Feeling frazzled with end-of-financial-year accounting looming large? Fear not: Seekom is here to save the day with a host of helpful reports designed to make it easy to get those accounting ducks in a row and flying in a tax-compliant direction.
We asked the superheroes in our support team to select the top Seekom reports for accommodation businesses navigating the end of the financial year and planning for the future. Knowledge is power – use it to your advantage!
Need to track down a payee’s name or a comment you left on a payment you received to help you reconcile and finalise your end of year accounts?The Payments Received Report makes tracking it down easy by allowing you to search through all your payment records.
A host of filters will save you time by letting you create bespoke reports to pinpoint the information you require. These filters include ‘booking reference’, ‘invoice number’, ‘payment reference’ and even ‘comments’.
Sometimes it can be useful to analyse your sales figures over a particular period so you can see when your business is most profitable, figure out why, and adjust your rates or services accordingly.
We created the Sales Report to give you all your sales data at a glance. It provides an itemised sales list inclusive of accommodation charges and any extra additional services, which you can filter to customise your report and hone in on details.
Keeping track of past bookings that haven’t been paid or invoiced can be a headache. That’s why we’ve created the Unpaid Bookings Report to help you identify and neatly resolve any past bookings, made by anyone, that still haven’t been invoiced or paid for.
Aside from showing uninvoiced and unpaid bookings up until the date of the report being pulled, this report can also be helpful for analysing your booking data. For example, if the number of unpaid bookings at your accommodation is increasing over time, you might want to consider incentivising advance payment by guests.
If you worry you might miss collecting funds you’re owed specifically by corporates or online travel agents (OTAs), the Debtors’ Report is for you.
You’ll be able to see, at a glance, all outstanding balances they owe for past and future bookings, and how long their payments have been overdue. This ensures you can take action sooner rather than later – always a good thing when it comes to chasing up debts.
To make it even simpler to manage your accounts Seekom works hand-in-hand with Xero, allowing you to post invoices and credit notes directly to it. Find out more about syncing Seekom with Xero in our help guide.
At Seekom we’re always trying to make your life easier by letting you enjoy more success and less stress. We’ve created these reports to save you time and help you navigate the tax system with confidence – we hope they simplify the challenge of running your business.
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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 2024 © Seekom Limited (NZ owned)
In the fiercely competitive hospitality industry, staying ahead of the curve is crucial for success. One powerful tool that can significantly boost the online presence of hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts, and short-term rental properties is Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
In this article, we’ll explore the key benefits of SEO for businesses in the hospitality sector, focusing on optimising the meta titles, meta description and main headings (H1 tags) on your website pages. By doing this, you will give your pages the best possible chance of appearing in the search results when a potential guest is using Google, Bing or another search engine to look for accommodation.
There are some simple but effective steps you can take to improve the meta titles, meta descriptions and h1 tags on your website. These are all quick wins and will help improve how well your website is optimised for search engines.
Reviewing your meta titles, meta descriptions and h1 tags is about more than just improving your search results. It can also provide for a better user experience. Keep these key considerations in mind when doing your SEO optimisations.
One way to differentiate your property is to target a specific niche of the accommodation market. You can really get your niche targeting humming by tailoring your meta titles, meta descriptions and h1 tags to the niche you have identified.
Most search engines will prioritise content that is clearly marked as being in the vicinity of the location a guest is looking for when they search online, or close to the area they are physically conducting their online search from. The meta titles, meta descriptions and h1 tags on your page can play an important role in helping search engines understand the geographic locations your accommodation property’s pages are most relevant to.
When it comes to length, a good rule of thumb for the meta titles, meta descriptions and H1 tags on your website is as follows:
Note: Something you may not know, is that we also build websites. Many of our customers have Seekom built, fully managed websites which we maintain, including SEO management. If you’re interested in finding out more about this, get in touch.
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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.
Our fully scalable Property Management System can provide you the tools and integrations you need to scale and grow your business year round. With the added functionality of a fully integrated channel manager, connect your property or properties to as many channels as you'd like.
