3 Best Escape Room Booking Software Platforms

People love the challenge of freeing themselves from escape rooms. But in order for your customers to get out of your escape room, they must first get in. In other words, they have to make a booking. 

However, choosing the best escape room booking software for your business is a master-level challenge itself. 

In this guide, we’re breaking down three leading booking platforms evaluating them on their value, capabilities, and user-friendliness. You’ll be able to uncover the most affordable, functional, and user-friendly escape room booking system for your venue. 

1: Resova

Resova makes it easy for customers to reserve time slots, pay for services (with one click via Apple Pay Express), sign digital waivers, leave reviews, and more. Over 1300 escape rooms already trust it for their booking needs, and that number only continues to grow. 

Some of the main reasons why so many escape room venues choose Resova include:

• Simple scheduling and booking management – Resova is incredibly intuitive for you and your clientele. Its user interface (UI) is simple, unlike the complex puzzles awaiting your guests. Customers can make bookings, pay, or reschedule their time slots with just a few clicks. You can manage their reservations just as quickly, sending automated emails, collecting feedback, and, if necessary, requesting to reschedule.
• Robust marketing capabilities – One feature that makes Resova unique among booking platforms is its suite of easy-to-use marketing tools. For instance, you can generate percentage or value-based coupon codes and broadcast them to your clientele. Or, use smaller discounts to entice escapees to share their experiences on social media. 
• Streamlined Customer Relationship Management (CRM) – Resova collects key customer information and compiles it into profiles. This allows you to send follow-up messages after bookings, extend special offers around birthdays, and get a better overall sense of your clientele. You can also have customers sign waivers ahead of time so there’s one less surprise waiting for them once they walk through your doors.
• Seamless integrations – Resova easily integrates into Facebook, Shopify, your website, and other popular platforms with embedded booking widgets, facilitating rapid bookings. In fact, about half of all consumers admit to impulse buying via social media, so it’s beneficial to have escape room software that integrates into these other platforms. If your customers can make a room reservation without clicking away from their current page, you can capitalize on that split-second decision-making. 
• Premium services at an accessible price point – Resova is free to try, and monthly plans start at just $35. Premium packages are slightly higher but pack countless features that make them well worth the cost. Plus, there are no contracts with Resova. Simply upgrade or cancel whenever you please and the changes will take effect the following month.

For all the enviable upsides, there are a couple of potential downsides to consider. Some of the few cons associated with the platform include:

• Capability caps – Resova’s preset plans work for up to 600 monthly bookings with up to ten employees at one venue. You’ll need to discuss a custom Enterprise plan with a Resova sales rep if you have multiple businesses or higher volumes.
• Regionality – Resova accepts USD, CAD, GBP, and EURO and has data centers in North America and Europe. This momentarily limits their payment and web hosting options. 

2: Bookeo

Bookeo is a popular booking tool that’s been around for well over a decade. While not necessarily escape room-focused, it’s nonetheless a viable option for taking reservations due to the following:

• Versatility – Bookeo can handle an escape room reservation as quickly as a haircut appointment or personal training session. This ability to cross industries has earned it a high degree of trust as a booking platform. This can be an asset for businesses with mixed purposes, such as escape rooms with party-hosting spaces.
• Customizability – Customizability is a huge selling point for the platform. Bookeo lets you personalize your booking page with different themes, colors, fonts, and more to ensure your page accurately reflects your business’s branding.

Despite these upsides, Bookeo isn’t necessarily the top platform of choice for escape rooms. Some reasons it may not be the best pick include:

• Optimization for other sectors – Bookeo is a catch-all platform that can handle bookings for all kinds of services. They market experimental bookings through their Tours & Activities packages. However, these plans don’t necessarily reflect the specific needs of escape rooms, as they contain registration spots for elements like guides and vehicles. 
• Unnecessary offseason billing – If your escape room is in a tourist area or experiences seasonal highs and lows, you may want to suspend your Bookeo service during slow months. Despite claims of offering month-to-month billing, the platform will still charge you to keep your account active during the offseason—even though you won’t be able to take bookings or leverage their services. 
• Less-developed marketing tools – Bookeo has some analytical and CRM capabilities but lacks many of the robust marketing resources of more developed booking platforms. For instance, generating and broadcasting coupon codes—which can lead to a 335% daily increase in sales—may not be possible on the Bookeo platform. 

3: Xola

Xola is an online booking service that markets itself toward various experiences, including escape rooms. It offers some unique features that make it a decent reservation platform to consider, including:

• Split payments – Escape rooms are usually group adventures, but one person is often stuck footing the bill and squaring up with their friends later. Xola, however, allows for split payments so each escapee can contribute their share before being locked away into their game. 
• Equipment management – Alongside managing customers and bookings, Xola also allows you to track which props and equipment belong in which room. This makes puzzles easier to reset later and ensures nothing gets lost or taken home as a souvenir. 

Regardless of these features, there’s one glaring factor that may put you and other escape room owners off Xola:

• Sneaky fees – Xola charges nearly 6% plus a flat fee on credit card transactions, driving up overall experience prices. For businesses earning over a couple of thousand dollars monthly, this 6% exceeds costs associated with optimized escape room plans.

Many businesses have faced financial challenges with Xola’s “partner fee” model (which can add up to 15% of your bottom line), leading them to seek alternatives like Resova. Resova’s transparent pricing avoids percentage-based fees on transactions and credit cards, providing flexibility to offer better price points. This adaptability becomes particularly valuable amid economic fluctuations like inflation.

The Puzzle is Solved: Resova is Your Go-To for Escape Room Reservations

There’s no escaping the fact that Resova is the ultimate platform for managing reservations, connecting with customers, and marketing your escape room to the world. 

With a host of unique features, such as social media sharing, embedded booking widgets, and actionable customer insights, Resova’s all-in-one platform enables you to schedule bookings while growing your escape room business. 

Resova’s flexible payment options and affordable pricing make it the ideal choice for owners like you. It ensures offering customers a top-notch experience without straining the budget on their booking platform.

Explore Resova today to lock in an exceptional escape room booking software. Start your Free Trial now.