Booking QR code: where to place it and what to write

A booking QR code is a square code that opens your booking page when someone points a phone camera at it. Current iPhones and most Android phones read QR codes straight from the camera app, so customers need no extra app.

The counter is where the next visit is decided. A customer paying for a haircut, a client leaving a massage or a guest checking out already knows they want to come back. Without a code you hear “I’ll call you”, and often nothing follows. With a code they pick a free time on the spot, and the booking lands in your calendar without a phone call.

• No phone tag. Customers see free times and book in under a minute.
• Works when you are closed. A poster in the window keeps taking bookings in the evening and at the weekend.
• Less work at the desk. You serve the person in front of you instead of reading out free slots.
• Direct bookings for accommodation. A guest who liked the stay books the next one directly with you, not through a portal.

The code itself is the easy part. What makes it work is the spot, the text next to it and a quick check of what it brings. The help article on the QR code and print materials shows every setting.

Put the code where people wait, pay or look around, at eye level and in good light. Each spot suits a different material:

Two practical rules: the code should face the customer, not you, and it should never sit behind a pile of leaflets or the card terminal. In accommodation, the reception desk and the breakfast room work best; in the room, guests are more likely to scan in the evening than at check-out.

“Scan me” tells people what to do, but not why. A good call to action says what happens and what they get, in a few words:

• Hairdresser or barber: “Book your next cut”.
• Massage or physiotherapy: “Book your next massage online”.
• Guesthouse or holiday home: “Book your next stay directly with us”.
• Gift vouchers in December: “Give a massage – buy a voucher online”.

Keep it short: on Resovu materials your own text can have up to 40 characters, and the line underneath already explains that free times are visible right away. Write it in the language of your customers – the text language of the material is independent of your dashboard, so a guesthouse can print an English stand for foreign guests.

Then say it out loud once. “Next time you can book right here” at the checkout does more than any design. Avoid promises you cannot keep, such as a discount the booking page does not actually give.

A common rule of thumb is a distance-to-size ratio of about 10:1: a code 3 cm wide reads from roughly 30 cm, and codes smaller than 2 × 2 cm are hard for many phones to read (Bitly). A counter stand is read from arm’s length; a window poster from the street needs the larger A4 format.

Lead the code straight to the page where people act:

• Online booking – for the counter, the mirror and the room. The customer chooses a service or dates right away.
• Business profile – for the window and the door. People who do not know you yet first see photos, reviews and opening hours.
• Gift vouchers – before Christmas or Valentine’s Day, if you sell vouchers online.

The printed code holds a fixed address, so it never expires. If you change your colour or logo, the old stands keep working; you only reprint them for the new look.

If you have your own domain such as booking.yourbusiness.com, the code and the short address printed under it use it as soon as the domain is live. Codes printed before still lead to resovu.com and keep working.

Both work; it depends on how many pieces you need and where they go.

• At home or in the office: download the PDF without bleed. Stickers come as an A4 sheet of 10 cut along grey lines; the stand fits on A6, the folding stand is an A5 sheet folded in half. Thicker matte paper stands up better and does not reflect light into the camera.
• At a print shop: tick the option for 3 mm bleed and crop marks. The PDF is vector, so text and code stay sharp at any size. Ask for lamination for the window and the door.
• For social media and email: download a PNG. Designers get an SVG they can place into their own layout.

Before printing a whole batch, print one piece, scan it with two different phones and check that the right page opens.

Each material’s code adds tags to the link (utm_source=qr and utm_medium with the format). The booking remembers where it came from, so you do not have to guess whether the stand or the window poster works.

In Resovu you see the result in Analytics → Booking sources as QR – stand, QR – folding stand, QR – sticker and QR – poster (Starter plan and up). If you use Google Analytics on your booking page, the same tags can also show up there as source qr.

Give each spot its own material and compare after a month. A poster that brings nothing may only need a better place or a different target – the profile instead of the booking page, for example.