1. QR Codes in Tourism
Danielle Goodfellow
Brenna Herzog
Sam Herrmann
Trends Assignment
Professor Brey
October 3, 2012

2. Forming QR Codes
QR Codes are a two-dimensional barcode that is intended to have its contents translated at a high
speed. The abbreviation QR is derived from the word Quick Response. QR Codes were created within
the country of Japan, where technology was suffering, and has only became widespread within the
Middle East and Europe. QR Codes became a big and important hit when they were originally used for
tracing parts by automobile manufacturers. Later on, corporationsstarted to see a new possibility for
where QR codes could be consumedthroughout the world. The most profitableuse for QR codes is in
the telecommunications business where the cellular deviceappears to be the maincarrier of their
acceptance.
QR codes are seen all over society, from publications to pictures to business cards. A cemetery in
Denmark recently had been using these codes to tell the life story of the decreased, more than just a
headstone. A huge one revolved up in a Canadian cornfield in recent times. Gibraltar is a territory in the
UK, and it’s located at the start of the Mediterranean in southwestern Europe. They are in the process of
starting to introduce theGibraltarpedia project. The proposal is to coat the residence with QR codes
giving tourists with smartphonesfastadmittance to material about severallocations and topics of
interest.
With 11 million visitors annually traveling to the British settlement, tourist administrators there are
profound to find new methods of inspiring their understanding of their experience. The codes will take
consumers to a Wikipedia page defining and educating the place of interest. Volunteers are currently
taking up much of their time producing pages in a variety of languages. By scanning QR codes place by
place when traveling, tourists will find it useful to learn about the place there are visiting in their own
language, with a volunteer talking in their language with a written description. Many tourists may stick
to the original printed guidebooks when traveling, instead of the QR codes, because of the fear of
roaming charges being very expensive. To get past this controversy, the establishments are thinking
aboutpresenting free WI-FI.Whichever way, the QR codes will give tourists visiting another country with
analternativeselection for finding information in addition to guidebooks, pamphlets, and apps.
QR codes in tourism, travel and hospitality can be used for many reasons. They can be used for product
and destination marketing, which can be used for improving a guest’s service involvement. QR codes are
used on cards in the lodgings, signs or posters in elevators, at the front desk and bulletins in the lobby to
involve customers with guidelines on where to eat or what to do throughout their visit. Airports can
finance less in additional plasma screens and offer QR codes for facts about leavings and arrivals, check
in times and settings, and entertainment for travelers.
The biggest factor to effectively incorporating QR codes into your marketing database is to guarantee
they offer some sort of significance. You have to give visitors something they do not yet have. There are
three examples of some ways travel brands are using QR codes. The San Antonio Convention and
Visitors Bureau are practicing QR technology on its directed River Walk tour to distributeadded content
like photos, tapes, and historical material. The Glendale, Arizona CVB presents a QR code on their

