larger groups for review. This reduces wait times and prevents overloading staff with unnecessary approvals.

2. Cross-Team Collaboration: Finance teams can review high-value cancellations for refunds, while operations managers validate equipment availability for large bookings—all without logging into FareHarbor. ApproveThis’s email-based approvals let stakeholders act quickly, even from mobile devices.

3. Audit-Ready Compliance: Every approval or denial is logged with timestamps and comments, creating a clear audit trail. This is critical for businesses handling seasonal surges or partnering with external vendors, where accountability matters.

Real-World Use Cases

1. High-Volume Booking Validation

Adventure parks or city tour companies often deal with last-minute group bookings. For instance, a zip-lining company might require safety checks for groups larger than 15 participants. By connecting FareHarbor to ApproveThis via Zapier, every new booking triggers an approval request if it meets specific criteria. The operations team receives an email with booking details, approves the request, and FareHarbor is automatically updated—no manual data entry required.

Why it works: ApproveThis’s conditional logic ensures only relevant bookings are flagged, while vacation delegation handles approvals if a manager is out.

2. Cancellation Refund Approvals

Luxury tour operators often face complex cancellation policies. A private yacht charter business might require finance team approval for refunds exceeding 50% of the booking cost. When a cancellation occurs in FareHarbor, ApproveThis creates a request with payment details and policy terms. The finance team reviews and either approves the refund or escalates it with comments, all within their email inbox.

Pro tip: Use ApproveThis’s calculated fields to auto-populate refund amounts based on cancellation timing, reducing manual calculations.

3. Dynamic Booking Adjustments

For businesses like cooking classes or wine tours, date or time changes are common. A booking update in FareHarbor can trigger an approval to confirm instructor availability or ingredient orders. ApproveThis’s sequential approvals ensure the right people sign off in order—first the scheduler, then the head chef—before confirming the change with the customer.

Setting Up the Integration

Connecting FareHarbor and ApproveThis takes less than 15 minutes using Zapier. Here’s how:

Step 1: Create a Zapier account if you don’t have one. Navigate to the Zapier dashboard and select “Create Zap.”

Step 2: Set FareHarbor as the trigger app. Choose an event like “New Booking” or “Cancelled Booking.” Test the trigger to ensure Zapier can access your FareHarbor data.

Step 3: Select ApproveThis as the action app. Use the “Create Request” action to map relevant FareHarbor data (e.g., customer name, booking amount) to your approval template. Configure approvers, thresholds, and notification settings here.

Step 4: Enable the Zap. For added precision, set up filters in Zapier to exclude bookings under a certain value or from specific partners.

Note: Use ApproveThis’s approval groups to route requests to multiple departments. For example, a booking change might go to both operations and marketing if it involves a promotional discount.

Benefits Across Teams

Operations Teams

Reduce bottlenecks in high-season periods by automating approval routing. If a booking requires safety checks or equipment reservations, set up sequential approvals to ensure all prerequisites are met before confirming.

Finance Teams

Maintain control over refunds and discounts without micromanaging daily operations. Approval thresholds auto-flag transactions that exceed budget limits, while real-time tracking lets you monitor pending requests in one dashboard.

Customer Support

Speed up response times for cancellation or rescheduling requests. When a customer asks for a change, support agents can trigger an approval workflow directly from FareHarbor, keeping clients informed at every step.

Maximizing Advanced Features

ApproveThis includes tools to handle edge cases common in the tours and activities industry:

Approval Thresholds: Auto-approve minor booking changes (e.g., time adjustments) but require sign-off for date shifts affecting multiple groups.

Calculated Fields: Automatically determine deposit amounts or cancellation fees based on FareHarbor data, reducing manual errors.

Vacation Delegation: Avoid delays when approvers are offline. If a manager is guiding a tour, approvals automatically reroute to their deputy.

Final Thoughts

For tour and activity businesses, speed and accuracy define customer satisfaction. By integrating FareHarbor with ApproveThis, you turn approval delays into competitive advantages—whether you’re managing a fleet of rental kayaks or coordinating multi-day safari trips. The setup is lightweight, but the impact is direct: faster decisions, happier teams, and smoother operations.

Ready to automate your approval processes? Register for ApproveThis or schedule a demo to see how it works with FareHarbor. For more details on FareHarbor’s capabilities, visit their official website.