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 2024 © Seekom Limited (NZ owned)
Online bookings make up a large portion of most accommodation providers’ revenue. That’s the reason many hotels, motels and holiday parks put so much effort into ensuring the booking engine on their website is easy to use and presents their accommodation in the best possible light.
However, there is another link in the online booking chain that isn’t always given the attention it deserves, and that’s the payment solution you chose to handle online card payments.
This is the technology that ensures payments made by your guests when they make a booking are transmitted securely to a payment processor and can ultimately make it into your bank account.
There are a myriad of payment solutions available, ranging from having separate arrangements with an acquirer, payment gateway intermediary and a network, to a simple one stop shop such as SeekomPay that provides a full payment solution with seamless integration into our Seekom property management software.
The payment solution you choose can have a big impact on your balance sheet and cash flow, so it’s worth taking the time to consider a few key points when deciding which one to use.
If you’ve invested a lot of time into your website, online booking engine and other systems, you will want to make sure the payment solution you choose plays nicely with them.
There are many solutions available that can be integrated with your platform of choice. For example, Seekom works seamlessly with our SeekomPay solution and we also offer integrations with a range of other payment gateway providers.
Before you settle on your payment solution, consider the systems you currently use and make sure they offer integrations with your preferred choice.
According to Statista, e-commerce losses to online payment fraud were estimated at US$41 billion in 2022. For this reason, security should be high on your list.
The gold standard for security, and the one all online merchants should aspire to, is Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) compliance. PCI DSS is a set of international security regulations implemented by card schemes to safeguard credit and debit card transactions while preventing the misuse of cardholders' personal information.
Using a PCI DSS compliant payment solution means transactions are securely encrypted and appropriate steps are taken throughout the transaction chain to protect your customers, and yourself, from the impacts of fraud.
Some payment solutions also offer ‘tokenisation’, which allows a customers’ credit card details to be securely stored. This is particularly useful if you have repeat bookings at your accommodation as it means guests won’t have to enter all of their card details to pay every time they book online with you.
Another consideration is whether the payment solution uses 3D Secure 2.0. This technology analyses each transaction made on a card and gives it a risk rating. If the transaction is deemed high risk, the customer is required to provide further evidence of their identity, often by entering a password or a code sent to their personal email or mobile device. This can reduce fraud stemming from stolen cards.
The purpose of your payment solution is to help facilitate payments from your customers, so it makes sense to consider what payment methods it supports.
Think about the credit cards your customers use and any other ways they like to pay for their bookings and choose a solution that supports those methods.
Also consider whether or not you need a physical payment terminal. Payment terminals generally attract a monthly fee, and if your guests are almost entirely booking online (and rarely pay on site), you could be saving money by setting up a virtual terminal, if this is supported by the payment solution you're considering
The world of payments is complex and it helps to understand the differences between various links in the payments ‘chain’, so you can assess where you might be able to minimise unnecessary overheads and agreements with different providers.
For payments to be fully processed, there are three key components:
Many accommodation providers will have separate agreements with each of these entities to enable payments to be processed, and in some cases they won’t be integrated with the accommodation provider’s property management system. Other payment solutions, such as SeekomPay, facilitate all of these components, making life simpler and more often than not, saving money.
Another consideration is cost.
Payment gateway providers typically charge a monthly fixed fee, plus a fee on each transaction they process. Usually they’ll charge a minimum monthly fee if your transactions fall below a certain threshold.
Merchant acquirers charge a merchant service fee (a percentage of the transaction value). In some cases merchant service fees are charged as a ‘blended rate’, where all card types incur the same fees, while in other cases an acquirer may charge different merchant service fees depending on the card type, i.e. a rate for domestic debit and credit cards, a rate for commercial & premium cards and then an additional loading for international cards.
Networks charge a monthly fee in New Zealand.
