You can check out any time you like… but you have to leave after an hour.
Location: Atlanta, GA
Date played: April 3, 2017
Team size: 4-9; we recommend 6
Duration: 60 minutes
Price: $33 per ticket
Story & setting
We checked into rooms at the Grandjestic Atlantan, where the hotel’s lonely proprietor sought to trap his guests forever.
Split into three different hotel rooms, we had to communicate well in order to escape.
Thematically, The Hotel was a hotel, with rooms branching off a main hallway. The rooms themselves didn’t attempt realism. Rather, they were small, hotel-inspired escape rooms.
Puzzles
Communication was our primary opponent in The Hotel.
The puzzles required teamwork across hotel rooms.
Standouts
Mission: Escape Atlanta went out of their way to design a backstory for the hotel proprietor. It was a solid backdrop for thematic puzzling. It also explained away any need for realism in set design. It was a hotel-inspired fantastical situation that worked.
The puzzles forced teamwork. It was challenging to figure out which pieces connected to what and to whom. It was rewarding when hotel rooms accomplished goals together.
The Hotel created an exciting, almost frantic energy as we raced to make connections between puzzling items we couldn’t necessarily even see. For players in the primary communication roles, the setup fostered a feverish race of puzzling.
Shortcomings
The players who were not in the communication roles sometimes didn’t feel the same sense of excitement.
Not all hotel rooms were created equal. Some were more fun than others. Additionally, if any hotel room’s team members couldn’t pull their weight in puzzles, the entire team would be in for a rough ride.
One particular unclued puzzle relied only on trial and error. The effects of this were amplified by the room that this challenge was placed within.
Should I play Mission: Escape Atlanta’s The Hotel?
Mission: Escape Atlanta crafted a unique and intriguing hotel-themed escape room. Instead of realistic and dramatic, it was lighthearted and imaginative.
The Hotel was unbalanced. Some players focused on communication while others explored the surroundings. Some players found their hotel rooms more intriguing than others did.
However, the puzzling happened through teamwork, the culmination of which was incredibly satisfying.
If you’re a newer player, not well-versed in how escape room style puzzles fit together, The Hotel will be a serious challenge. Please play at least one room escape prior to attempting The Hotel.
If you prefer to experience an entire escape room from start to finish, The Hotel is not the escape room for you.
If you bring a team that cannot communicate well… good luck to you.
In most other circumstances, The Hotel will be a joy to check in to. It was full of good puzzles and lots of fun.
Book your hour with Mission: Escape Atlanta’s The Hotel, and tell them that the Room Escape Artist sent you.
Full disclosure: Mission: Escape Atlanta provided media discounted tickets for this game.
