For hotels · In-room dining
Room service menu QR code how to set one up, with an example menu
A room service menu QR code is a printed code in the guest room that opens your in-room dining menu on the guest's phone. This guide covers the set-up: one location for in-room dining, where the code goes in the room, what to write on the card, hours and after-hours, languages, allergens, and an example menu.
To set up a room service menu QR code, put the in-room dining menu online as its own menu, set its hours, and print its code on a card for every room with one line that says how to order. On tamr that is six steps, and the first three take about 20 minutes.
Add in-room dining as a location
In your tamr account, add a location called In-room dining. It gets its own menu, its own code and its own opening hours, apart from your restaurant and your bar.
Upload the room service menu
Upload the menu as a PDF or a photo, or import it from a link. tamr reads the sections, dishes and prices. Check each one, add the allergens, then publish.
Set the hours and the closed setting
Enter the hours the kitchen takes room orders. Then choose what guests see outside them: the AI waiter stays on, says you are closed, or the chat closes with your message.
Write the card
One headline, the code, one line on how to order with the extension to dial, and the hours. Keep it to 40 words or fewer so it reads at a glance.
Print and place it
Print the code at least 3 cm wide with a white border around it. Put a tent card on the desk in every room, and repeat the code at the bedside.
Test from a room
Scan the card in a real room, on hotel wifi and on mobile data, in the evening light. Ask the AI waiter three questions a guest would ask, then call the extension.
Set in-room dining up as its own location, apart from the restaurant and the bar. A location on tamr carries its own menu, its own code and its own opening hours, so the room card opens only the dishes the kitchen sends to rooms, at room prices, and not the full restaurant menu.
One code for every room
The menu is the same in each room, so one code is enough. The guest gives the room number when they call.
Its own notes for the AI waiter
Write the tray charge, the delivery time you promise and the extension to dial. The AI waiter answers from them.
Put the main code on a tent card on the desk, and repeat it at the bedside. Those are the two places a guest sits when they get hungry. Print it at least 3 cm wide, with a white border, on a matt card so the lamp does not glare on it.
Not only inside the directory
A code on page 14 of a closed folder is not found. The folder is the third place, never the only one.
The same code everywhere
Desk, bedside, directory, minibar and door hanger all carry the one in-room dining code.
Where the code goes
One code for in-room dining, printed in up to five places
Desk, as a tent card
The first place a guest puts their phone down. Make this the main one.
Bedside table
For late night and breakfast, when the guest is not at the desk.
Inside the room directory
On the page where the printed room service menu used to be.
On the minibar
A small sticker that says the full menu is one scan away.
Back of the door hanger
If you take breakfast orders the night before, say how on the hanger.
A room card needs four things: a headline that says in-room dining, the code, one line that says what the guest can do and how to order, and the hours. Keep it to 40 words or fewer. Always print the extension, because the code opens the menu and the guest still orders by phone.
Say “in your language”
It is the one line that tells an international guest the code is worth scanning.
No web address needed
The code carries the link. A long address under it only makes the card harder to read.
The standard card
Scan to read the in-room dining menu and ask about any dish, in your language. To order, dial 5.
Says what the code opens, what the guest can do there, and how to order.
For a late arrival
Hungry after a long trip? Our late night menu is open until 6:30 am. Scan, then dial 5.
Good at the bedside. It answers the question a guest has at midnight.
For breakfast
Breakfast in your room, 6:30 to 11:00. Scan to choose, then dial 5 the night before or in the morning.
Put it on the door hanger if you take breakfast orders ahead.
Enter the hours your kitchen takes room orders, then choose one of three settings for when it is closed. The AI waiter can stay fully on and tell guests your hours, say you are closed and stop recommending dishes, or the chat can close and show your own message. The menu stays open to read in all three.
A dish off for tonight
Switch a dish to unavailable for one hour, for the rest of today, or until you switch it back. Nothing is deleted.
A late night section
If the kitchen runs all night with a short menu, name the section “Late night, 11 pm to 6:30 am”.
When the kitchen is closed
Stay fully on
Guests can read and ask at any time. The AI waiter knows your hours and says so when asked.
Say we're closed
The chat stays open, but the AI waiter says the kitchen is closed and stops recommending.
Close the chat
The chat shows your closed message. The menu stays open to read.
A guest who cannot read the menu calls reception to ask, or does not order. The AI waiter replies in the language and the script each guest writes in, whatever it is, from your one menu. Arabic reads right to left.
The menu itself, translated
On Pro, you pick the languages your menu is translated into, and you check and change any line.
In a room there is no server to ask, so the menu has to carry the answer. Mark the allergens on each dish once: gluten, dairy, egg, nuts, peanut, sesame, soy, fish, shellfish and mustard. The AI waiter answers from those tags in the guest's language and asks them to confirm when they call to order.
How allergens work on the menu
tamr is the menu and the AI waiter that answers questions about it. The order, the bill and the delivery stay with the systems and the people you have today.
No orders sent for you
tamr does not send the order to the kitchen. Guests call in-room dining as they do today.
No room charges
tamr charges nothing to a room and never sees a guest's folio.
No link to your hotel system
tamr does not connect to your hotel system and does not know who is in which room.
Guests order as they do today
Guests read and ask on their phone, then call in-room dining. Print the extension on the card.
No delivery tracking
tamr does not track a tray or time a delivery. Your team runs that as now.
What it does do
It puts the menu on the guest's phone, answers their questions from it, and shows you what guests asked.
The menu and the AI waiter are free, with no card. Pro, the dashboard where you read what guests asked, is $100 per location a month, so in-room dining set up as its own location is priced as one.
How do I make a QR code for a room service menu?
Put the menu online first, then print the code that opens it. On tamr, add in-room dining as its own location, upload the menu as a PDF or a photo, check the dishes and prices, and publish. tamr gives that location its own code. Print it on a card for every room, with one line that says how to order.
Can guests order room service through the QR code?
Guests read the menu and ask the AI waiter on their phone, then order the way they do today, usually by calling in-room dining from the room phone. tamr charges nothing to a room and does not connect to your hotel system. Print the extension to call on the card, next to the code.
Do I need a different QR code for every room?
No. One code for in-room dining can go in every room, because the menu is the same in each one. The guest gives their room number when they call to order. A second outlet, such as the pool bar or the restaurant, gets its own code, because its menu and its hours are different.
What should a room service menu include?
Six sections cover most hotels: breakfast, all day dining, a short late night menu, a children's menu, desserts and drinks. Put the hours in each section name, for example “Breakfast, 6:30 to 11:00”. Give every dish a price, a one line description and its allergens. State any tray charge or service charge at the top.
What happens when a guest scans after the kitchen has closed?
You choose. Each location has opening hours and one of three settings for when it is closed: stay fully on, where the AI waiter knows your hours and says so; say you are closed, where it stops recommending dishes; or close the chat and show your own message. The menu stays open to read in all three.
Which languages can guests use?
Any language. The AI waiter replies in the language and the script each guest writes in, so a guest who asks in German gets an answer in German. On Pro you can also translate the menu itself into the languages you pick, and you check every line. Arabic reads right to left.
How much does a room service QR menu cost on tamr?
The menu and the AI waiter are free, with no card. Pro, the dashboard where you read what guests asked, is $100 per location a month, so in-room dining set up as its own location is priced as one. If your menu is already a PDF online, the PDF to QR tool makes a code for its link, free.
Upload the room service menu as a PDF or a photo, or import it from a link. tamr builds it, gives it a code, and your guests can start asking tonight. Free to start, no card.