The fees and rates you will pay for your full payment solution can vary, so it’s worth checking what kind of impact they will have on your bottom line. It’s also worth finding out about any other hidden fees, along with potential initial setup fees.
It’s a balancing act – looking at the best merchant service fee alone might not be the best deal for you if you’re also paying fees and charges to other providers, needing up to three separate direct debit arrangements and missing other components, such as the benefits of having a solution that is fully integrated with your property management software. And remember, you can offset your merchant service fee by applying a surcharge. This is common globally, including in Australia, and is becoming more accepted in New Zealand.
While payment solutions should run without a hitch, payments involve complex infrastructure and there is always the possibility that something could go wrong. If the worst happens, will you be able to get support or information quickly?
For New Zealand and Australian accommodation businesses, there is benefit in choosing a local provider with a support team that operates in the same time zone. You will also want to make sure you can reach them on the phone if needed – there’s nothing worse than having an urgent issue and only being able to contact support by email.
Choosing the right payment solution is the hard part, but before you can start accepting credit card payments from guests for the first time or via your new chosen solution, you'll need to complete and submit a merchant application form.
This application is a prerequisite to establishing a merchant account with your chosen payments provider, and requests information such as business profile details, owner details, processing details, and transaction information. It allows the merchant acquirer to obtain a profile about you and your business and helps them assess the merchant application for
approval.
To ensure you don’t have to stop-start when completing the application form, be prepared and make sure you have certain things on hand, such as:
Completing application forms can be a daunting task and sometimes puts people off from changing providers, even though it is financially beneficial for them. At Seekom we make this process as easy as possible by pre-completing as much of the application as possible based on discussions with our customers. All they need to do is to complete the sections that
require proof of ID, bank account and trading address.
Once done, the application will be assessed for approval. Once approved, you will be onboarded as a merchant and can soon begin accepting guest payments.
If you opt to have a separate payment gateway intermediary you’ll need to complete a separate application in addition to the merchant application. The requirements for this application are typically not as intensive as for the merchant application.
Whatever you choose, it’s worth monitoring your performance and keeping your options open as online transactions can play a large role in the success of your accommodation business. In this regard it may be helpful to choose a provider that doesn’t lock you into a long-term contract – our own SeekomPay solution is provided on an open-term agreement so you can join and leave as you please.
Interested in using SeekomPay? We are offering to waive SeekomPay sign-up fees for any businesses that join before the end of October 2023. To find out more, visit our SeekomPay page.
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.
Our fully scalable Property Management System can provide you the tools and integrations you need to scale and grow your business year round. With the added functionality of a fully integrated channel manager, connect your property or properties to as many channels as you'd like.
Smarts to help you operate more effectively and efficiently. From guides of our systems and integrations to tips and tricks you can use every day - we've got you covered.
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 2024 © Seekom Limited (NZ owned)
While customers bear some personal responsibility for avoiding scams, it’s also crucial that companies can be relied on to safeguard the data they hold on their customers’ behalf.
After all, the last thing you want is for any credit card details or your business’ email list to be stolen by scammers and used with malevolent intent.
It can sometimes be hard to identify scams, not least because scam types and techniques are constantly evolving, but also because scammers often use psychological techniques to make it less likely for people to identify a scam.
Scammers contact their targets via all sorts of methods: text, email, phone, social media, messaging apps, fake websites, or even in person. Regardless of the scam, or how it is presented, there are some established actions you can take to reduce the likelihood of being taken in by it.
Maintaining a healthy level of scepticism is no bad thing. Anyone contacting you legitimately will respect the fact you might need to ask some hard questions upfront before you are comfortable dealing with them.
Also, if you are asked for money or to confirm personal details, take some time to think before you respond. Very few situations are so urgent that you need to act straight away. If you’re not sure whether a request is legitimate, you could phone someone you trust to get an objective perspective on the situation, or Google the company’s details and contact them through their official website.
