Escape Room Booking Software: Your Essential Guide

Escape room booking software can streamline your operations and help you scale to meet growing demand. But for many escape room business owners, choosing the right software isn't easy. Many might not know where to begin when evaluating options, while even those familiar with the software might not know everything it can.

This guide aims to answer all the essentials about escape room booking software that escape room owners might have. By the end, you'll be able to properly evaluate different software options and select the right one for your business!

What is Escape Room Booking Software?

In its most basic form, escape room booking software is a scheduling software that allows escape rooms to manage appointments. This software can have a wide range of additional features similar to those of customer relationship management (CRM) software. It can help businesses keep track of customers and their interactions with your business and collate their reviews online.

Depending on the needs of your business, you might need a more complex software package if you are managing multiple locations. However, you may find a simpler software package adequate if you manage only one escape room. Whatever package you choose, an escape room booking solution can streamline your operations and booking process.

Features of Escape Room Booking Software

While each escape room booking software package will be different, there are some common features escape room owners can expect from each. With this baseline of features, you can evaluate how well a software package can fulfill your needs at each price point.

Game Appointment Calendar

The most basic feature that an escape room booking solution will have is a booking calendar. This feature, similar to a Google Calendar and possibly built on it, will have a compilation of all upcoming appointments and a way of storing past appointments. This will allow escape room owners to see the number of appointments to expect in the future and allow them to dedicate resources accordingly.

Easy to Use Interface

A booking website with your software will have an easy-to-use interface that lets customers reserve a spot through desktop or mobile devices. This can reduce confusion with game bookings and the need to hire staff to handle booking and managing your appointments. You can book more clients in more rooms through a well-designed website with self-service options at a lower price than hiring new staff.

Automated Marketing Capabilities

Game room booking software often comes with automated marketing capabilities to help you reach out to and convert past customers and potential leads. The software can also often integrate with third-party marketing tools, allowing you to craft your marketing stack however you like. You may also be able to integrate your booking software with your existing marketing technologies.

Payment Servicing

An escape room booking software system will also have an online payment portal for customers to purchase their time easily. You can use this payment service to handle most or all transactions from your business, avoiding the need to schedule customers over the phone.

Business Intelligence Capabilities

The more you know about your business, the better decisions you can make for it. Escape room owners can benefit from potentially robust business intelligence capabilities in their escape room booking software. You can gain insight into the return on capital, the performance of different escape rooms, and areas of opportunity for rooms clients demand that you might not be currently exploiting.

Ongoing Technical Support

Game room booking software should be easy to use but can be complicated to begin if you're unfamiliar with it. Some types of software also have more powerful capabilities, making it important always to have support on hand. Some of the best software for game room bookings has 24/7 support available, making it easy to get the maximum use out of your investment.

What Can Escape Room Booking Software Do?

So, what can an escape room owner expect booking software to do? Check out some common features of this technology to make the right purchase choice for your business needs.

Online Game Booking

The most immediate service that a booking software package can do for your business is to facilitate online bookings. This can make it easier for customers to sign up on the go from mobile devices, helping you to get more bookings overall. You can also mitigate the impact of no-shows from a customer and keep escape rooms in your businesses as close to maximum booking as possible with software.

Organize Your Team by Game Room

With escape room scheduling software, you can assign your staff to each game room as needed. If you're facing a sudden surge of appointments, you can move staff to rooms or locations to match demand. You can also set recurring schedules and adapt your team's real time availability as needed. With bookings online, you can also quickly move workers to where they are needed most.

Game Demand Forecasting

Some sophisticated software booking packages can conduct demand forecasting. This can allow you to set aside resources needed to meet expected demand during busy times of the day or expected surges in demand on weekends, holidays, or special events. Escape rooms that can anticipate business surges or lulls can be in a better position to maximize the potential revenue from each period.

Improve Marketing

As booking software stores customer details, you can improve your marketing and target customers with the right message. The information you get from your booking software will be useful for targeted automated emails and custom promotions. You can use this information to build an organic rapport with customers using the right marketing tools to reach them while avoiding pushy sales tactics.

Diversify Your Revenue Streams

With the right software, you can facilitate sales for various items. In addition to collecting payment for booking online, you can sell gift vouchers, merchandise, or monthly or annual packages. You can also set up easy renewal or recurring payment options so customers can generate more revenue while maintaining easy access to your website.

Ensure Compliance

Businesses and staff themselves must bring themselves and their escape room into compliance with local laws and regulations to ensure a safe experience for everyone. Booking software can help you and your customers complete this entire process electronically, allowing for the easy submission and retrieval of these vital records.

Streamlined Waivers

Customers must often sign waivers before participating in an escape room. These help to limit businesses from liability claims in the event of an accident, booking software can make creating and tracking waivers much easier than relying on paper copies. The waivers are also stored in the cloud, so they are easier to retrieve and receive added protection.

Increase Your Conversions

Every dollar of your marketing counts, which makes it essential to convert the maximum potential leads. Escape room owners can increase conversions with booking software tailored to their business needs. With smart marketing tools and a large pool of detailed customer profiles, your booking software can help you more efficiently and intelligently reach prospective leads.

Sales Tracking

Escape rooms can track sales through their booking software. They can determine the lifetime customer value of everyone they serve and identify the best ways to close prospective leads. With this software, you can determine potential revenue in the coming months or years. You can also identify potential issues or opportunities before they arrive, allowing you to prepare for them as needed.

Streamline Payments

With online payment servicing, escape rooms can streamline their cash handling and payments through online booking software. This reduces their overhead and on-hand liabilities, improving the security of safe rooms. By accepting a wider range of payment options, Sports Carnival can make booking with you easier for potential customers.

Reduce Paperwork

By keeping much of your booking information online, potentially all of it, you can make the booking process virtually paperless. An escape room booking system can reduce the overall paperwork across your business while making records easier to access. This booking system can reduce administrative costs while creating a more seamless customer experience.

Maximize Your Revenues

With the wide range of cost-cutting and efficiency-generating changes an online booking system can bring your business, you can use it to maximize your escape room’s revenue. Escape rooms that fully leverage the software available can find they can do far more with less. By saving on personnel costs and improving the productivity of each team member, you can do much more with your revenues.

Selecting the Right Escape Room Software for Your Business

Many different types of escape room software are available on the market today. As this industry grows, more options with unique features and offerings are continually entering the space. With the information here, you can carefully and systematically evaluate each booking system to find the one with the features that best serve your business.

There isn't necessarily a one-size-fits-all escape room booking system that will be a comprehensive solution for each business. Each has a unique suite of features and capabilities, some of which may suit your business better than others. It is essential to carefully evaluate your options before committing to one software over another. With the information here, you can make an informed decision about your purchase!