5 Tips for Hotel Software and Hotel Property Management Systems
5 Tips for Hotel Software and Hotel Property Management Systems
Hotel Software and Property Management System functionality is abundant in todays industry. Utilizing cloud based software that adds many levels of functions, reporting and data analysis is very important when operating a Hotel. We've listed the top five tips for you when operating a Hotel and using Hotel Software.
1. Automated Revenue Management
Hotel Software has grown in technology over the years, and gone are the days that you must have a Revenue Manager in your team. The ability to scan competitors, upcoming events and adjust rates automatically can be accessed from companies offering this service, which can significantly reduce costs and overheads in your Hotel. Seekom offer this service using our API connection to European company RoomPriceGenie.
We've seen as a Company significant growth for all types of accommodation providers by using this service. Having the right price, at the perfect time allows you to capitalize on guests looking to book in your area, or at your Hotel specifically.
2. Upselling before the guest arrives
If you're looking to automate your Hotel Software, consider using an Upselling service that will send automated emails to an arrival a month, a week or a day out of their check in time. The ability to offer the guest extra features, amenities, tours and other extras can lead to a significant increase on the total room value, and their booking. Not only this, but you're providing the guest with more options.
A report published by HotelSpeak in 2020 stated that the distribution of what is sold via an upsell varies depending on the location and size of the hotel. As a Hotelier you know your guests best - so add the extras you think make your Hotel special!
Psst - Seekom also offer this functionality. Head over to our upselling page here to learn more.
3. Tracking the data on your platforms
Analyzing your Hotel Software channels is one of the most key aspects to understanding what your guests and potential guests want. Consider adding Google Analytics to your website with specific goals and conversions set up, add Facebook and Instagram Pixel information so that you can advertise to users who dropped off your website, generate reports so that you can digest the information through channels and figure out your personas and demographics. The list is huge for this one, if you're not sure where to start you could always look at hiring a marketing professional.
4 Housekeeping Applications
Just like revenue management, you can now save significant time by using a Housekeeping application such as HKeeper. Track job sheets, assign work, manage staff and cleaning duties, assign roles and more within an app such as this. The app can be given to all staff to improve productivity and efficiency, as well allowing the manager or GM to track and report on workload and jobs done. This information can also be parsed or handed over to the reception staff to communicate with a new arrival. (e.g - their room has been cleaned and are able to check in early)
5. Dashboards & Reporting
Viewing occupancy & revenue at a glance is important to management to plan marketing initiatives, rate adjustment, events and more in todays market. The ability to produce reports using different factors and metrics allows you to quickly astatine the data you require to make certain decisions and it has never been easier with Property Management Systems and Software providers to provide you with this information. Coupled with Marketing data and website data you act assured that you're making the right move forward for your Hotel.
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.
Sign Up For Updates
Seekom Quarterly Update
Seekom Quarterly Update
Welcome to the Seekom quarterly update.
It's been a busy few months in Q2 - Conferences, new features and functionality and more updates from the Development team.
Keep reading to learn about what Seekom has been up to since the last update and what we're doing to help you grow your business, occupancy and revenue in 2021.
1. 2021 Seekom Conference
Our 2021 Conference was a huge success. With over 100 attendees (including staff) at the Rydges Hotel in Wellington - our clients came away with a vast amount of ideas, experience and skills to assist them. From day to day operations to revenue growth and privacy, our diverse range of keynote speakers inspired and educated the audience with their subject matter.
Seekom is very passionate about upskilling our clients in any area we can assist, as we want to work with you to make sure you're getting the highest level of occupancy and revenue that you can. We see the conference as a way to achieve this, as well as a great way for operators to network with suppliers and each other to gain that valuable knowledge.
If you missed out on our conference - dont worry! We will be hosting one in 2022 (hopefully - looking at you COVID!)
Below is a small gallery of some of the great photography captured by the talented Adrian Heke who was present at the event taking photos.
2. Website Booking Engine
Our new website booking engine is almost ready!
With it's modern UX (user experience) design and ease of use for your customers - a higher website conversion ratio and more direct bookings are just around the corner.
