How to increase foot traffic to your escape room this summer?

Summer is the best time to spend time outdoors, so it is more difficult to offer indoor games during this time. So… take it outside! Firstly, it will be seen as a positive step and safety measure, against the backdrop of the pandemic. Secondly, it will attract new visitors to your main location. If they enjoy playing escape games outside, then they will most likely be interested in trying your other games as well, during the summer and throughout the course of the year.

It can be part of any outdoor event, such as corporate functions, adult’s and/or children’s birthday parties. Children’s summer camps can also be a fantastic option. There can be anywhere from about 150 to a few thousand children at one camp, so this is an excellent chance for an escape room owner to attract a new audience from amongst schoolchildren as well as their parents.

The organization to hold an outdoor escape game will require some preparation from you. For those who want to have a ready-made solution for conducting off-site quests, we have created a portable game for teams of 2 to 12 people. This is a full-fledged escape game in a compact form that you can use anytime during the year to help bring in an additional source of income. For more details on the methods of using our portable games, see here.

Do you know what the problem is, for many parents during the summer? Children are no longer at school/kindergarten, and there isn’t always someone to leave them with.

Organize a play area at your location, so that parents can safely go and play for an hour, while their children are supervised and kept busy. Any place with such an opportunity is sure to be a point of attraction for parents with children.

You can organize and arrange the children’s area at your discretion, or you can supplement your location with a themed escape room props and puzzles so that children are also busy with an exciting game just like their parents, but in a form that is ideal for children.

There is a special group of tourists who visit different cities in order to find interesting escape rooms and play them. Then, there are tourists who just want to see something interesting and have fun. Summer is the best time for this.

Strategically place “selling” information about yourself, as much as possible, in both on-line and off-line travel resources. Use everything at your disposal: from Google Maps, Trip Advisor to advertising banners along tourist routes, of course depending on the specifics of your location.

Special attention should be made in cooperation with 3 star hotels and hostels. Promoted hotels 4 stars and higher are unlikely to go for it (in our experience) but the more budget friendly places could become your “friends”. Try to barter with them to post information at their reception, post your brochures/discount coupons there and inform them of what you have to offer, so that they can suggest and pass on information to their clients. Mostly, young people and students stay at these hotels/hostels – so they will gladly come and play. In order for this to work, your games must be available in several different languages, so do some research in your area and make sure you are covered and well prepared.

Even if you are not a big fan of discounts, it might be worth considering this during the summer months. Here we cannot give specific information, as promotions and discounts are always up to the individual escape room owners. For some, coupons work, for others, a limited summer discount on a game works, or even a discount for returning customers.

In many countries, now, the opening of escape rooms. during or after the pandemic coincided with the summer period. According to our clients’ reviews, many quest owners have already felt the increased demand, because the players have missed the games. This is great news, but be sure to use our suggestions to stimulate an even higher demand this summer, as well as the seasons following this.

What methods do you use to increase foot traffic during the summer months? Share your experiences in the comments!