In the past year I’ve spoken to many escape room owners, as well as creatives and artists across every discipline in the immersive industry, and there’s one thing in common: they earn very little or, in some cases, nothing. It’s a real shame because they produce the most wonderful things and deserve to be rewarded for their hard work. But here’s some good news: it’s never a lost cause. Usually all it takes is just a few tweaks to the numbers side of the business that could make all the difference.

In this article, I’ll introduce eight fundamental profit principles owners can apply to start earning more without building new rooms. As I introduce each one, try to think about what you would change in your own business and make notes. By the end of this article you’ll have a plan of action. But first, who am I?

About Me

For those that don’t know me, I’m Sam. I co-founded Enigma Escape in 2015, one of the earliest escape rooms in the UK, back when the label ‘enthusiast’ wasn’t even a thing. It was a 1,000 sqft venue in London with two games, The Killer and The Breakout. Owners have since told us our games inspired them to open theirs, and The Killer was also the very first game the legend Sarah Dodd played before she went on to play thousands more (sorry Sarah!).

Enigma reached the #2 spot on TripAdvisor in London out of 50+ escape rooms at the time, which was tough to achieve, and despite our efforts we could never quite take the #1 spot from clueQuest. We also had the best souvenirs: die-cast, zinc-alloy, nickel-plated, enamel-filled challenge coins (inspired by poker card protectors). Customers loved them. They’re not offered anymore, but you may still spot them on eBay.

After seven years and generating more than £1M in revenue, we sold the business to No Escape, who are still running it today. I miss it. Let me know if you’ve visited before!

With more than a decade of experience and a passion for helping others, I set up Immersif in 2024 with a mission to help creatives and suppliers in the immersive industry to earn more through specialist accounting and mentorship. I work with many escape rooms, as well as immersive experiences in theatre, entertainment and hospitality, interactive projects and shows, industry suppliers like tech and services, and creative freelancers in set design, props, audio, lighting, software and more. My vision is to grow a supportive network of creators who help bring each other’s immersive what-ifs to life i.e. Immersif.

The 8 Profit Fundamentals

The eight profit fundamentals can be used to improve all areas of a business, whether that’s your business as a whole, or a single escape room, project, or campaign. And they don’t just apply to escape rooms either, they work for any type of business in any sector. It’s a powerful set of principles worth considering whenever you’re focused on making more money. We thought about these constantly while running Enigma, and it’s how we were able to maximise what we had without spending a single penny. For each fundamental I’ll give an overview with examples of how I applied it to our escape rooms.

Profit Fundamental #1: Generate More Sales

This is super obvious, but if you generate more sales you’ll make more money… usually. As long as you’re not overspending to acquire customers and your pricing covers all your costs, then more customers will mean more profit. But real profit growth comes from understanding how customers find you and what actually converts the sale. When you learn what works, you can fine-tune your sales strategy and start generating more sales.

Do you ask every customer, “How did you hear about us?” If your answer isn’t “Yes, every time,” then you’re missing out on valuable data. Analysing that data will reveal where your customers are and what matters most to them.

In the early years of Enigma, around 40% of our customers came through TimeOut London, 30% from TripAdvisor, 20% from Virgin Experience Days, and 10% from word of mouth or other small sources. That breakdown told us that social proof was a big factor for our customers when choosing to book. People wanted to know they were making a good choice, so they relied on reviews and endorsements to build trust before parting with their money. This insight guided us to make social proof central to our marketing. We mentioned our 5-star reviews, TimeOut Critics’ Choice feature and awards everywhere, on our website, social media, leaflets, even in emails and phone calls, because we knew it would help convert sales.

This data also showed us where to focus our marketing efforts. 40% of sales came through publications which means our customers read and trust them. We worked hard to get featured in more of them so that we can cast a wider net. We were later written up in the Evening Standard and appeared in other outlets too. And because 30% of sales came via TripAdvisor, we put serious effort into climbing its ranks. This was no easy feat and it took years to reach #2. TripAdvisor’s algorithm keeps changing but the key things to remember are rating, volume and frequency. Getting 5-stars is not enough, you’ll need many and often.

Customers also care about rankings more than you might think. I remember comparing our rank with our sales and we were making £10K more in annual revenue per rank. And when the rank dropped, sales dropped. Knowing this led us to change many areas in our business including allowing refunds, because if we didn’t and we receive 1-stars then we’ll lose much more. The increased flexibility to our customer service garnered us even more 5-star reviews so the new policy was a double win.

