My fiancée and I love having guests. We love to host so much that we’ve managed to annoy some of our friends with repeated promises of lovely overnight sleeping quarters featuring a “queen-size pullout bed with memory foam topper!”

We put a lot of effort into hosting, but one detail really seems to impress people above everything else. Despite all the carefully-crafted invitations, all the warm welcomes, and all the handmade charcuterie boards, one dead-simple thing has been a surefire hit with everyone we’ve hosted. Drumroll please…

That’s it. This cheap IKEA picture frame with a piece of printer paper in it seems to blow people’s minds.

Everyone who has ever had guests in their home should know about Wi-Fi QR codes. They’re incredibly easy to use. On virtually all recent-ish (say, 2017+) smartphones, you simply scan the QR code, and boom you’re connected to Wi-Fi. There’s no typing in passwords, no rifling through your phone’s settings, nothing! You scan it the exact same way you’d scan any other QR code, and you’re instantly connected.

Making Wi-Fi QR codes is almost as easy as using them. Use your favorite search engine to look up “Wi-Fi QR code generator.” You will get dozens of results. Pick whichever one you like. Nerds and hackers may enjoy using a command-line tool like qrencode instead.

If you’re the inquisitive type, and you want to know how a Wi-Fi QR code works, Wikipedia has a nice little blurb. It’s a totally informal standard, yet remarkably effective and well-supported.