The importance of QR codes in your hotel

QR codes are now part of the natural landscape of a contemporary hotel. Li is located at the desk, near the TV in the room, in the elevator, at the bar, in the breakfast room. For guests it became a spontaneous gesture, even more in these years after the pandemic: they frame the code with the smartphone and expect to immediately find clear, up-to-date and easy-to-use information.

The real question, today, is no longer whether to use QR code, but what to make it happen after scanning. For simplicity many choose to open PDF files: Many of the information you want to communicate to the guest is printed — banally, the menu — so it is logical to think of giving access to the file that is used for printing. But it’s not

From the point of view of the hotel’s guest experience and internal efficiency, the answer is clear: a QR code that aims at a web app is much more effective, flexible and sustainable than one that opens a simple static document.

PDF or web app? What really changes

Many structures, in the passage from paper to digital, have chosen an intermediate solution: turn old documents into a PDF and connect it to a QR code. It is a first step, but it brings with it all the limits of a format born for printing, not for use on smartphones.

A PDF is not designed to adapt to the needs of a guest who consults information from a small screen, perhaps quickly, maybe in another language. A web app like that of Hech Romeo was born instead to be navigated, read and used by mobile devices, with dynamic content, clear actions and immediate updates.

The problem of multilanguage in PDFs

One of the most obvious limitations of PDFs in the hotel is language management. Either you choose a single language, sacrificing clarity for part of the clientele, or insert all the languages in the same file, creating long, repetitive and unusable documents.

This results in guests who have to scroll for a long time to find the section that concerns them, with information replicated several times and with a high risk of errors when updating texts, hours and prices.

With Hech Romeo the same QR code opens a multilingual web app, able to recognize the language of the device or to leave the guest the immediate choice. The contents are organized by language from the origin and the hotel manages them centrally: updates once and the modification is propagated in all versions, in a coherent and controlled way.

Update a PDF is always a manual job

Another critical point of PDFs is the management of updates. Each change – a new price, a change of time, an added service or removed – requires a change to the original file, a new export, a new upload and a cross-check to make sure that all QR code points to the correct version.

This process takes time and coordination. Just a forgetfulness or a file not replaced to find out with obsolete information in circulation: a wrong time for breakfast, an unfair list, a service no longer available but still present on the PDF.

With a web app connected to Hech Romeo, updates take place from a single central platform. I QR code should not be changed: the address remains the same, but the contents behind are updated in real time. The hotel can intervene immediately, correct information, launch promotions, publish urgent communications and be sure that each guest, frame the QR code, see the latest version.

Zoom, pinch, scroll: the hidden effort of PDF on smartphone

A PDF was created for printing on paper: margins, columns, font size and images are designed for a sheet, not for a 6-inch screen. To read a text on a smartphone, the guest is forced to enlarge, move, reduce, find the point, and repeat.

This continuous gesture sequence is a silent clutch that often leads guests to renounce consulting the hotel’s digital information, especially if they are in a hurry or if the ambient light does not help.

A web app like Hech Romeo is structured responsively: automatically adapts to the screen, uses readable characters, easily clickable buttons, vertical layouts designed for the thumb of the hand. There is no need to zoom in to see what is written or to find the right key. The experience becomes fluid and natural, and the guest is more prone to really use the content made available by the structure.

What happens when the QR code opens Hech Romeo

When the QR code no longer points to a PDF, but to the Hech Romeo web app, each physical point of the hotel becomes a real digital touchpoint. The same code in the room can give access to a complete directory of services, always updated, to contents dedicated to smart TV, to personalised information for that type of room. A QR in the restaurant area can open the day menu directly and the booking page, one in the spa can show the treatment list and collect appointment requests.

Everything happens within the same digital environment, consistent and integrated, that can dialogue with other services of the platform Rome’o: Interactive TV, messaging, targeted offers, real-time requests. The hotel stops managing scattered documents and begins to govern a unitary ecosystem, where the QR code is only the entrance door.

Why, today, the PDF is no longer enough

From the outside, a QR code can always look the same: a square in black and white on a support. What makes the difference is what happens after scanning.

A PDF is a compromise: allows you to reduce the paper, but it keeps all the limits of the printed document, amplified by use on smartphones. Lack of true multilanguage, absence of interactive functions, manual and continuous updates, need to zoom in to read: all this weighs on the experience of the guest and on the daily work of your staff.

A web app, especially if developed with Hech Romeo, is a tool specifically designed for hospitality: multilingual native, updated in real time, optimized for mobile devices, integrated with the other digital channels of the hotel.

For your structure it means less time spent in file revisions, less errors in information, greater coherence in communication and, above all, a smoother experience for the guest, than from the QR code can get in a few touches to the service you want.

QR code technology is the same. It is the choice between PDF and web app to determine how much value you will really bring in your guest’s stay. With Hech Romeo, that choice becomes an opportunity to transform a simple code printed into an access door to your digital hotel.

Main, News