We're really excited to release these to our customers and bring in a more modern design of our website booking engine. The ability to track your marketing efforts through Google Analytics, Google Ads and Facebook Pixel will assist you or your marketing company in identifying ROI.
The booking screens will be released in phases, with the first iteration being quite "stripped back" to the essentials, and each phase will bring further functionality. We estimate the first phase of the booking engine to be with you by August 2021.
Please note these booking screens are still in development and are subject to change.
3. Google Hotel Ads
Seekom is excited to announce our new service for our customers - Google Hotel Ads.
We've partnered with leading meta search company myhotelshop to power direct bookings to our customers using this service.
Google Hotel Ads utilizes the Google map and search platform for users searching for specific accommodation, or accommodation in an area, to showcase your property for users to book online with instant availability and confirmation.
If you'd like to more about this service click here for more information or find the link in our menu under services.
4. HKeeper Housekeeping App
Optimize and automate your workflow with HKeeper's advanced housekeeping and virtual concierge module.
Control Housekeeping, maintenance and internal communications from the app. Automate tasks and automatically send guests a cleanliness certificate on completion.
Room service and concierge services are efficient using the virtual concierge, guests can access via a QR code and web application sending orders directly to the kitchen, bar or wherever they need to go to deliver a fast and reliable service.
HKeeper saves you time and money. Click here to visit their website.
5. RevM8 - INNtelligent data
Automated Competitive Pricing Solutions and Analytics for Hotels, Motels, Independent Accommodation Providers and Small to Medium Chains.
Are you leaving money on the table?
One of the main responsibilities of a hotelier, motelier or independent accommodation operator is to ensure you are ahead of your competition both in occupancy and rate.
The reality is that you are most probably not a revenue management expert & there isn’t time in the day to analyse your competitor’s every move and make the right pricing decisions.
How can RevM8 help me?
- SAVE PRECIOUS TIME - No need to waste precious resources to manually check competitors discounted rates across different OTA’s, room types and rate plans across a range of days.
- MAXIMISE REVENUE - Easily identify days when competitors are sold out so you can maximize your rate and revenue.
- IDENTIFY OPPORTUNITIES - Know on which dates in the future your competitors have changed their rate and by how much giving you key insights into their demand.
- ACCURATE COMPETITOR TRACKING - Track data by Room Category to compare similar room types of Competitors.
- MOBILE APP, TEXT & EMAIL ALERTS - Mobile App for data at your fingertips. Action alerts immediately with daily WhatsApp text alerts and emails.
- RANKING AND REVIEW SCORE COMPARISON - See your Ranking Visibility Position on an OTA and Review Score versus the competition
RevM8 is your personal revenue partner that alerts you to only the critical dates and information you need to focus on.
Click here to view RevM8's website, or click here for their promotional video.
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.
Sign Up For Updates
Property Management System Security | Tips For You | iBex by Seekom
Security | Property Management System Online Security
Property Management System Security is essential to an operator in the modern world. Making sure you and your staff are operating safely and using best practices can save you a lot of time and hassle in the long run. In this article we talk about the importance of strong, secure passwords, two factor authentication, email security, separation of work and personal accounts and some best practices.
1. Why a strong password is important online
Password strength is one of the most important aspects when it comes to security for your property management system access. Having a hard to guess password, that has uppercase and lowercase characters and symbols is always a good start. If you're having trouble thinking of a strong password, try out a free online generator such as https://passwordsgenerator.net/.
Below are a list of the most commonly used (and subsequently hacked) passwords.
Disclaimer: Don't use any of the below passwords for any login credentials.
- 123456
- 123456789
- qwerty
- password
- Admin
- 87654321
- 1q2w3e4r
- picture1
- 111111
- 123123
The reason for a strong password for your Property Management System login is important because the system holds a lot of personal information, such as phone numbers, addresses, names and more. If your login is breached a user could take this information and use it maliciously.
The longer the password you use, the better. The reason for this is that a malicious person may use a "brute force" style attack to gain access to your systems. This involves either manually or automating the process of typing in characters over and over untill they get your password. The more numbers and letters you have, the longer it takes someone to guess the password.
