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About Seekom
Seekom: 20 years of trusted property management. Elevate hotels, parks, and motels with our seamless cloud-based solutions.
The primary drivers in the decision to move to iBex was our desire for a cloud based system and the availability of an integration with a dynamic pricing provider that we wanted.
The service provider will wish to avoid asking for card details each time they enter a booking. Currently, there is no way of linking to a card stored within Payment Express under that guest's name.
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Filter reviews (21)
Using Seekom Ibex in the UK for 3 years now - EXCELLENT
Comments: We are a 19 bedroom hotel based in Somerset, UK. As we have developed our online presence during the last 3 years, Ibex has been there and managed our changes very well. Our integration with channels such as Booking.com and Expedia have been excellent and the system saves so much time. We have 3 of our own websites and we can tailor our prices for each one automatically; ensuring we target different markets effectively.
Pros:
Once set-up (by Ibex) the system is straight-forward to understand and use. It does help if you have some computer knowledge as you feel comfortable clicking options BUT the help guides in text and video format are excellent.
Cons:
We'd like to see a couple of minor improvements to Guest Check-In Forms and have suggested these. If more users suggest them it will move up the queue to be implemented. However, it would be handy to have a "cost option" to have something implemented which - if others begin using it - could be refunded at a later date?
Seekom Response
8 years ago
Hi Paul, Thank you for your positive review. We are introducing greater automation to enable our users to have design ccntrol of forms and reports. oneUP will be able to brief you of these changes coming.
good company, good team, excellent support
Comments: well, more efficient to summary the data/ manage daily booking/even suport the boom gate
Pros:
the team is best, prompt support always, patient, knowedgable, full of energy, keep develop the software
Cons:
need offer a trouble trouter brochure, to save time of the team, I believe quite some questioins is frequently been asked by most operaters
Seekom Response
7 years ago
Hi Yubo, Thanks for your positive review. We have help documentation which is accessible within the system but you can aslo access directly at http://help.ibexres.com/. However, our support team are always willing to assist.
A reservation system designed by engineers for engineers
Comments: We wanted a simple cloud based reservation system with flexibility around pricing and good online booking capability, reporting and integration with key channels. It needs to be easy to use and easy to administer. Seekom ticks some boxes - cloud based, reports - but missed the mark on easy to administer. Seekom makes a typical engineering focused mistake of aiming to deliver flexibility through complication. Overall I find the strengths really pleasing and the weaknesses infuriating.
Pros:
The cloud based access is excellent and the primary reason I haven't returned to my old system - Campground master. As the business owner I can easily access the system from anywhere in the world to support our managers. The payment gateways work well and some of the standard reports are very good for end of the month purposes and real time revenue tracking. As long as you don't want to change anything in your set up it is not too cumbersome for a new person to use.
Cons:
The user experience is extremely frustration for an administrator and is one of the least intuitive systems I have come across for administrative purposes. The process of making simple changes can be highly complicated and follows a logic that is only obvious to the the engineers that wrote the code. The help section is not much better and is written for an audience that is already deeply intimate with the system. It becomes a little better after you invest hours into getting into their mindset. The AirBNB integration is very poor - we have one piece of accommodation that simply blocks out all future nights on airbnb. Support can reproduce the issue but their response has been along the lines of "it shouldn't do that. try talking to airbnb."
Seekom Response
4 years ago
Hi Grant, I am surprised that you are finding the system difficult to use - we are the largest provider of booking systems to campgrounds in NZ where you are based. The system design and features are based upon suggestions and feedback from users. As you say that you have inherited the system I have requested our system support team to contact you for comprehensive training on the areas you are having difficulty with. It is also possible to turn off menu selections you are not using making the operational selections simpler. Following training our Support Team would welcome suggestions from you that you feel would simplify operation whilst retaining features used by others.
One of the rep from Seekom was very patient with us. You do not update your website often and he was great.
Pros:
It is logical and always changing with the times. I find it easy to use and I really on it for the running of the business.
Cons:
The 'help section' needs to be easier to find what you are looking for. I go around in circles and don't seem to find the answer for what I want help with.
Seekom Response
7 years ago
Hi Keith, Thank you for your review and we agree that we need to extensively re work our help documentation and have added it into our project list. Regards, Nicky
Great product backed by a great team
Comments: We feel that our booking requirements are out of ordinary and doubted that we could ever find a booking system that would work with our challenging requirements. The team at Seekom have gone above and beyond displaying professionalism and proficiency to meet our needs. From the initial consultation right down to the final release, all layers of the team have displayed excellent service and delivered on their promises (which is very hard to find). We would certainly recommend both their product and support team.
Pros:
Good platform Excellent customer service Ability to adapt system to our needs
Cons:
Backend can take some time to get used to but this is made easy by an excellent customer service team who are more than happy to help.
Seekom Response
8 years ago
Thanks for such a lovely review Adam. We look forward to continuing to support your operation. Regards, Nicky
Never use this - there are far better options on the market
Comments:
Was a great product before it was sold to overseas buyer.