If they have emailed you, carefully check their email address - does it look suspicious or is it a slight variation on their business name (e.g. an extra character added in the middle - think @nike.com instead of @ni-ke.com)? Many banks maintain lists of known scams from people pretending to be bank staff. So it is worth keeping up to date with those as well (e.g. you can view BNZ’s ‘latest scams’ page here).
One of the more worrying approaches used by some scammers is blackmail, or demands for a ransom. In some cases this can involve claims that they have hacked your system and a threat that they will release information that is embarrassing or financially damaging if payment isn’t made, while in other cases they may demand a ransom to restore access to systems they claim to have taken control of. It is possible that your security may have been compromised, but in many instances these claims are bluffs, so don’t take all such claims at face value and get an expert to look into it.
If you have multiple staff using your online systems, now may be a good time to review the permissions you have in place. It’s easy to forget to update permissions when someone moves into a new role within your business, or to forget to remove their account when they leave. Undertaking regular account and permissions reviews, as well as having sound policies in place for how team members should store and protect passwords, is time well spent.
It goes without saying you should never open attachments or click on links you’re not confident are from a reliable source – you could be opening a Pandora’s box of malicious code ready to infiltrate your computer or personal device.
For more useful advice check out Consumer Protection NZ advice on avoiding scams.
And of course, always remember the ancient adage your parents might have told you: if it seems too good to be true, you’re probably about to get scammed hard.
In September this year, Auckland Transport suffered its second ransomware attack in a month when a group called Medusa threatened to release financial data it claimed to have stolen from the agency’s ticketing system.
The initial attack crashed Auckland Transport’s HOP card system, meaning top ups of customers’ travel cards and other HOP services had to be taken offline.
The agency responded promptly by getting their HOP card system back up and running within a short space of time. It chose not to bow down to the scammers’ ransom demands, apparently confident in the IT security safeguards it had in place to protect its customer’s financial details.
Despite making the news, Auckland Transport’s situation is an example of a business that could trust the security of its systems and therefore avoided a worst-case scenario.
Business owners are well-advised to employ the same general scam identification and handling tools in their day-to-day dealings that individuals would use.
With a chain being only as strong as its weakest link, and businesses being much juicier prizes for scammers due to the amount of personal data they might hold, businesses also need to make sure their software systems are equipped to repel cyber threats. This can avoid a worst-case scenario that gets a business in the news for all wrong reasons.
If you need detailed security advice there are many experts you can engage to help you put tools in place that are fit for purpose –there’s no one-size-fits all solution so it pays to consider your own business and the specific risks you and your users face.
Seekom employs a host of IT security measures to stay one step ahead of scammers, eliminate cyber threats and protect the data your customers trust you to look after.
Monthly IT and cyber security health checks allow us to identify any areas for security improvement and ensure we are sticking to best practice. We engage a trusted third party to run quarterly vulnerability scans on our software to meet our PCI DSS requirements.
On top of this, strict data use and security policies for all Seekom staff are in force and we are 100% GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) compliant.
All Seekom’s critical systems are behind a virtual private network as well as being cloud-hosted in Amazon Web Services, giving a double layer of security. Going one step further, secure credit card storage adds another layer of ‘armour’ to minimise the risk of financial data being hacked.
We regard scam protection and cyber security as a team effort, that’s why we’re busy behind the scenes, maintaining best practice and playing our part to provide a safe and secure software platform. For more handy advice, read our recent blog on playing it safe online with Seekom.
With all these measures in place Seekom’s premium protection offers you the peace of mind to concentrate on doing what you do best – making a success out of your business.
Smarts to help you operate more effectively and efficiently. From guides of our systems and integrations to tips and tricks you can use every day - we've got you covered.
Sign Up For Updates
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.
Our fully scalable Property Management System can provide you the tools and integrations you need to scale and grow your business year round. With the added functionality of a fully integrated channel manager, connect your property or properties to as many channels as you'd like.
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 2024 © Seekom Limited (NZ owned)
Increasing direct bookings is an extremely powerful way to increase your revenue by saving on online travel agent commission.
