Turn a one-night guest into a returning regular.
The digital loyalty card for South African independent hotels, guest houses and B&Bs. Guests collect a stamp for every night they stay, no app download, no paper cards, and their next trip comes back to you, booked direct.
Works at every till. No app downloads. No percentage of every sale. No payment platform required.
Sources: Truth & BrandMapp South African Loyalty Landscape Whitepaper 2025/6; Bond Loyalty Report 2024
Sound familiar?
Every independent hotel or guest house owner we talk to runs into the same walls.
Guests book through the platforms, and the platforms keep them
A guest finds you on a booking platform, loves the stay, then books the next trip through the same platform. The commission comes off every stay, the platform keeps the guest's details, and you rent back your own relationship one booking at a time.
The chains run points programmes you cannot match
The big groups run global points programmes with tiers, apps and partnerships, so a business traveller knows exactly what a chain stay earns them. An independent has had nothing but a warm welcome to answer with, and no way to reward the guest who keeps choosing you.
Repeat guests check in and out, and nothing is written down
Reception knows the project teams and the monthly regulars, but it lives in their heads. Nothing records who your most loyal guests are, who has quietly stopped coming, or how to reach last quarter's corporate teams when midweek looks thin.
What Lekka gives your hotel or guest house
A stamp for every night, added in seconds at check-out
One stay, one entry. At check-out, reception adds the whole stay in one go, four nights is four stamps, with the booking reference recorded so it reconciles against your PMS. Inani Hotels runs exactly this across two properties: stay ten nights, the eleventh is on the house.
A direct line back to guests who already love you
Reach your guests by email and in-app with no platform in between: a midweek special, a note when conference season opens, a reminder that a free night is two stays away. Every booking that comes back direct carries no commission.
Every property, one programme
All your properties run under one programme, and every stamp records which property it came from. Review requests point each guest at the right property's Google listing, and one dashboard shows your regulars, your corporate teams and who has drifted.
A reward they'll actually work for.
You set the rules. Here's a popular structure for hotels & guest houses:
Your loyalty card
Stay 10 nights, get the 11th night free
You choose the stamp target and the reward.
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Does giving away a free night actually make sense?
Repeat guests are the best guests, but few owners have run the numbers against what the platforms already cost. Here is the honest picture in rands.
| Average room rateBudget business hotel, room only | R850 |
| Revenue across 10 paid nights | R8,500 |
| Cost of 1 free nightHousekeeping, linen and utilities on a room that would otherwise stand empty | ~R150–250 |
| Net cost as % of 10-night revenue | ~2–3% |
| Booking-platform commission on those same 10 nightsAt a typical 15% or more per booking | R1,275+ |
A free eleventh night costs roughly R200 against R8,500 in room revenue, around 2%. A booking platform takes six times that off the same ten nights. The free night is not a cost. It is the cheapest guest acquisition in the business, because the guest is already yours.
How the big players do hotel loyalty, and where you win
The chains and platforms have loyalty budgets you do not. Here is the gap that leaves for an independent property.
Points accrue across hundreds of hotels toward redemptions most guests never reach, and nothing in it recognises the traveller who keeps coming back to one property in Pretoria.
The platform discounts its members and the hotel funds it on top of the commission. The loyalty, the review and the rebooking all accrue to the platform.
Built for corporates with travel desks. The five-person project team and the consultant who stays every month fall through the cracks, and they are exactly the guests an independent lives on.
Lekka works in the browser with no app, no points maths and no commission. Guests join in seconds at reception, and the reward comes straight from you: a free night at the property they already love. You have the personal service. This puts a system behind it.
The most common loyalty mistakes hotels and guest houses make
Avoid these and your programme will work significantly better.
Counting stays instead of nights
A stamp per stay punishes your best guests: four nights earns the same as a one-night stopover. Stamp per night instead, and the guests who fill the most beds reach their reward fastest.
Missing the check-out moment
Check-out is your guaranteed touchpoint: the guest is at reception with their phone in hand. Add the stay while you settle the bill. Miss that minute and the next booking may go back through a platform.
Letting the platforms own your repeat guests
When a loyal guest rebooks through a platform, you pay commission to be reintroduced to your own regular. Use the programme and its broadcasts to make booking direct the obvious choice for anyone who has stayed twice.
Forgetting the person who books for the team
For corporate stays, the person who chooses your hotel often never sleeps in the room. Guests collect their nights, reception records the booking reference, and the company's stays are on record for the next project conversation.
Making the reward feel small
A free night is a real reward that costs a fraction of its face value. A small discount voucher is not. An empty room given to a loyal guest is the cheapest generosity in the business.
Up and running in minutes.
Sign up
Create your vendor account at lekkacard.co.za.
Set your reward
Choose your stamp target and what customers earn.
Print your counter QR
One A5 card with your unique QR, sitting next to the till.
Customers do the rest
They scan with their phone, stamps land in their wallet. No app, no friction.
Frequently asked questions
No. Guests scan your QR code at reception and join in their mobile browser. It takes less time than handing back a room key.
One stamp per night, added in one go at check-out, with the booking reference recorded if you want it. A four-night stay is four stamps in about ten seconds.
Yes. Each entry can carry a booking or PMS reference, and everything exports to CSV with dates, guests, references, staff and property for month-end reconciliation.
Yes. All properties run under one programme, every stamp records its property, and review requests point at the right Google listing. Inani Hotels runs one programme across two hotels.
Around 10 works well for business travel: a project team gets there in one assignment, a monthly regular in a quarter. Stay ten nights, get the eleventh free is easy to say at reception.
Lekka is a flat monthly subscription in rands, with a free tier to start. There are no per-transaction fees, no commission on bookings, and no contract minimum. Guests always join free.
See full pricingYes. The dashboard shows each guest's stays across your properties, who is close to a reward, and who has drifted. Booking references group a company's stays for the next block-booking conversation.
Related reading
Do loyalty programmes actually work for small businesses in South Africa?
Read articleLoyalty programme reward ideas for South African small businesses
Read articlePaper stamp cards vs digital loyalty: which is right for your business?
Read articleWeighing up your options? Read our full guide to loyalty programme software in South Africa.
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Works at every till. No app downloads. No percentage of every sale. No payment platform required.
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