Applies to iRiS Manager | Guest Room | Guest Mobile | Guest Web | Mobile Dining What is a QR code
Quick Response(QR) codes were invented in 1994 by a Japanese automotive company to allow for quick component scanning during manufacturing, QR codes are a type of barcode that allow users to experience a touchless informational or monetary transaction.
QR codes can be scanned and understood by any type of smartphone device, providing businesses with a fast and direct way to guide users to take an immediate course of action. This is why marketers are incorporating these encrypted square shaped codes into more marketing ideas and advertising strategies than ever.
Static or Dynamic QR Code?
A Static QR Code contains information that is fixed and uneditable once the Code has been generated. They are great for personal use and a key to creating large batches of Codes for employee IDs, event badges, technical product documentation, and much more.
On the other hand, and because of their fixed nature, they are not ideal for businesses or marketing campaigns as Static Codes do not track metrics or allow for editing post creation.
On the other hand, Dynamic QR Codes allow you to update, edit and change the type of the QR Code however many times you need, which makes them the best fit for business and marketing purposes.
IRIS recommends that your QR codes should always be generated as Dynamic QR codes, allowing for the flexibility of changing the URL should you need to in the future, without the need to replace your existing images that will have been created on posters, tent cards, stickers etc. All QR codes provided by IRIS are dynamic QR codes.
How does IRIS Mobile Ordering Use QR codes
We use QR codes to provide hotels with an easy way to direct their guests to their digital menu and guest directories services located on our web portal. The QR code directs the guest to the required web URL, once the URL loads it will display our website and load the hotel's content, saving the guest from having to type in the web address. That is it, the QR code has completed it purpose and the website takes over!
For example, this QR code will redirect the user to https://guest.iris.net/HHLDN?topbar=normal
We can provide QR codes that request the website to pre-populate details for the guest, such as the room number, or to enable a function such as to hide the left-hand menu, the QR code will do this by sending extra information in the URL which it requests to load, commonly termed as switches. The switches will be read by the website and it will behave accordingly.
In the previous example, the URL included a switch ?topbar=normal to set the 'topbar' behaviour to normal.
Troubleshooting QR codes
Troubleshooting QR codes is relatively simple and should not be confused with problems with the target URL or website that it has directed you to. As we have just discussed, the QR code's purpose is to direct the guest to the website, if this is achieved and the menu/guest directory is visible, it has successfully done its job!
This can be checked by scanning the provided QR code and checking to see that it displays the menu or guest directory required.
You can further check that the URL of the page is the same as the one that the QR code has been configured too.
If there are issues that the content is not updating or orders are not going through, this is not an issue with the QR code, but some other issue related to Mobile Ordering and should be investigated separately.
Common questions/requests for QR codes
- I have updated my menu can I have a new QR code
- Content is not updating, can I have a new QR code
- Prices are not matching my POS, please update my QR code
In all these cases, a new QR code is not required and would not resolve the issue. The most common answer to these questions would be to check that the content has been updated in IRIS Manager and is showing correctly in draft mode, and then to publish a new version. Please see the following guides for steps to take. Versioning a Property