You can actually enter a password at https://howsecureismypassword.net/ and it will tell you how long it would take someone to guess it using this type of attack / software.
Helpful tips to help you create a stronger password
Tip: Try replacing letters in your password with numbers and symbols instead (e.g from seekomisthebest to $33k0m1sth3b3$t)
2. Two Factor Authentication (2FA)
You may have seen 2FA written somewhere, or heard the phrase "two factor authentication" before but not fully sure what exactly it is.
Two factor authentication is the process of adding another source (such as your mobile phone) to authenticate that the person logging into a system is actually you. 2FA is important because it adds another layer of security to your passwords. Even if your password was able to be guessed, the attacker doesn't have your mobile phone so they aren't able to get into the system. You also get a notification that someone attempted a login, so you know to change or update your password.
It’s an additional physical authentication (usually an SMS, call, or code generator sent to your mobile phone).
This makes it nearly impossible for someone to hack into your accounts.
iBex - our Property Management System, has 2FA enabled for our vault (credit card storage) so that attackers are unable to gain access to sensitive and finanical information.
3. Email Vulnerability & Good Email Habits
There's lots of things that can catch people out when accessing emails, and clicking on links. The number one rule that we would suggest when going to click on a link in an email, would be to hover over the link with your mouse and see down the bottom left of the browser where that link is taking you (see below screenshot for an example)
Other Email Tips;
- Make sure the site you are signing up to is secure (https:// not http:// )
- Make sure it is a current platform that is updated frequently (old, outdated platforms are bigger security risks)
- If seeking assistance, be weary of personnel remoting into your computer through applications like Teamviewer. Make sure it is a trusted source.
- Password Resets can be risky if your email is not secure.
- 2 Factor on your email address is very important, especially for businesses.
What you shouldn't do;
- Generally speaking, anyone trying to "give you money" online is 99% of a scam (unless you know them of course)
- Emails from unknown sources (you haven't heard from them, don't know them) may contain links. Don't click these links without identifying who the emailer is. If you're not sure - consider asking a friend or family member if they're technically minded, or even email the person back to get more information who they are.
- Check out this information about scams from the government to better learn about this type of attack.
4. Staff logins to your Property Management System
Below are some quick tips for better security when using our Property Management System, or a PMS in general.
- All staff accessing iBex and iBex Vault should be set up with separate logins.
- Separate logins means you can restrict staff to permissions or properties based upon their training and authorisation.
- You can easily disable their access when they terminate employment with you.
- No staff should be sharing usernames and passwords for login.
- Separate logins makes it easier to track changes each staff member is making.
- If one staff user is compromised, it won’t affect your other staff users.
- You can have unlimited staff users for no added cost!
5. General Security Information
If you're concerned you don't know enough of the above and want to learn more about being safe online - contact the government branch NetSafe who can assist you with more information.
If you'd like more information or assistance to be safer when using iBex, please contact us.
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.
Sign Up For Updates
Five Important things for your Accommodation Website
Five Important things for your Accommodation Website
In this article Seekom will touch on five important things every operator needs on their accommodation website. Having a website is critical to securing direct bookings as an accommodation provider - direct bookings mean no commission fees to pay OTA's, repeat customers, direct reviews against your accommodation and better prices for your guests. There's many aspects that make up a great accommodation website, we've listed 5 of the most important ones to help you get started, or to help you identify where you need to focus your energy on.
1. Professional Photos
Professional photos are one of the most important aspects to an accommodation website. A good image can be the deciding factor when it comes to a customer booking direct. Often the image will be the first thing that catches the potential customers eye - so it's always best to make sure you use a professional. With the technology we have today however, you may be able to use your own mobile phone. Just make sure the photos are taken in landscape so they can fit nicely on your website. Here's an article by iGMS that gives information on how to great photos yourself if you're that way inclined.
In conclusion - whether you use a professional or you do it yourself - make sure they're good! You can always send a few to Seekom and we can provide you with feedback. Trust us when we say we've seen a lot of property and room photos.
