Northland holiday park snaps up awards helped by leading software system

Whangārei TOP 10 Holiday Park is one of the jewels in the crown of the Northland accommodation scene, with a clutch of awards to shout about and a smooth operation supported by Seekom’s savvy software.

Owner operators Nick Blake and his wife Claire kicked off their hospitality careers at Fox Glacier TOP 10 Holiday Park in 2013, working their way up and buying Whangārei TOP 10 Holiday Park in 2016.

Nick says they changed the Whangārei holiday park’s property management platform to Seekom immediately because they liked how it worked, it was great for group bookings and had everything they wanted to manage the cabins, campsites and caravan sites at the park.

“We’ve used all the major booking and property management systems and we find Seekom suits our park the best.”

The Blakes rely on their silent software partner to quietly take care of business behind the scenes, letting them concentrate on their priorities: friendliness, cleanliness and winning awards!

Whangārei TOP 10 Holiday Park won the Top Guest Experience – Classic Park Award and was runner-up in the ReviewPro Cleanliness Award at this year’s TOP 10 Annual Awards. The recognition builds on its success in the same awards in 2022, where the park won the Top Guest Experience Award – Small Park Award.

Nick says recent Seekom software updates have added functionality that makes life easier for holiday park staff and customers. He’s pleased Seekom understands what its users need rather than adding functionality just for the sake of it.

“Some of the other booking systems have all these bells and whistles that aren’t functionally useful and can make systems complicated for guests to use - Seekom communicates really well with back-end and online booking systems.”

Another benefit of using Seekom is the embedded email and SMS (text) customer communication functionality that saves time and keeps customers updated with everything they need to know to make the most of their stay, he says.

“It’s got some really good automated functionality which sends out emails and texts to customers – it does everything you need.”

Nick says he’s been contacted by a lot of other holiday park managers from across New Zealand since he shifted Whangārei TOP 10 Holiday Park’s systems to Seekom. After explaining the cost, functionality and support benefits Seekom provides, many of them had made the move as well, he says.

“When we changed over to Seekom we brought over about 10 or 12 parks – I would definitely recommend Seekom.”

Seekom’s cloud-based software allows easy access on any browser-equipped device with internet access and handles the heavy lifting of updates, backups, and keeping data secure, giving accommodation providers more time to run their business and look after their customers.

In 2018 Whangārei TOP 10 Holiday Park was inducted into the prestigious 2018 TripAdvisor Hall of Fame, becoming a member of a select group of businesses that have succeeded in achieving TripAdvisor’s Certificate of Excellence for five consecutive years. Continuing its momentum of recognition, the holiday park was recognised as Winner of the Northland Business Excellence Awards in 2019.

Perhaps there’s something in the water in Whangārei, or maybe it’s in the cloud…