Seekom’s new and improved booking engine is here
Our enhanced front-end booking screen is now available to all users.
This upgraded booking screen makes it easier for your guests to select multiple rooms and optional extras when paying for accommodation and is designed to work like a dream on mobile devices.
We've developed this enhanced functionality with the support of a group of Seekom users from across New Zealand and the United Kingdom who took part in beta testing. Thanks to their feedback we’ve created something pretty special and we’re excited to make it available to you all.
MAKE MULTI-ROOM BOOKINGS AND ADDING EXTRAS EASY FOR GUESTS
The new front-end booking screen allows guests to make multi-room bookings online, without having to phone you, and it also makes it simple for guests to pay for extras – such as a newspaper, breakfast, or any other options you make available.
INCREASE ONLINE CONVERSIONS
The new system has a modern look and performs much better on mobile devices. It reduces the number of steps guests need to take before confirming a reservation, speeding up the process and boosting the number of online bookings you receive.
EMBED WITHOUT IFRAME
If you want to embed the booking screen directly into your website, you now have the option of doing so without iFrames, allowing for more customisation and a seamless fit with the branding of your site.
At a glance: The new front booking screen
THE DETAIL
How do I add the new booking screen to my website?
We’ve put together an instruction guide showing you how to add the new front-end booking screen to your property’s website, either using a link or embedded code.
Will the old booking system continue to work?
If you haven’t yet upgraded, the old booking system will continue to work for a while longer. It will be retired on 1 July 2024, so there’s still a bit of time to get the new booking engine set up on your website.
What’s next for the booking system?
We’re committed to making our front-end booking system the best in class and we will continue enhancing it in the weeks ahead. We are working hard on adding a multi property booking option, as well as the ability for you to include custom fields in your booking forms. Watch this space!
One of our amazing business development managers will be in touch to showcase our product to you and talk you through how we can help grow your business.
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Why should you upgrade your website to GA4 ?
Google made an announcement on March 16, 2022 that it's replacing Universal Analytics. On July 1, 2023, standard Universal Analytics properties will stop processing new hits. If you still rely on Universal Analytics, they recommend that you prepare to use Google Analytics 4 going forward.
In this article, we will explain the basics of Google Analytics, why it’s important for your site and the importance of upgrading or installing the new Google Analytics 4 (GA4).
What is Google Analytics and why is it important?
Google Analytics allows you to track and understand your customer’s behavior, their user experience, how they interact with your content, and more on your website.
This information can help you shape the marketing and business strategy for your business, discovering things you probably never knew about visitors on your site and delivering better outcomes for your marketing and sales campaigns.
In terms of GA4, because GA4 will focus on user engagement and provide new sections "Lifecycle" and" User," businesses can dig deeper into the customer journey and analyse data according to their acquisition, engagement, monetization and retention, as well as demographics and technology.
This means that you can monitor how and when customers come to the website, how long they engage and finally how they convert or make a booking. These actions and bookings can then be directly summed up or correlated to revenue and profits.
How do I make the switch to GA4?
If you have Universal Analytics on your website then you need to simply follow the steps mentioned in this Google article to complete the transition.
What if I don’t have any type of Google Analytics on my website?
If you don’t have Google Analytics set up on your website, and would like to get it set up, then follow this article to get a new GA4 property.
We do manage upgrades and integration to GA4 when you subscribe to our fully managed plans. You can call us or chat with our support team to know more.
We highly recommend you to upgrade to GA4 if you haven’t done so already. Also, if you are still on the fence about getting Google Analytics for your website you should know that having Universal Analytics or GA4 is very beneficial for your website, in fact it’s one of the compliance criterias set by Google. This helps you get your site higher up in Google Search.
One of our amazing business development managers will be in touch to showcase our product to you and talk you through how we can help grow your business.
Contact Us
PO Box 9300, Marion Square, Wellington 6141
Phone (NZ) : +64 4 974 9588
Phone (UK) : +44 20 3835 5939
Support: support@seekom.com
Websites: webhelp@seekom.com
Copyright 2022 © Seekom Limited (NZ owned)
Pet Friendly Stays is now live.
Seekom launches pet friendly stays to make travelling with the whole family easy
Seekom has launched Pet Friendly Stays, the first travel accommodation website entirely dedicated to helping New Zealanders find pet-friendly accommodation for their next holiday.
With 64% of New Zealand households owning pets as of 2020, and that number now boosted by the influx of new pet ownership during COVID-19, taking the entire family on holiday has become a common travel consideration for many Kiwis.
