In-room QR codes:
what do you actually need to start?

Less than you'd think: a printed sheet and the phone your guest already has. A QR code is a static image containing a web address — no app to download, no special reader, no particular connection. Since 2017 the iPhone camera reads them on its own, and Android followed shortly after. The real work isn't technical: it's deciding what the guest finds on the other side, and printing the signs so they can actually be read.

How Colgo does it

The panel generates the QR codes, one per unit, with no external service involved: until mid-August we asked a third-party generator, now we draw them ourselves. Your property's address never passes through anyone else, and the codes won't stop working if that service shuts down.

From the panel you download a ready-laid-out PDF: you choose how large the QR should be in centimetres, and the page tells you how many labels fit and how many sheets you need before printing. Under each QR you can write whatever you like — "Scan for the menu", "Breakfast in your room" — different for groups of rooms. The PNGs are still there in a single zip, for digital use. The same tool is in the staff panel, because whoever prints the signs is usually at the desk, not at home.

The limits, stated up front

• Below 2 cm per side scanning becomes unreliable. For a sign read from a distance there's a simple rule: distance in metres × 10 = centimetres per side.
• The QR is static and contains the unit's name. If you rename room 101 to 201 the old sign keeps working, but requests keep arriving as "101": renaming means reprinting.
• Print the PDF at "Actual size" (100%), not "Fit to page", or the size you chose won't be respected.