Wristbands instead of QR codes prove to be a success

The nightlife crowd in a number of cities made extensive use of wristbands instead of QR codes to get access to cafés and restaurants, catering entrepreneurs in Breda and Zwolle and the organization Leidens Ontzet said. There had been no problems with the CoronaCheck app in the three cities.

The inner city was calm but the party area was heavily crowded, according to a spokesperson from Leidens Ontzet. “Many wristbands were picked, so we are under the impression that they are being used a lot.”

They were also in high demand in Zwolle, Dennis Kaatsman from the Royal Hospitality Union Netherlands and the student union The Flying Horse said. “It was really busy tonight in the party streets and we received many people who were using the wristband.”

Guests can get a wristband after they showed their coronavirus access pass. The goal is for owners of catering businesses to be able to easily determine who is allowed inside so that long queues do not form outside of the doors. Whoever does not have a wristband can also show their QR code in the CoronaCheck app.

Catering boss Laurens Meyers said everything went according to plan in Breda. “Nearly half of the nightlife crowd had a wristband and prevented waiting too long at the door. Which is certainly nice in this weather!”

Last week there were problems with the CoronaCheck app due to so-called DDoS attacks in which people, usually cybercriminals, try to flatten a website by overloading them with internet traffic. The server was also overloaded because people made massive use of the app to create a QR code. These problems did not occur this past Saturday, the three spokespeople said.

Wristbands were also used in other cities, such as Leeuwaren, Hoorn, Rotterdam, Roosendaal and Alkmaar.