2. Your direct rate is the lowest rate on the internet for your Property or Room
Now this can be hard for some operators depending on the country and type of accommodation (see: rate parity) However if you're able too - make your direct rate the lowest rate for your accommodation or room across all digital channels. Often users will do some heavy research on where to get the best price if they've chosen you as their choice of accommodation, if your price is the lowest on your website, guess what, you're getting that direct booking. Easy right?
3. Easy to use Booking Engine
Ah yes - the booking engine. You can have a fast website, great photos and an awesome rate for your guests, but if the booking engine doesnt work, is slow or hard to use, you can lose a lot of potential customers at the stage where add their payment details. Having a functional and easy to use system for users to book is essential. Not only will your conversion rates increase (thus earning more revenue) you'll make the guests life easier, which in turn can increase the review they leave you as the enter your accommodation already stress free.
4. SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
SEO is another essential and important aspect of a website. SEO stands for "Search Engine Optimisation" - which in short means that your website is optimised to be found on search engines. The better optimised, the more often you show up in search results, meaning more bookings. SEO is a complex topic and requires a serious ammount of time to get right, however there's lots of tools out there you can use to assist you with it. Seekom recommends you use an audit tool such as Neil Patel's "Ubersuggest" to get started.
Here's a link to try it out for free.
If you're using a WordPress website, the easiest tool to use that tells you what to do to each post or page would be Yoast.
You can also look at an agency or contractor to undertake this work for you, however make sure you get a few quotes to make sure you aren't being overcharged for the work.
5. Good UX and UI experiences for your website
Good UX (user experience) and UI (user interaction) on your website can also be the deciding factor to a user booking with you. The flow through from landing on the website, to making a booking must be easy, intuitive and simple for the user. Often we see simple websites actually performing better than really detailed fancy websites, as the user gets the information they are after in a clear way which they can understand quickly and make an informed decision right there and then. If you would like some examples of good website design - please don't hesitate to contact us at support@seekom.com. Alternatively, see our website services by clicking the below button.
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.
Sign Up For Updates
What's new from Seekom
New Features & Functionality
Here at Seekom, we continue to work hard to provide you with a Property Management System that makes your day-to-day operations as easy as possible.
Our Product and customer team are currently working through a total revamp of all screens to make them more intuitive, fully mobile friendly and higher performing.
Below are some of the screens that have been revamped and some that are due to be released in the near future
Upcoming Features:
1. New Booking Engine
Our new front booking engine is almost ready for testing. With it’s modern UX design, and ease of use for customers, higher website conversions and more direct bookings are just around the corner.
2. Unpaid Bookings Report
Generate a list of all unpaid bookings in an instant - this highly requested feature means you will never forget to charge a Booking.com or Expedia virtual card again!
Delivered Features:
1. Version 5 Photo Management
Upload and rearrange photos in bulk to save you and your staff time. Drag and drop photos between different room types and import higher resolution files.
Released: September 2021
2. Google Hotel Ads
The much anticipated integration to MyHotelShop, which will increase your direct bookings through Google Hotel Ads. Learn more about it by clicking here
Released: July 2021
3. Average Daily Rate and RevPar Pace Analysis
Many of you will already be using our Dashboard Advanced Pace Reports to track your performance of occupancy and revenue compared to previous years. Average Daily Rate and RevPar pace will also be added to this page.
Released: May 2021
Check out our blog on Seekom Pace Reports here https://www.seekom.com/pace-reports
4. Sales Report
The Version 5 Sales Report will allow you to gain better insight into your year to year financial performance. Easier to use, with more filters and graphs.
Released: May 2021
5. Dashboard
The Version 5 Sales Report will allow you to gain better insight into your year to year financial performance. Easier to use, with more filters and graphs.
Released: February 2021
Get in touch with us
If you have any questions, or want any further information on any of the soon to be released features listed above, don’t hesitate to contact one of the team at: support@seekom.com.
We also keep a regular list of the latest releases if you are interested in keeping up to date with what we have been working on. Click the button below or look for the link in our menu under the about section.
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.
Sign Up For Updates