So the lesson here is to figure out where your customers are coming from, focus on improving those channels, and market on similar ones too. You’ll soon see an increase in sales and more profit.

Profit Fundamental #2: Optimise Pricing

Profit doesn’t always come from charging more. It’s about charging the optimum price, which sometimes means lowering your prices to earn more. It’s not something you can easily figure out, it takes trial and error until you find the sweet spot.

During my seven years at Enigma, we changed our pricing more than a dozen times. We were intrigued by how far we could push it. At the start, tickets were £20 pp (per player), the going rate in London at the time. As the new kid on the block, it didn’t make sense to stand out yet. But as reviews came in and we felt we were positioned above the average, we nudged the price up to £25 pp. As our TripAdvisor ranking climbed, so did our pricing. Each time we tested an increase, it was only by £1 or £2 pp.

That’s when we realised something important. If we raised the price by 20% and lost 20% of sales, our revenue would be the same as before, but with fewer bookings, lower costs, and more time back. Even doubling the price and halving sales would leave us in a better position. So, when we reached top five on TripAdvisor, we decided to test £35 pp. We expected sales to dip, especially as it made us the second most expensive escape room in London. But instead, sales went up. Perhaps it was psychology at play: if we are expensive then we must be good.

However, Enigma wasn’t competing on set design or tech. Instead, we were becoming known for being the best experience for two players. At the time, many venues avoided twos and only allowed teams of three or more. We went the other way. We embraced couples, dates, and anniversaries, and pushed our marketing in that direction. We calculated that even if every single booking was a team of two, the numbers still worked. As a test we increased the price for twos to £40 pp and still didn’t see a drop in sales. In fact, I believe we could have increased them further, but by then the income level met our goals, so we didn’t push it.

Varying your pricing is one of the fastest ways to increase profits. Don’t be afraid to experiment and see what the market will bear, especially if your games are above average. You might be surprised to find your profit change for the better almost overnight.

Profit Fundamental #3: Improve Value for Money

Before people make a purchase, they first assess value for money. If it doesn’t feel worth it, they won’t buy. So one way to increase sales and profit is to look closely at your value for money, and work on improving how it’s perceived.

The keyword here is “feel”, because value for money is highly subjective. One person might think your escape room is excellent value, while another might not. Different people value different things, and this is especially true across segments of your market. A couple will see value differently to a corporate team. A stag do will look for different things than a family outing. It’s hard to market to everyone, which is why businesses generally perform better when they niche.

At Enigma, our niche was teams of two. Of course, we accepted all types of customers, but our marketing was focused on showing that we were especially suited for smaller groups thanks to our intimate venue and private experience. We hosted couples on dates, anniversaries, and birthdays, and even dozens of proposals (all of them said yes!). Our second most popular team size was groups of four, often double dates. When you choose a niche and market to it with feeling, you naturally attract the people who align with what you offer.

Another key point is that the higher your price, the more value for money you have to communicate. The lower your price, the less you need to. Customers are constantly weighing up the gap between what they pay and what they get, and asking themselves: “Is it worth it?”

Enigma was one of the most expensive escape rooms in the country, but we made sure to promise a lot in our marketing: a private, intimate experience; a dedicated host; a proper briefing; a full hour of gameplay; refreshments; a photo opportunity; winner prizes; and a debriefing. You could argue that many other escape rooms offered similar things, but the difference was in how we communicated them. Describing clearly what customers get for their money gave them the reassurance that they were making the right choice. The words you use and how you phrase them matter, they need to match what your customers value most. When customers truly understand your value and feel “you get what you pay for” in a positive way, it increases your chances of making a sale.

Value for money is about perception, not just price. Know your niche, communicate what your customers value most, and make sure they feel their money is well spent. Do that, and you’ll not only attract more bookings but also build stronger trust in your brand.

Profit Fundamental #4: Reduce Costs

There’s no point making sales if your running costs are so high that little profit is left. One of the quickest ways to increase profit is to examine your costs and find ways to reduce them.

Many escape rooms already struggle to make sales, so it’s no surprise that their costs are often lean just to stay afloat. But I’ve seen the books for many venues, and sometimes costs are unnecessary, and in some cases, even higher than sales. That means for every booking that comes in, the business is effectively setting itself up to make a loss.

