vr Escape Room PR
Bayamón, Puerto Rico
Angel Delgado and his wife Walmy have been running VR escape rooms in Puerto Rico since 2023. They’ve tried several approaches around the San Juan region, and are now set up with their third iteration: a VR escape room location paired with eight intriguing photo booths.
“We were thinking of different projects to do for entertainment," Delgado says. "We found out that you guys existed and were curious. What can we do with the VR experience? We found that the escape rooms, since we love escape rooms, was the best way to go.”
The escape rooms were the perfect match for the project they were launching at the time. And it’s been the combination of multiple attractions that has helped them be successful.
VR Escape Rooms as Part of a Full Experience
“The Upside Down Museum was a house — the full concept was a house with 10-11 rooms. Literally it was an upside down house. You walked on the ceiling and on the ceiling there were floors.
“From the kitchen to the living room to the bathroom everything was upside down. It was a photo opportunity. It really brought in families and a lot of young people as well.”
This was a fun, casual attraction that mall-goers could check out. It remained approachable by taking familiar settings, and grabbed attention by putting a very extraordinary spin on them. And it turned out to be a massive draw for the VR.
“The location we were in was the same location as the Upside Down Museum. That was a very important part.”
They had the booking system, they had the location, and they had access to an audience. All they had to do now was turn the whole thing into a package — and it worked. There were plenty of VR enthusiasts in the crowds, and plenty of newcomers willing to try it. After all, both an upside down house and VR have surprising similarities: people get to explore incredible new situations together.
After the Upside Down Museum, they paired VR escape rooms with a haunted house for October. They had a concept for the real life haunt, and they used vrCAVE’s spooky Manor of Escape as a complementary offer.
Again, having both attractions to offer was key. And these two experiences led to the current location: VR escape rooms and interactive photo booths. vrCAVE’s games are social experiences, so it makes sense to go all-in on a highly social activity.
Making a Difference With Influencers
The Upside Down Museum was a natural draw for influencers as well. Content creators love visually interesting material, and an upside-down house was all that and more.
Influencers have fast become an important part of marketing for many businesses. The right TikTok or Instagram reel can make all the difference in attracting local residents to a new business. And while it’s good for business owners to be a part of that online conversation directly, it has so much more persuasive power when it’s coming from someone else.
People want to know that when they spend their money, they’ll get what they’re looking for. One of the most powerful signals to help make those decisions comes from social proof. Influencer marketing is recognising that online influencers now play an important role in this process.
“We reached out to certain influencers and we invited them with their cameras and equipment to see and experience the whole VR escape rooms and whatever add-on experience we have.”
This is a cycle that works for everyone. Audiences want to know the latest and greatest thing they should do, influencers have access to large audiences, and influencers need to keep their audiences engaged with great content audiences can trust.
Businesses need customers, influencers need businesses, and customers need influencers.
“Once they’re here we give them full liberty, we let them just rate us and comment. We make it like a VIP experience for them so they can benefit from the experience.”
They will make sure that the influencer has a certain follower count, but a great experience isn’t restricted to just the top accounts. You never know who will blow up and be the biggest tomorrow, so it makes sense to treat everybody with a memorable experience, from influencer to customer.
The experience they had with their previous locations led to the current combination of VR escape room and photo booth. Having two attractions creates a system where they can cross-sell people from one to another, and having that vibrant physical attraction draws in people who will, by design, share images of themselves having fun — whether influencer or otherwise.
How Audiences React to VR Escape Rooms
Delgado sees many groups visiting VR Escape Rooms PR. One thing they all have in common? The reactions.
“Wow, that’s crazy!” is a common one. Then, “I didn’t expect it to be like that!”
“The VR experiences people are accustomed to, like rollercoasters, are never so involving,” Delgado says. “The fact that it’s interactive with the other players, the way they interact with each other — when they take the headset off they’re really pleased with that, and they want to go again.”
This is because vrCAVE develops for the free roam VR use case. With people walking around the same space together, you get a much more engaging social experience. And beyond families and friends, that leads to many other great ways to get people in.
“Schools, we do schools. It’s kinda awesome to watch. For the teachers, it’s very important because they see the way the kids can cooperate with each other and the way they interact with the whole dynamic with the following of the instructions and the creativity and sometimes the shy kids, they thrive the most in these games.
“The whole escape room experience, it demands a few skills. Teamwork, leadership, critical thinking. They’re skills that you need in a work or team environment.”
These make the rooms great for kids, but also with companies. Outside of peak entertainment times, corporate team building events are great for VR escape rooms.
“It really brings out those skills. Or lets you know what’s lacking. You can bring your team, you can see for yourself who’s the overachiever. Who’s the slacker. In the experience of the escape room, you can really see the person, what skills, what needs to be fixed, or who’s ready for more responsibility.”
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