3. entrance that guides after-hour guests to their online site. And finally, to enjoy National Arbor Day, New
York’s Central Park shaped the World Park operation using QR codes.
QR Codes Impact on the World of Business
QR codes are also known as quick response codes. These are trademarks for a type of matrix barcode.
These codes will enable tourists to find out about a place they are visiting in their own language with a
description written by volunteer speaking that certain language. These are their certain points of
interest. QR codes are very positive effects in shaping the hospitality market because QR codes are going
international. These codes are able to be understood whenever they go in the world.
One of the examples that I have done research on was here at Stout. The University Recreational Center
uses QR codes. These codes are used for many different things. The main things the UREC uses these
codes for are for advertising for their website. They want people to go onto their website and see what
the UREC center has to offer and what you can all do there at the center. I feel as if this is a very positive
thing to have because I do not live on campus and it’s nice to have easy access to go onto the site and
see what is all happening since I do not hear about it not living in the dorms anymore. Another thing the
UREC center uses these codes for are for signing up for programs. This includes programs and Stout
Adventures that are happening on campus at a certain time. This allows students to sign up for Stout
Adventures in an easy way. This is a very convenient process to have for students not involved on
campus. I think what they could do better however, is advertise these codes. I did not know what these
codes were until we had to do this project. I believe they can advertise these codes more and inform
people what these codes really do. Another none hospitality market that uses these codes is Sephora.
These codes include specials for incentives such as birthday coupons mailed to the residents address on
their birthday. In these coupons there are QR codes that give free or discounted products, and birthday
gift sets. I believe that this is a great idea to use these codes for that because it gets consumers
interested in your store.
I have looked over many websites in the Hospitality industry that uses QR codes and the two places that
stuck out most to me are The Mirage Hotel and Casino and Olive Garden restaurants. We all know that
Las Vegas is a huge attraction to people all over this world. Las Vegas brings in millions of people each
and every year. The Mirage Hotel and Casino has information and different things connected to their
website and gives information about the hotel and casino and what it has to offer. The Mirage Hotel and
Casino has been using QR codes to promote their onsite entertainment hoping to attract other Las
Vegas visitors to their property for an evening of fun. The Mirage uses QR Codes in their advertising on
taxis, buses, and signage around the city. When visitors scan these QR Codes it drives the consumers to
a page where they can receive $3 off admission to the Siegfried & Roy's Secret Garden & Dolphin
Habitat. Consumers can then redeem this coupon by showing this page on their phone at the ticket
booth when purchasing their tickets. This is an efficient way for consumers to retrieve their coupons
without millions a paper coupons and trying to keep track of all of them. In my opinion the QR code
works perfectly since in today’s society most people don’t leave anywhere without their cell phones.
Olive Garden also uses QR codes. These codes include different specials and different coupons for their
restaurant. They also have special messages for people that use these codes. I think this is a great way to

4. market and get people to come into their restaurant. If people receive coupons they are more likely to
go into a restaurant because they will be getting deals.
Business Landscape
QR codes are a revolutionary piece of technology, especially I’ve found in the hospitality industry.
Simply by taken a picture, you can instantly be transported to a hotel’s events page to see what might
be taking place in any given week. In a resort, you can find out what restaurants are available in house
or nearby. This was the case of the Fontainebleu Resort in Miami Beach, FL. The marketing and sales
team at this resort placed QR codes around the property to remind and inform guests of the different
restaurant options onsite to better promote business inside of the property. They not only promote
restaurants, but the QR codes encourage customers to support the onsite bars and spas. Although you
may have all these options available onsite, guests may not know about them. It is always important to
remind guests to utilize these amenities and that is exactly what QR codes can do in this case.
In Las Vegas, NV, The Mirage Hotel and Casino also uses QR as a quick and very easy reference for their
guests. One such promotion they have currently, although very simple, is a $3 off admission offer to
their Siegfried and Roy’s Secret Garden & Dolphin Habitat. Danielle Deremo who is the PR Specialist for
The Mirage spearheaded the whole QR code movement at the property. She said it is a great way for
guests to realize that the exhibit is at The Mirage and to get them interested in going by offering them a
small coupon in going. When guests arrive at the ticket booth, they simply show their smart phone
screen to the teller to show that they scanned the QR code and they receive a discount. Deremo said
that “…QR codes are a great way to offer guests incentives without having to deal with a mountain of
paper coupons…” When I spoke with Deremo on the phone, she reinforced this by telling me that the
codes to get this coupon are everywhere from posters in the hotel to the sides of busses that go up and
down the Las Vegas strip.
So how does this change the business landscape? Hospitality organizations can now put up small QR
code squares all around their, hotel, resort, restaurant, or whatever kind of property they own and give
the customer a lot of information in a small fraction of the space a poster would have taken up. This
helps the organization better promote what they have to offer as they won’t have to worry about paper
space concerns. However, it also benefits the customer. By giving the customer a quick link they can
take a photo and be on their way to the promoted destination. They no longer have to stand and read
or ask a bunch of questions, they can read about where they are going as they are on their way there.
Changes Moving Forward
The possibilities for this trend are nearly limitless. In a technology driven world, people want things fast,
and in the hospitality industry, people want quick, customized, and quality service. QR codes are perfect
for that. Instead of calling the front desk to get more towels or other linens, The Mirage guests can soon
scan a QR code that may do that for them. Deremo mentioned they are working on this kind of system.
This would greatly benefit tech savvy guests by making this one aspect of their stay quick and painless.

