If you read our articles regularly, you already know we are a big believer in using QR codes to market a hotel. However, to this point, we have mostly stressed using QR codes to direct reviews for the property. This time around, we want to discuss how using QR codes throughout the hotel can benefit you now as well as in the future in terms of retargeting your audience.
Setting Up a QR Code
Creating a QR code is very easy. There are literally dozens of free services available online as well as paid services. The advantage of the paid services is that you are able to create a truly unique QR code with special features or, perhaps, in the form of the property logo. For most hotels, subscribing to a service to create multiple QR codes with unique features is well worth the subscription fee.
Where to Use QR Codes in a Hotel
As stated above, directing people to the review page of the hotel at the front desk can be very effective. The best moment to encourage a review is while a positive stay is still fresh in the guest’s mind. More importantly, by creating QR codes for the different review sites, you will be able to direct reviews where you need them most.
Another great way to encourage the use of QR codes is by offering special deals that can rotate throughout the week. Putting up a sign that says “Scan Me for Special Offer” will get guests attention and encourage them to scan the QR code.
Hotel information pages can also be used in conjunction with QR codes. For instance, a QR code can be placed on hotel doors where you also have the emergency exit plan. The code can be set to direct guests to an interactive map on their phone that will direct them to the closest emergency exit based on their current location. Additionally, all of the hotel’s emergency information can be used as a redirect from the QR code.
When it comes to outside promotions, QR codes can be inserted in flyers, magazines, and local newspaper ads. If your company is active in billboard advertising, a massive QR code with “SCAN ME” on it will surely get the attention of passersby. If your hotel is in an area where drivers are prone to get lost, a QR code can be placed on a sign at a common turnoff error to send them right to Google maps and get them back on track to the hotel.
Retargeting
The real purpose in saturating the area with QR codes, though, is in the retargeting benefits. Guests today use their cell phones for everything. Once that QR code is on the phone, guests are alerting online advertising cookies to their preferences. So, when these same guests are doing Google searches or scrolling through Facebook, guess whose ads are going to pop up on their phone? Retargeted ads are about ten times more effective in terms of click-thru rates over general ads, so the hotel will be getting far more bang for its bucks in terms of seeing a return on its advertising spend.
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