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Booking engine enhanced with multi-property view and custom questions

Our new booking engine has become even more powerful with the addition of new functionality that allows accommodation providers to showcase multiple properties on one web page and add tailored questions for guests during the booking process.

The improvements ensure the new booking engine has all the functionality of the old one, with the added bonus of a smoother and more powerful booking experience, improved online conversions and enhanced performance on mobile devices.

We’ve summarised the latest enhancements below. Please follow our helpful instruction guide to get the new and improved booking engine setup on your website.

Multi property bookings: present all your properties on one page

This much-requested feature allows accommodation providers with multiple properties to list their entire property portfolio on a single web page.

It allows people browsing a website to search all the properties available in one spot and filter them to find the perfect fit using criteria such as location, facilities offered, and number of bedrooms.
This saves time for customers, who no longer have to visit multiple sites, and it also streamlines the process for providers by allowing them to showcase all of their accommodation offerings in a user-friendly way under one brand and in one online location.

To set up multi-property view, follow the instructions in our guide. Keep in mind that you need to have the new and improved booking engine setup first.

Multi property view allows customers to view all the properties you manage
Multi property view allows customers to view all the properties you manage

Custom fields: gather extra information during the booking process

The new custom fields feature allows accommodation providers to save time and improve the guest experience by gathering helpful information from customers ahead of their stay. This is done by enabling providers to add their own questions to their online booking form to ensure they have the information they need, ahead of time, to provide guests with a memorable and stress-free experience.

Custom fields can be used to gather information such as vehicle registration, size of campervan, or what kind of milk a guest wants, before their arrival. It can also be used by providers that offer bespoke experiences and want to gather information related to those experiences, such as “What is the age of the child?” for a horse-riding tour option paid for during the online booking process.

Adding custom fields is easy once you have the new and improved booking system set up on your site. Just follow the instructions for adding custom fields on our website.

Custom fields allows you to gather additional details from customers booking online
Custom fields allows you to gather additional details from customers booking online

Want to know more about the new booking system and how to set it up on your website? Check our recent blog post about it.

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.

community

Introducing the Seekom Community

We want to make sure the features we add to Seekom will save you money, bring in more guests, and ultimately simplify the job of running a successful accommodation business.

Introducing the Seekom Community - a place where you can suggest new features, view and vote on ideas suggested by others, and provide feedback on enhancements we are thinking about introducing in the future.

It's our very own shared community, and it's gone live this week.

If you are a Seekom user, just head across to the new Seekom Community page and log in using your Seekom iBex credentials or Zendesk login (both will work).

Once logged in you will see two places on the Seekom Community page; the Feature Forum and the Seekom Showroom.

Feature Forum

The feature forum is a place where you can add feature requests, make comments, view ideas submitted by others and vote on the ones you think we should priorities.

Our product manager makes use of the forum as a valuable resource, prioritising feature requests that are most popular and needed by our user community.

The Feature Forum lets you post feature requests and vote on other people’s suggestions.
The Feature Forum lets you post feature requests and vote on other people’s suggestions.

Seekom Showroom

The Seekom Showroom is where we will post initiatives or ideas we are considering developing, to gauge your thoughts. It provides a chance for you to shape the features we propose and to let us know whether they are worth making into reality.

We hope you enjoy the Seekom Community and find it easy to use. Jump in, take a look around, and share your thoughts on what will make Seekom even more powerful for your accommodation management needs.

Visit the Seekom Community (log in with your Seekom iBex credentials or Zendesk login)

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.

Improvements to promo codes, email scheduling and extra guest rates

Improvements to promo codes, email scheduling and extra guest rates

We’ve launched three time-saving improvements to our Seekom property management system to help you make 2023 your best year yet.

These improvements enable you to set start and expiry dates for any promo codes you create and give you more power to schedule important emails to be sent to guests at specific times of day. We’ve also streamlined the process for setting the rates for extra guests staying at your accommodation.

Add start and end dates for promo codes

We have added the ability for users to add a date range to promo codes, giving you complete control over when they become active and when they expire. This removes the need for manual intervention and the possibility of being stuck charging a lesser rate because the code hadn’t been updated.

Previously promo codes could only be set as active or non-active, meaning users would need to remember to change them once a promo period was finished.

Add start and end dates for promo codes
Add start and end dates for promo codes

Schedule emails to be sent at specific times of day

Communication is key to supporting good relationships, so we’ve given users the option to schedule emails to guests at specific times of day, rather than just a set number of days before or after a ‘trigger’ action takes place.

One way to make use of this new option could be to set up and schedule an email to be sent to all guests shortly before the end of their stay to offer a late check out for an additional fee.

Schedule emails to be sent at specific times of day
Schedule emails to be sent at specific times of day

Set start and end dates for temporary or seasonal extra guest rates

Our latest upgrade allows you to create start and end dates for any extra guest rates introduced within Seekom. This was already possible for seasonal base rates, but extra guest rates had to be adjusted manually whenever a change was required.

By setting these rates up in Seekom well ahead of time, you can remove the need to remember to manually change anything before or after a seasonal rate period starts and ends.

For example, a campsite that usually charges a base rate of $40 and an extra guest rate of $20 might use the feature to set up a seasonal base rate of $55 and $30 per extra guest over Christmas, and then $55 base rate and $25 per extra guest over their region’s anniversary weekend. These rates could be set up whenever it is convenient, avoiding the need to remember to make the changes manually during busy peak periods.

Set start and end dates for temporary or seasonal extra guest rates
Set start and end dates for temporary or seasonal extra guest 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.

main

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

Make it easy for guests to select multiple rooms in one booking.
Make it easy for guests to select multiple rooms in one booking.
Allow guests to pay for optional extras during the online booking process.
Allow guests to pay for optional extras during the online booking process.
The new booking experience works seamlessly on mobile.
The new booking experience works seamlessly on mobile.

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.

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).

Why should you upgrade your website to 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.