5. Another emerging segment of this trend is that in areas of high volume international travel, QR codes
can be place in areas of interest to give travelers information about hot topics in their own language. No
more fumbling through translation books or trying to talk to someone who can’t understand you.
Simply scan a QR code and you could be taken to a landing page with all the information you wanted in
your language of choice.
This trend will most affectively take hold if hospitality and tourism organizations actually use it. Now,
that may sound simple and obvious, but if companies only put up one or two codes in random areas,
enough customers aren’t going to see them or care that they are there. Businesses need to put them
everywhere and they need to give people a reason to scan them. Deremo said that was one of the most
important things about QR codes. If people don’t have a reason to do something, a lot of the time they
won’t do it. This is no different, offer a small coupon or incentive for scanning the code. Give the
customer a sense of ‘This scan matters’. Whether it be a discount, a coupon, or even entering your
name is a raffle for some sort of prize, making sure people have a reason is the best way to make a QR
code system popular.
Another thing to consider is placement. Putting them in low traffic areas will such as top floors and stair
wells will do no good. If the property is tall, place them in elevators, lobbies, if the property has
common or public restrooms, dining rooms, near a pool if one is on the property. If people can’t see
them, people can’t scan them. Custom tailoring them to the area in which they are located is another
great way for them to be affective. If there is a poolside special on drinks, place those near the pool and
common areas outside of the property.
Staying Ahead of Competitors
Hospitality marketplaces are especially competitive, because for the most part, we are all selling the
same product whether it is food, some place to stay, or a seat on a plane. You have to find a way to
differentiate yourself from all the others. A great way to do this is coupons and discounts. QR codes are
great for this because, just as The Mirage does, you can have customer scan the codes and show their
smart phone screen. This saves the customer time and it’s much easier to keep track of than a small
paper coupon. This also ties into my previous point, just as you want to give customers a reason to scan
your codes, you want to give them a reason to come to your business when there are other places they
could go that offer relatively the same product.
The next way is figuring out who you are targeting with QR codes. Older people probably aren’t going to
know what they are much less know how to use them. When tied into placement, QR codes must be
placed in areas where the appropriate audience will be exposed to them. Place them in areas around
your location, in the same neighborhood or street, or in places that have a similar theme, concept, or
style of service.
The last method leads into the next, saturation. Make sure you are saturated in the marketplace. The
best analogy for it is who gets more business, McDonald’s or a local independent restaurant? It’s the
same concept, if your QR codes are all over the place, more people will see them, and this means more
people who are actually interested will see them or be told about them.

6. The final point is to make your codes unique. What makes your codes different from the competitors’?
It could be what they are linked to like in the National Conference Center in Leesburg, VA that uses QR
codes to advertise and promote the different ways the center is going green and is utilizing green
technology. It could also be my personal favorite, an entire building QR code. The Code Unique Hotel in
Dubai, U.A.E. is an entire building wrapped in a QR code. When construction is completed on the
building, passersby will be able to scan the entire building and find out the message behind the building.

7. References
http://www.mobile-barcodes.com/about-qr-codes/
http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/wikipedia-linked-qr-codes-to-guide-visitors-to-gibraltar/
http://www.qrstuff.com/blog/2012/03/22/qr-codes-in-tourism-and-travel
http://hospitality.cvent.com/blog/social-media-strategies-to-win-group-business/smart-scanning-six-
savvy-hotels-using-qr-codes
http://hospitalitytechnology.edgl.com/top-stories/Considering-QR-Codes--What-You-Need-to-Know---
81482
http://hospitality.cvent.com/blog/social-media-strategies-to-win-group-business/smart-scanning-six-
savvy-hotels-using-qr-codes
http://mirage.com/qr/
Danielle Deremo, PR Specialist for The Mirage Hotel and Casino dderemo@mirage.com