A common culprit is affiliate sites like Groupon. These can be notoriously expensive and should be avoided unless you’ve run the numbers to check they actually work for you. Groupon usually requires you to slash your retail price by at least half, and then they take at least half of what’s left, often leaving you with just 10–25% of the original ticket price. At Enigma, we partnered with many affiliates (but not Groupon) and the most we gave away was 20%. Those tickets were only valid during quiet periods of the week, so losing a little was worth it to gain a lot.

Escape rooms operate like hospitality businesses, where the highest cost is wages. In hospitality, each ticket price typically breaks down into thirds: about one-third goes to wages, another third to fixed costs, and the final third is left as profit. Escape rooms set up with this ratio tend to do fine. But when costs rise and profits fall to around 10–20%, businesses start to struggle, especially when cash flow tightens around VAT returns. Enigma operated at around 50% profit, which gave us enough buffer for marketing activities and affiliate spending. If you can’t reduce your costs any further but your cost-to-profit ratio is still too high, then the issue isn’t high costs, it’s low sales. In that case, concentrate on generating more sales instead.

Reducing costs is about trimming the fat, not cutting corners. Be ruthless with unnecessary spending, watch out for partnerships that bleed your margins, and aim for a healthy ratio between sales, costs, and profit. The leaner your business runs, the more resilient it becomes, and the easier it is to grow.

Profit Fundamental #5: Add More Revenue Streams

Escape rooms are a seasonal business, and if you’ve ever felt the pinch during certain times of the year then you may be over-reliant on a single source of income. A business with only one way of making money can quickly get into trouble if sales decline. To counteract this, add more revenue streams, ideally ones that aren’t affected by seasonality.

A common extra revenue stream for escape rooms is selling gift vouchers. Customers buy these all year round, especially during the Christmas period. Yet I’ve seen many venues hardly sell any. Too often, owners add a voucher option just because their competitors have one, but then treat it as passive income and don’t make much effort to promote it. At Enigma, gift vouchers sometimes made up 30% of our income, sold directly and through affiliates. Not all vouchers get redeemed either, we saw 30–50% expire each year. That made vouchers a surprisingly lucrative source of income, but only because we treated them as something worth actively selling, not just an afterthought.

One of the best times to upsell is at the booking stage. The customer is already in a buying mood, so if the upsell is attractive, it’s an easy win. At Enigma we never cracked a great upsell for the booking stage, our closest attempt was an “Impress Your Date Package,” where you’d get the solutions beforehand so you could look smart in front of your date. Instead, we focused on upselling after the experience, encouraging players to try another game straight away. It made sense: they had already travelled to us, enjoyed the first game, and often had time to spare. We offered discounts on second games, and our staff were incentivised with a 10% commission bonus. It worked. Around 5–10% of sales came from customers who booked a second game on the spot. If you’re not actively selling a second game, you’re missing an easy opportunity.

So the lesson is simple: don’t rely on one stream of income. Gift vouchers, upsells, merchandise, food and drink, packages and second-game offers can each make a big difference to your bottom line, and even one of them done well can smooth out the ups and downs of seasonal demand.

Profit Fundamental #6: Streamline Efficiency

The saying “time is money” is true in business, and for escape rooms the more efficient your operations are, the more time you’ll have to earn money.

Most escape rooms in the UK run for 60 minutes, long enough for players to feel challenged, but not so short that it feels poor value for money. The interval between games, however, varies from around 1 hour 15 minutes to 2 hours. I recommend that new owners, or those launching a new game, start with longer intervals so staff can learn how to run it smoothly. As efficiency improves, you can gradually shorten those gaps. In some cases, shaving just 10 minutes off each interval can create enough room to add an extra time slot, opening the door to more sales. That extra income can go towards paying staff better, covering bills faster, and boosting your bottom line.

At Enigma, we ran with 90-minute intervals, and every third time slot included an additional 30-minute break for staff downtime. We were very busy, averaging 85% occupancy, and some months we were fully booked. Having structured break times was beneficial not just for efficiency but also for keeping staff happy.

Some owners prefer long periods before and after the game to spend time chatting with customers. While this is great for building rapport and rounding off the experience, that time could also be used to increase booking capacity. For venues struggling with sales, adding an extra peak-time slot could make a real difference. Not all customers want to hang around either. Many are ready to move on with their plans, meaning the extra chat is sometimes wasted. If the extended debrief is something your customers really love, then make it part of your marketing, for example by branding it a “mission breakdown.” Ultimately, it’s up to you to weigh the pros and cons, but in most cases streamlined operations give you more flexibility and profit.