It is not worth using now. The support is horrific.
Pros:
The system is easy to use and we could easily go between our different properties.
Cons:
The support is non existent and the 'important staff' ie account managers ect are awful.
Great system with good back up staff.
Comments: From a guy that had not used any computers before I found the ibex system was relatively easy to learn & use.
Pros:
All my inventory of units & sites are updated automatically to OTA 's
Cons:
I would like less pages, but most likely impossible as there is so much to the ibex system.
Seekom Response
8 years ago
Thanks for your positive review and we look forward to continuing to be of service and delivering improvements that will be of benefit to you.
Very helpful staff and they seem to be constantly improving the software
Pros:
They seem to always introduce improvements which add functionality and are helpful to our business..
Cons:
Looks old fashioned and would like the booking screen to show more days and be larger, maybe the menus could be hidden and have the booking screen itself take up most of the screen like other similar software
Seekom Response
7 years ago
Hi Michelle, Thanks for review. The left side menu will be removed & relocated as soon as we have removed all V3 (old style) screens & replaced with V4 which will provide the larger screen space for the booking calendar you are seeking.
Having Seekom Ibex as our booking format has saved us hours of time in manually handling bookings.
Pros:
All our bookings come straight in to our system and need very little input from us. A lot of our time used to be spent manually entering bookings and opening and closing availability on various booking sites. It's now all done automatically.
Seekom Response
7 years ago
Thanks so much Pete :)
A reliable easy to use PMS
Pros:
Easy to use and a great NZ team to work with.
Cons:
I've not had any issues using the system
Seekom Response
4 years ago
Thanks so much for your positive review and we look forward to continuing to be of service to you :)
Gold plated pricing for tin plated service
Comments:
The system works, and it's as reliable as software is. However the cost was unsustainable in terms of a good PMS for a small property, but the net product received for the cost just meant we could not continue.
An indicator of the service ethos from Seekom/iBex came when I submitted notice to terminate. Nothing was heard from them, until I had to push again just to make sure they got the message. Received a brief form letter, tagged on was how much they will charge for commission on forward bookings. That was it. I know we are just one small customer, but their lack of effort speaks volumes.
Once they have you, they don't care.
Pros:
The primary drivers in the decision to move to iBex was our desire for a cloud based system and the availability of an integration with a dynamic pricing provider that we wanted. Both of these iBex delivered on, and they essentially functioned flawlessly. iBex has been around for some time, and clearly functionality has been added to and evolved over that time as there are alot of features within iBex that are both practical and useful. Another positive due to the longevity of iBex is that there is a good number of people out there that have used or been exposed to the system, which proved advantageous in terms of staffing and training requirements. We used a third party payment gateway through iBex, and it worked very well.
Cons:
Price. Service. To have the integration we needed, required us being on an iBex package that included a commission on ALL bookings entered into the PMS. Their commission plus PMS charge resulted in pricing well and truly above all other PMS systems we looked into. Fruitless efforts were spent with them trying to come up with an alternative pricing structure - they communicated in circles and riddles until I eventually gave up and focused on finding an alternative PMS provider. I tried to find an acceptable way to remain with iBex, but they in essence were not interested. Polar opposite to the exorbitant pricing was the service, or lack of, from Seekom/iBex. It was extremely difficult to make any contact with them, and when they did respond things happened at glacial speed. It got to the point the only reliable way to get them was to raise a service ticket, and then while watching a tree grow, just wait for a response to come. In their defense, the system was generally reliable once set up. But good luck if you need help making changes. Th UI is old and dated. It works, but its not intuitive. The Booking Engine is terrible. They have created a new one, but its functionality is flawed to the point we saw a dive in direct bookings and we had to reinstate their old BE. We were part of the beta test on the BE implementation, but when it got to the point we had to dump it, no interest was shown by them as to what the issues were or how to mitigate or rectify. Beware: in a few months time, their new BE will be the only one available on their platform.
Generally good ! But a disastrous link-up to Payment Express
Comments: Potentially, it is a great product, but the faults listed need addressing urgently if this is to be the case.
Pros:
Operating 2 small guest houses (6 bedrooms each), we have used Ibex Seekom as our Channel Manager for several years. During that time they have saved us from having any significant booking issues. The UK support team is ever-helpful and nothing seems to be too much trouble.
Cons:
To enable PCI compliance, Seekom have forged a link with a payment gateway, Payment Express - entirely understandable. Unfortunately, however, they appear to have entrusted the development process to people who would seem to have little or no idea about how the industry operates. Specifically, they have provided a screen for charging a stored card where it is not possible to store a Merchant Reference for onward transmission to Payment Express (despite appearing to do so!); they have not recognised a Merchant Reference can be important to the service provider for all sorts of reasons - in our case, bank reconciliations. Also, they have failed to recognise that, with luck and a bit of effort, guests return! The service provider will wish to avoid asking for card details each time they enter a booking. Currently, there is no way of linking to a card stored within Payment Express under that guest's name. In summary, they have developed software that works well for capturing card data, but is dysfunctional when it comes to the charging side of things! Hopefully they will resolve these issues urgently, which would make this a far more valuable product and cause me to be more positive.