Seekom General Manager Nicole Irschick said petfriendlystays.co.nz catered for New Zealanders’ love for their furry companions by making finding accommodation for the whole family easier.
“With the site’s launch, New Zealand pet owners are now able to find accommodation that welcomes every member of the family and provides for all their needs, right down to the nearest patch of grass.”
At present, users of Seekom’s property management system can email sales@seekom.com to have their relevant accommodation offerings on Pet Friendly Stays.
“Providers can make all or some of their rooms available to the website, but the website will only show those rooms that have been designated as pet-friendly,” Irschick said.
“Unlike other websites, which sometimes list properties as pet-friendly as a whole, Pet Friendly Stays goes into more granular detail, listing the aspects of individual rooms that pet owners might find relevant. Listings can also be filtered by region or type of accommodation.”
The website allows accommodation providers to include additional information about local amenities and necessities for pets and their owners, such as local dog parks, the best nearby pet-friendly walking trails, or closest vet clinics.
Seekom is the New Zealand-based company behind the market-leading property management platform of the same time. The cloud-based Seekom platform is used by more than 2,000 properties in New Zealand and around the world, generating hundreds of thousands of bookings annually.
One of our amazing business development managers will be in touch to showcase our product to you and talk you through how we can help grow your business.
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Seekom Quarterly Update | Q3
Seekom Quarterly Update | Q3
Welcome to the third installment of the year of the Quarterly Update. In this update, we will look at new features released in iBex, upcoming releases and some staff updates. If you have any questions please email them through to us at support@seekom.com
First up - the new and improved Image Uploader.
A full visual and functional overhaul has been applied to the existing image uploader, which allows you to upload your photos of your property and your rooms and units to the booking screens.
- Drag and drop, rearrange or edit photos to your property or room type - easy as click and drag.
- File size has increased from 10MB to 14MB - hello higher resolution!
- Ideal dimension specs detailing per image - lets you know if the image will fit the booking screen dimensions at a glance.
- Modern, fresh look with UX to make the process faster for you.
Seekom is almost 20 years old and in that time we have extensively developed iBex which started as a simple booking engine and has grown into a comprehensive total solution consisting of an integrated set of modules including:
- PMS
- Channel Manager
- Booking Engine
- Content Managed Website
- Interfaces to 3rd party products
Over time, technology changes and there are new, better and faster ways to do things. So we are now embarking on what we are calling the iBex Modernisation Project. The goals of this project are to:
- Improve user experience and intuition
- Modernise screen design
- Significantly improve performance
Some of the screens in iBex will be easily changed, some will require a new look at how we do things.
The iBex Modernisation Project (also known as version 5) will be ongoing for some time although we hope to make significant progress during the next 12 months. We have already delivered some of the new functionality as part of this project including:
- Dashboard
- Sales Report
- Booking Source Report
- Unit Owner Portal
- Image Uploader
- Housekeeping
You will gradually see more and more new screen designs which we will switch you over to. But we will retain the old screens for a while to ensure that no important functionality is inadvertently lost.
The next major update will be to the bookings calendar and backend bookings. This is a more significant enhancement and will provide not only better screen design but also considerable performance improvements especially for those customers with large numbers of units such as holiday parks.
We look forward to bringing these improvements to you as quickly as we can.
We’ve also had a few changes in staff that we’d like to make you aware of.
- Steffen has moved on to become a General Manager at a local Hotel. Adrian Roux who was our South Island BDM has since moved into this role.
- Jen & Asa have joined the support team, as Ronny has gone on maternity leave.
- Brook is now managing the Website Team to ensure Fully Managed websites and Hosted Websites get the attention they need to flourish.
Our front booking screens grow closer to completion each day. They are currently in the testing phase and are being evaluated before they can be released to a select group to beta test them.
If you’d like to be one of the first to get your hands on the new booking engine and help us beta test it, please get in touch with support and let them know by emailing support@seekom.com.
Our newest service - Google Hotel Ads, is in full swing. Take control of your Google My Business page and Google Map listing with the power of promoting your direct booking price above the OTA’s.
We’ve got all the information covered on our website which you can view by clicking here.
Millions of searches are performed on Google Ads every day, with Google releasing figures that Google estimates metasearch ads on their platform have a potential to reach over 1 Billion users per week, with 1 in 3 hotel queries start in Google maps and 1 in 4 hotel bookings start in Google maps for accommodation.
