SeekomPay ‘brilliant’ for business at boutique South Island motel
Owner and manager: Fizz Hunter-Weston
After using Seekom to run unique Central Otago motel Clyde Central for over four-and-a-half years, owner and manager Fizz Hunter-Weston says she can’t believe she only started using SeekomPay six weeks ago.
“It’s absolutely brilliant – we just wish we started using it earlier.”
Before upgrading to SeekomPay, Fizz and her team had to manage all their payment card transactions manually using Seekom’s vault.
“It’s all done instantly now,” she says.
SeekomPay saves Fizz more than 50 hours a year and links seamlessly into the Seekom booking system embedded in Clyde Central’s website, with Xero integration also making the financial management of her accommodation easier.
Fizz enjoys the freedom of not having to be on-site to handle her business.
“SeekomPay allows me to run my accommodation from anywhere – I don’t need anyone to be on-site to take payments.”
She says SeekomPay fits right in with her innovative approach to business, with Clyde Central excelling at catering for two niche demographics – dog lovers and cycling enthusiasts – in addition to travellers who are just looking for an outstanding place to stay.
The motel offers popular "dog retreats" and a “Gravel Riders Bash” plus bike hire and e-bike charging. It also contains a mini bike shop as well as bike storage and a bike cleaning and maintenance station.
“It’s not like a traditional hotel or motel, it’s a cool little boutique place.”
Clyde Central is located an hour’s drive from Wanaka and Queenstown and two-and-a-half hours’ drive from Invercargill and Dunedin, attracting cycling enthusiasts looking for a change of scene and the prospect of cruising some of New Zealand’s most epic cycle trails.
Nestling at the start of four of New Zealand’s Great Rides – Otago Central Rail Trail, Lake Dunstan Trail, Roxburgh Gorge Trail and Clutha Gold Trail – Fizz’s establishment lives up to its name of being central in more ways than one, she says.
“Lots of guests come to do the rail trails, and the river and lake are right next door too. We have a nice outdoor area with a fire that guests like to sit around to roast marshmallows or just chat and enjoy a drink in the evening.”
Clyde Central’s eight units range from one to three bedrooms and are like small apartments with cooking facilities, designed to allow guests to be self-sufficient if they want to be, she says.
Fizz says when she bought Clyde Central in 2020 it was easy to decide on Seekom’s property management software.
“I looked at just about every system available and I chose Seekom because it ticked the most boxes.”
Fizz says she loves Seekom’s automated SMS and email guest-messaging functionality that she uses to keep guests informed about key details, especially as the communication options support the self-check-in process and offer her the flexibility to operate off-site.
After a quiet winter period Fizz says summer at Clyde Central is hotting up with strong booking numbers and a waiting list for the next dog retreat, after the last one sold out.
Now she’s got all her financial ducks in a row with SeekomPay, Fizz is ready to get all the dogs and bikes in a row and take care of business for the peak season.
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.
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.
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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.
Simplify your accounting with our Xero integration for Seekom
The start of a new financial year is the ideal time to streamline your accounting processes.
If you’re one of our Seekom users who also harnesses Xero accounting software, you can set yourself up for a smooth-sailing tax ride by using our time-saving Xero integration.
This integration can reduce double-handling of invoices at the end of the tax year and simplify accounting reconciliation processes.
Match payments with invoices automatically
One of the beauties of our Xero integration is its ability to take the hassle out of matching payments with invoices.
With the click of a few buttons you can match all reconciled payments in Xero with the relevant invoices in Seekom iBex, giving you a clear idea about which invoices have outstanding fees associated with them.
This will give you full visibility of which invoices have been paid and reconciled in either system – less cross-referencing required.
Invoice and credit note consistency
Want to ensure all your invoices and credit notes display with the same key information in both Seekom and Xero?
When Seekom is synced with Xero you can rapidly create invoices and credit notes and link them to Xero from their Seekom invoice number, pulling across the invoice number, invoice date, due date and booking reference number from Seekom all in one go.
Financial hygiene: confirm your invoices and credit notes are linked
Our Xero integration includes an ‘Invoices report’ to help you ensure all your Seekom invoices have been replicated and linked in Xero. This report highlights the invoices that have not been linked to Xero, giving you a handy to-do list to follow up on.
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.
Manage guest payments better with all new SeekomPay
We’re thrilled to announce the launch of SeekomPay – our brand-new payment solution designed to save you money and provide a seamless experience for guests booking accommodation at your property.
To celebrate the launch, we’re offering a special deal that will see sign-up fees waived for any Seekom users who sign up for SeekomPay before the end of September 2023. Created for users of our Seekom iBex property management software, SeekomPay provides a secure and fully integrated gateway for customer payments and lower rates than many third-party options.
Provide an exceptional payments solution for guests, save time and money, and manage all your guests’ bookings end-to-end within the Seekom ecosystem. What’s not to like?
Key benefits
Improve cash flow: Customer payments are automatically deposited into your nominated bank account the next business day
Flexible ways to pay: You can request credit card details via SMS or email for phone bookings, keeping payments secure and simplifying the payment process.
Secure and compliant: You’ll benefit from full PCI compliance, safe credit card storage and 3DSecure 2 technology embedded into SeekomPay payment links, keeping you and your guests safe from potential security breaches.
Transparency and trust: Your SeekomPay merchant portal provides you with complete transparency over your online transactions and detailed reporting, acting as a source of truth for your business.
Save time: Your SeekomPay merchant portal allows you to track and reconcile all transactions with ease and automate repetitive tasks.
Save money: Our competitive rates will add to your bottom line.
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.
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