Efficiency creates capacity, and capacity creates profit. The more you streamline your operations, the more opportunities you open up to grow your business.

Profit Fundamental #7: Manage Finances Better

If you’re running your escape rooms to make money, then it only makes sense to keep a close eye on your finances. Across the industry, many escape rooms have closed down because of the numbers side of the business, and much of it could have been prevented. When you manage your finances better, you can be smarter with your money.

As a former escape room owner, I get that the fun part of this line of work is creating cool experiences. Numbers are boring, and numbers in puzzles are even worse. At the start of our venture, the only thing we knew was that if more money came in than went out, we’d be fine. We quickly learned there was much more to it than that. One of our biggest mistakes was not doing a cash flow forecast. That simple spreadsheet of upcoming bills against a calendar would have shown us how much money was needed at any given time. Instead, we found out the hard way when we didn’t have enough to cover wages one month, and had to lend money back into the business. We learned our lesson and began mapping out everything: when money was going out, our breakeven point, when annual contracts were due, and whether maintenance costs were out of the ordinary.

Managing finances helped us return to the reason we started the business in the first place: to make money. I taught myself bookkeeping and used it as a tool to monitor profitability, not just overall but per game and per revenue stream. Having oversight of taxes due and projected dividends was valuable too. It allowed us to set financial goals and build strategies to achieve them.

Financial management isn’t about spreadsheets for the sake of it. It’s about control. When you know your numbers, you can avoid nasty surprises, make smarter decisions, and keep the business paying you.

Profit Fundamental #8: Make Decisions Based on Data

Too many escape room owners make decisions based on gut instinct alone. While instinct has its place, data gives you clarity. It tells you what’s really happening in your business, so you’re not just guessing.

At the recent GameOn escape room conference, I ran workshops to highlight the importance of using data to guide decisions. I shared 10 areas of data including financial, operational and external. One powerful bit of analysis we did at Enigma was customer segmentation. During the briefing we would ask questions like “Who booked the game?”, “What’s the occasion?” and “How do you know each other?” to understand the make-up of each group. Back in the office, we completed a customer profile form and estimated the age bracket, gender and race of each player. After doing this for thousands of customers, we built up a rich picture of our audience. We learned, for example, that 70% of customers who booked were white females between 21–40. That insight allowed us to target our marketing more accurately and waste less money on ads. We also discovered that 5% of our customer base was Chinese, which led us to make sure our website was Chinese-friendly and our games weren’t too reliant on English-language puzzles.

We also monitored employee data extensively. One key metric was the average escape time per employee. I’d guess it’s true for most escape rooms that escape time and customer happiness are closely linked. Customers tend to be happier when they win, and we found they were happiest when escaping within the last five minutes. Those teams left the best reviews, and better reviews led to higher rankings, which led to more sales. It made sense, then, to keep track of how each employee’s games were ending. When we saw an employee regularly running games where teams escaped with lots of time left, that would trigger a chat. More often than not, they simply needed more training.

Data doesn’t have to be complicated. Even simple tracking, like customer profiles or escape times, can give you insights that change your business. The more you let data guide your decisions, the more confident and effective those decisions will be, and the more profit your business will earn.

Final Words

Running an escape room is one of the most rewarding businesses out there, but it’s also one of the toughest to make profitable. These eight fundamentals aren’t about building bigger rooms or chasing the next shiny idea. They’re about getting more from what you already have.

None of them on their own will magically transform your business, but together they create a framework you can rely on. From sales and pricing to efficiency and data, every part of your business plays a role in whether you end up with a business that bleeds you or one that truly rewards you.

Take some time to reflect on each of these fundamentals, note down what changes you could make, and start small. Even one improvement can give you momentum. Profit comes from progress, and progress comes from making better decisions day by day.

Your escape rooms already bring joy to thousands of people. With the right approach, they can bring you the profit and sustainability you deserve too.

Thank you for taking the time to read my long article! It was meant to be an overview but I got carried away with my examples. I hope you found it useful. Please check out the rest of my website and get in touch if you’re interested in working together. Wishing your business all the best — Sam.

8 Profit Fundamentals for Earning More from your Escape Room