Escape Room Herndon Wins Travelers’ Choice Award

Escape Room Herndon was named one of TripAdvisor’s 2020 Travelers’ Choice Award winners for Fun & Games. 

The winners are decided based on a full year of reviews and are known for constantly receiving great player feedback that places them in the top 10 percent of hospitality businesses around the world, according to a press release. 

Escape Room Herndon is located at 406 Elden St., and was also rated the #1 Escape Room in Virginia by TripAdvisor, according to their website. The business closed its doors on March 16th with the onset of COVID-19 but was able to reopen to the public on July 3rd after restrictions eased. 

The facility has put new protocols in place to ensure safety when playing, including restricting the number of groups at a time, glove and mask requirements and more time between games to clean.

“We put in a one hour gap between games so we can extensively clean as much as possible, as well as allowing the room to ‘breathe,'” said Omar Aru, the owner of Escape Room Herndon. 

Since reopening, business has been slower than in past summers, according to Aru, with numbers at about 30 percent of that of last year. Fewer players and fewer games each day contribute to the downturn. However, Aru said guests report feeling safe the whole time. 

In addition to in-person fun, Escape Room Herndon also offers an online game called Back To The Present with 5-10 minute puzzles to play from home. 

“I think it’s more important than ever to find fun and safe activities to break away from screens and the current monotony for everyday life to create positive memories we can hold onto,” said Aru. “Escape Rooms present an immersive engaging game that gives you a chance to forget about the outside world just for a little bit and have a fun shared adventure.”

Photo courtesy of Omar Aru