With online travel agents taking more in commission each year, the power to drive new and returning guests to your website for direct bookings, or to call you to make a booking, is where you can get the biggest slice of the revenue pie.
In this article, we’re giving you some tips and tricks on how you can maximise direct bookings and with that your bottom line.
It’s natural for someone planning a getaway to try and get the best rate possible for their property of choice. So, if your direct booking rate is the lowest a potential guest can find for your accommodation - you're instantly more likely to secure that guest's booking with you directly. Getting the best rate by booking direct will also positively influence the guest perception.
To ensure potential guests find your property when they’re surfing the net, you’ll need to have a website that is optimised to show at the top of the search list.
To ensure your website motivates the person to make a booking on your website rather than go back to one of the channels, there are a few things you need to do to maximise the performance of your website.
So you've got the lowest price on your website compared to other channels, you've done work on your website and have started offering incentives to book direct, but what's next?
Promoting your business online is all about ROI (Return on Investment), or in the sphere of Digital Marketing - ROAS (Return on Ad Spend). First off, lets list the basics;
The above four are the most commonly used platforms to promote your business. Each platform works differently for each business and also industry. It's always best to trial each one out using similar objectives to make sure you are using the best stack of platforms to get results.
It's also really important to have Google Analytics installed on your website. Google Analytics (or also referred to as GA) is one of the attributes used to check whether your website is web standard compliant. Not having GA, means that your website isn’t up to modern web standards set by Google and others.
There is a bit to learn in terms of navigating Google Analytics and what the output of data actually means. But once you get familiar with the basics through some tutorials you will be able to advertise more efficiently and effectively.
Often we see that operators want to use marketing methods, but don't know where to start. We suggest either using an Agency (which can be expensive), a freelancer or learning it yourself (e.g. online courses, YouTube, and Google help. You can also use your local commerce division or other areas to get assistance which can sometimes be free.)
If you are paying someone else to do this for you, it’s worthwhile learning the basics and common terminology used. This will help you when engaging withan agency and it will assist you in determining whether you are getting a good return on investment.
Be active on Google My Business! This is important because it’s your business profile on Google. Google My Business provides a role in where your website ranks - with some data suggesting that the greater number of reviews you get, the better your website ranking will be.
Here you can manage your hours of operation (an important query often asked by guests), reviews, photos, and other business information such as location.
If you have a guest that has had an awesome stay and communicates this to you or your staff, suggest to them to leave you a nice Google review, or even better yet put it in your post-departure SMS.
Responding to reviews in a professional manner and making sure each one is personalised has shown a strong correlation to an increase in bookings and repeat guests - your business comes across as sincere and genuine and that you've taken time out of your day to reply to them.
A simple method of improving your direct bookings is to connect with some local businesses in your area. For example, you could promote a certain restaurant on your website and other platforms, and they return the favour. This can lead to a few extra bookings a month - as often most people would have already booked accommodation before they are in the area - but you never know and it really costs you nothing (as long as the businesses you're referring guess to are reputable).
With so much going on it can seem like too much to handle alongside running an accommodation business. The best approach is to take it step by step rather than trying to do everything at once. Assess the points we’ve listed above to see what your priority might be and then once that’s done tackle the next one.
Add your own methods and do your own research to make sure that what you do is ‘fit for purpose’ and meets the needs of your particular property. By doing this, you’ll be on a sure path to engaging more potential guests, getting more direct bookings, and increasing your revenue.
Note: Something you may not know, is that we also build websites. Many of our customers have Seekom built, fully managed websites which we maintain, including SEO management. If you’re interested in finding out more about this, get in touch.
Sign Up For Updates
Smarts to help you operate more effectively and efficiently. From guides of our systems and integrations to tips and tricks you can use every day - we've got you covered.
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.
Our fully scalable Property Management System can provide you the tools and integrations you need to scale and grow your business year round. With the added functionality of a fully integrated channel manager, connect your property or properties to as many channels as you'd like.
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 2024 © Seekom Limited (NZ owned)