Seekom Response
7 years ago
We are happy to advise that we are planning enhancements that will resolve the problems outlined in your review. The first enhancement is that the merchant reference that is referred to has been different depending on the source of the booking. This has made it difficult to reconcile. Our users will soon be able to read a reference from payment express and easily find it in iBex independent of the booking source. The second enhancement will enable users to store the token against a customer instead of a booking. That will allow the card to be charged for multiple bookings if the customer has agreed to a standing charge. We trust these enhancements will resolve the issues that have been raised.
One year on - how things change (unfortunately)
Pros:
The majority of the software is unchanged from my review one year ago. There have been some new or revised items but nothing to be praised.
Cons:
NZ SUPPORT - TERRIBLE. Seekom finally released a newer modern looking Booking Engine - unfortunately, it does not work if you happen to set up a min 2 night stay - the system just states "unavailable" when rooms are available. We are more than 1/2 way through our summer season and a large proportion of our bookings should be self-generating via our website. However, this fault means we are getting very few direct bookings and we are having to pay commissions to OTAs because of it. We keep being promised a fix but it just isn't happening - they either cant fix it or they arent bothered. The UK agents are trying to get Seekom to get it sorted but it seems to be falling on deaf ears. PMS is becoming an even more competitive market, with many very affordable, high spec systems emerging from India. We are looking.
Seekom Response
7 years ago
I understand the fault you are referring to has been identified and resolved with an upload due on Monday. I would recommend you keep in touch with oneUP who provide support to UK based system users and can advise you further.
need to seriously update their software
Pros:
booking system good and is quite easy to use. but there are still to many clicks to get to where you want to go
Cons:
accounting package is very poor. These days holiday parks are owned by several owners who rent or lease their sites. Software needs to accommodate this.
Seekom Response
6 years ago
Seekom iBex is a property management system and while it does include invoicing, customer and company balances it is not designed to replace an accounting system. With that in mind we have an interface to Xero. We are continually enhancing the system according to requests made by our users - over 1,000 in total. We have been in touch with Murrary and invited him to visit and discuss his specific development requirements. He did advise during this contact that he is happy with the booking system and is seeking enhancements to invoicing
Awesome!
Pros:
Quite easy to use with comprehensive options. I had used another channel manager but moved to Seekom on recommendation. Seekom was so much better and more cost effective. The support is really awesome as the consultants are all very knowledgable and helpful - always getting back to us quickly with any of our requests. We HIGHLY recommend Seekom from our personal experience.
Seekom Response
7 years ago
Thanks so much for your positive review Julie. We look forward to bringing you more new features which will be of value to you.
A simple way of taking online bookings
Comments:
With the Channel manager options available , most sales channels work with Seekom, the few that dont, are not really worth the time or energy.
I would like to see Seekom hooked up with AirBNB however , as this would provide good competition for Booking.com
I have used Seekom since it first started, it has got better and better, but also more complicated.
The support staff have been exceptional good over the last transition period.
Ibex is a key part of our business, we couldn't do without now.
Seekom Response
8 years ago
Hi Michael, Thanks for your positive review. We have been advised that AirBNB do not have an API and we are not keen to 'screen scrape' due to risks of error with that method of update. If this changes we would be very happy to work with them. Regards, Nicky Update: API interface to AirBnB now available.
Software and Support that enable you relax
Comments: I have found that the software and support have taken the stress out of property Management. No more having to update a several booking sites, once a booking has been received. No more double bookings. Arrivals and Departures clearly identified and complete. Support crew timely respond with sound advice and solutions. The software grows with you. Just going on to the clients' paying me via Seekom/DPS gateway, rather than through a service that takes 4 days to clear your own funds.
Seekom Response
9 years ago
Thanks Peter for your positive review :)
Make the switch you wont regret it.
Comments: The program is simple and easy to use. Switching to Seekom at the beginning of the busy season was a brave move but with the support, help and assistance from the friendly team made this an easy transition. Blair you rock.
Seekom Response
9 years ago
Hi Anne, Thanks so much for your lovely feedback. Blair is currently taking a well deserved holiday so I will pass on your feedback to him on his return next week. Have a happy Easter. Cheers, Nicky
great all-in-one system
Comments: pros: cloud based, no back-ups required, multiuser, responsive support, intergrated channel manager. cons: slow speed
Seekom Response
9 years ago
Hi Struan, Thank you for your feedback.Can you please provide details to our Support Team as to which screens you are finding slow so that we can run tests and determine whether these are system or environment issues you are experiencing.
Good Service with a good team
Comments: Easy to use & support i give top marks to
Seekom Response
9 years ago
Thanks so much for your feedback Jenny. We look forward to continuing to add even more features that will benefit your business operation. Regards, Nicky
excellent
Comments: Very good to use
Seekom Response
9 years ago
Hi Chris, Thanks for your positive feedback and we look forward to continuing to improve our offering. Nicky