Small, unique and easily read by scanner-enabled mobile devices, QR codes have become a digital welcome mat in the hospitality industry. Once they are scanned from wherever they may appear – a print ad, a loyalty card, a menu – they provide a link to additional information: a wine list, a menu, a special feature or event, or a website highlighting a hotel or resort’s special offerings.

Best of all, their prowess as a marketing tool, when used with guests and prospective guests, can be bolstered with other tools that measure their success, said Mark Johnson, president of the Loyalty Marketing Association. Pair a QR code with an analytic tool such as LoopFuse, for instance, and a hotel can track how effective its QR codes have been in linking visitors to its website or forum.

The value here, said Johnson, is that “you can start assessing how effective they are at driving site engagement and purchasing engagement.”

This element is critical for QR-code users, Johnson said, because the codes are only a form of one-way communication and effective marketing requires involvement on both sides of the discussion. The code is only the first step: meaningful, appropriate content on the other end of the link is the make-or-break factor.