With Online Travel Agents already using this service to secure potential customers, why not take full advantage of the Seekom Toolkit and capture those potential customers by sending them directly from Google Maps or Google searches direct to your online booking screens, with instantaneous availability and rates.
One of our amazing business development managers will be in touch to showcase our product to you and talk you through how we can help grow your business.
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Why you should use Property Management System Software for your Caravan Parks and Camping Parks
Why you should use Property Management System Software for your Caravan Parks and Camping Parks
Property Management Systems (PMS) are used widely by accommodation providers and are already being used by many caravan and camping parks around the world. With domestic travel in the UK being so high as hospitality and tourism gets busy again, it’s only natural that being able to efficiently maximise your time, space, and staff power is going to help your business thrive in the current climate.
Property Management System Software provides a centralized web application to organize, schedule and perform the day-to-day functions and transactions involved in accommodation businesses for your park.
Our property management system (PMS) iBex can comfortably be used without need for any specific hardware or even directly from your mobile. When running a busy caravan park, this would allow you to manage on the go without having to increase staffing as each member of staff can access new bookings, arrivals and departures, or even daily jobs as needed.
Read on to find out some key reasons why Property Management Software is important to a Caravan Park or Camping Park in the UK and abroad in 2021.
1. Functional Software for Camping and Caravan Parks
Seekom's property management system (PMS) provides many functions to Camping and Caravan Park providers & owners to manage their business effectively and efficiently.
Some of those functions are:
- Channel Manager
- Website Booking Engine
- Housekeeping Management and Inventory
- Automated Revenue Management
- Upselling System
- Integrations such as Xero
- Dynamic Pricing
- Express Check In Service
- Google Hotel Ads
- Unit Owner Reconciliation
2. Link your Caravan or Camping Park with online travel agents (OTA's)
Our property management system (PMS) is designed to allow you to link all of your booking sources back to our cloud-based system. Reservations from Online Travel Agents (OTAs), your own site, and manual booking entries are easily fed through to the system and allocated to appropriate units. Common examples of an Online Travel Agent are Booking.com, Expedia and Trivago. Linking your Caravan Park or Camping Park with OTA's allows you to increase your properties visibility in the market - effectively increasing the size of your net. However do be aware these agents will take a commission for providing you bookings.
3. Add a booking engine to your website to capture direct bookings
Create your own personalised front booking screen for your website; listing availability, extras, and the option to allow promotional codes. The power of direct bookings allows you to price your Caravan Park or Camping Park without any OTA commission - meaning your guests get a cheaper price and you make more revenue. Promotional codes also provide an incentive which you can add to your social media and other communication platforms, increasing your occupancy.
4. Manage rates and units from a central location for multiple platforms
To ensure the most effective use of the space available to you, you can set up units for day visits, block off seasonal pitches, and map units to multiple room types. Rates can be altered manually, given set rules to vary situationally, or linked up with Room Price Genie (RPG) which can automatically update rates depending on local data. You can also set minimum stays for those busy holiday periods, and a host of other customisable options that our support staff are ready to help you take advantage of.
5. Make use of the information and help available
If you're used to pen and paper or a spreadsheet - the technology at first can be daunting. Whichever software you do choose - make sure to make the most of it by reading up on online documentation and engaging with a support team for the software to make sure you get adequate training.
Our support team is always here to provide clear, concise training, and on-going assistance so that you can make the most of our property management system (PMS). We've trained and assisted many Parks, Caravan Parks, Camping Parks and everything in-between to make sure they get the most out of our system and are operating at an optimum level.
With over 2000+ properties worldwide and the leader in New Zealand for Holiday Park Property Management Software, you can be sure that we have the solution and training for you.
6. Bonus Tip - Get a Free Demo of our Property Management System for Caravan Parks and Holiday Parks today!
Once you've signed up for a free demo, we can provide you with a test account to explore the product, if you have an existing system with someone else we can transfer the data and future and past bookings across to our system with ease, and we set you up with all the channels you need such as Booking.com or Expedia. We have a vast toolkit ready to help you maximize yield and get the greatest return year round.
One of our amazing business development managers will be in touch to showcase our product to you and talk you through how we can help grow your business.
Contact Us
PO Box 9300, Marion Square, Wellington 6141
Phone (NZ) : +64 4 974 9588
Phone (UK) : +44 20 3835 5939
Support: support@seekom.com
Websites: webhelp@seekom.com
Copyright 2022 © Seekom Limited (NZ owned)