Only time will tell whether the pandemic has diminished or will it resurge. But what’s certain is that the pandemic has revolutionized the hospitality sector. Guests now expect fast, engaging, and contactless experiences.
QR codes enable hotels and hospitality businesses to meet these expectations and enhance the guests’ experience.
Here’s a starter guide for hospitality businesses to improve guest experience using QR codes.
Best ways to use QR codes in hospitality
There are various applications of QR codes in hotels and other hospitality businesses. Here are some fantastic ways to use QR codes in your business.
Enable touchless check-in with QR codes
Hotels can use QR codes to provide a fast and contactless check-in experience to guests.
For instance, you can print a QR code on the booking confirmation page. Guests can scan the QR code to reach the hotel’s check-in page and check-in online without waiting at the reception.
This way, you can expedite the check-in process and improve the guest experience.
Implement QR code menus
You can use QR codes to share the in-hotel menu digitally on the guests’ phones. Put a menu QR code in the guest rooms, allowing the guests to view the menu digitally and order food.
A digital menu has various benefits:
- No need to print and reprint multiple menus
- Update the menu in real-time
- Offer a contactless experience to guests
Promote events and shows
If you’re running an event in your hotel, you can use QR codes to promote it and increase participation.
You can create an event QR code and put it across your hotel. Users can scan the QR code to view the event information and register for the event.
Share information about hotel facilities
Large hotels have a lot of facilities, and new guests may not know about them all. You can use QR codes to share complete information about your hotel and the available facilities.
Let’s say there’s a five-star hotel with facilities like a swimming pool, lounge, bar, restaurant, cafe, spa, gym, and so on. You can use a QR code to bring people to a PDF document or display page containing the list of all the available facilities.
Collect feedback and reviews
Positive customer reviews play a vital role in the success of hotels and other hospitality businesses. In fact, hotel guests read at least six reviews before booking.
Overall, the number of guests and the revenue of a hospitality business depends significantly on the number of positive reviews.
But encouraging guests to give reviews can be challenging, as only 22% of travelers give unsolicited online reviews.
If you want to get more reviews for your hotel, QR codes can help.
Create a Feedback Forms QR code to send people to an online form and collect their feedback. You can also use a Google Reviews QR Code to increase your reviews on Google.
Accept bookings and reservations
Online booking is now the norm, with over 700 million people expected to make an online hotel booking by 2023.
If you want to streamline your online reservation process, QR codes can help. Create a QR code for your online booking page and put it on billboards, newspaper ads, and other advertising materials. People coming across the ad can scan the QR code to visit the booking page and make a reservation.
Boost social media following
Connecting with users on social media is no longer optional for hotels. However, it’s not easy to encourage guests to follow you on social media.
QR codes make it possible.
You can create a social media QR code to share your social media profiles with a large audience. And with QRCodeChimp’s Social Media QR Code solution, you can share all your social media profiles in one place.
Share Wi-Fi access
Free Wi-Fi is no longer a luxury for hotel guests — it’s a necessity. In fact, a recent survey stated that free Wi-Fi is the third-most important amenity in a hotel, after breakfast and parking.
However, openly sharing the Wi-Fi password poses a risk of misuse.
You can use a Wi-Fi QR code to share Wi-Fi access instantly and securely with your guests. When guests scan the QR code, the Wi-Fi SSID and password will appear on their screen, allowing them to connect seamlessly to the network.
How to create a QR code for hotels?
QRCodeChimp is a one-stop solution for creating and managing QR code campaigns. Follow these steps to create a QR code for your hotel business.
1. Visit qrcodechimp.com.
2. Head to the Solutions tab and choose a solution of your choice. Let’s say you want to create a QR code to share a PDF file for all the hotel amenities. In that case, select the PDF QR Code solution.
3. Enter the PDF link in the “PDF URL” section. If you have a PDF file in the local storage, upload it to your QRCodeChimp dashboard’s File Manager. Then, click on Upload/Choose from File Manager and select the PDF file.
4. Tick the “Make dynamic” checkbox if you want to create a dynamic QR code. It’s best to create a dynamic QR code, as you can edit the URL/PDF file anytime and also track its scans.
5. Go to the “Design, Color, and Decorate QR Code” tab and customize your QR code using the available design options.
6. Click on “Save QR Code,” name your QR code, and click on Save to save your QR code.
That’s it. Your QR code will be saved in the dashboard. You can now print the QR code and share it with your guests to enhance their experience.
Use cases: Hotels using QR codes to enhance the guest experience
Hotels across the globe have been using QR codes to provide a better experience to their consumers. Let’s look at some real-world examples of QR codes in action in the hospitality sector.
Royal Orchid Central, Pune (India)
Royal Orchid Hotels, an India-wide hotel chain, uses QR codes to share the in-hotel menu, spa menu, and other information with its guests. The QR codes are placed in all the rooms, allowing guests to obtain information seamlessly and engage with the hotel’s services.
Park Lane Hotel, New York City (USA)
The Park Lane Hotel, New York, used QR codes in their advertisements to allow guests to make an online booking. The hotel encouraged online bookings by offering a flat 25% discount.
Additionally, the hotel incorporated QR codes in guest rooms to share the menu digitally to battle the coronavirus pandemic.
Royal Cliff Hotel, Pattaya (Thailand)
The Royal Cliff Hotel in Pattaya, Thailand, used QR codes to expedite check-ins. When guests made a booking, they received a QR code printed on the booking page. They could scan the QR code to check in online instead of waiting at the reception.
Besides, the hotel created QR codes to send people to their LINE and QQ profiles to allow guests to interact seamlessly with customer support.
Boston Hilton Downtown, Boston (USA)
The Boston Hilton Downtown in Boston provided catalogs with QR codes printed on them to enable guests to effortlessly engage with the hotel services, such as the restaurant, spa, gym, and more.
Final thoughts
The hospitality industry is becoming increasingly customer-focused. Consumers now expect top-notch experiences without wanting to pay a premium. Furthermore, COVID-19 has pushed hotels and other hospitality businesses into rethinking their strategy for engaging their consumers.
QR codes are an excellent tool for offering an engaging and, more importantly, a contactless experience to your consumers. You can implement QR codes across your operations to provide a fast and hassle-free customer experience.
If you want to create a QR code for your hospitality business, QRCodeChimp has your back.
