This Escape Hotel in Saudi Turns Your Stay Into a Survival Game

Of all the ways to spend a night off in Riyadh or Jeddah, choosing to get locked in a room on purpose might sound…questionable. But at The Escape Hotel, that’s quite literally the check-in process.

Just you, your crew, and an ominous voice announcing you’ve got 60 minutes to make it out alive—or at least in one piece.

Spread across both Saudi cities, The Escape Hotel isn’t your typical stay. It’s a story-driven experience where each room is its own immersive, cinematic world—designed to drop you headfirst into the chaos of a live-action thriller.

You might find yourself in a Harry Potter-style wizarding chamber, chanting spells and decoding dusty scrolls. Or in a mummy’s tomb, where ancient relics whisper secrets and the walls seem to breathe with curses.

Prefer the high seas? There’s a whole pirate dungeon, lit by flickering lanterns and littered with cryptic maps and creaky surprises. There’s also the Jumanji room—a wild jungle adventure with hanging vines, secret compartments, and a countdown that drones like a war drum.

And for the brave (or just recklessly curious), the Zombie Room throws you straight into full survival mode—with live performers, unsettling soundscapes, and jump scares that test your reflexes and your friendships.

Regardless of which disturbing “room” you check into, once that door shuts behind you, there’s no turning back. Not until every riddle is solved, every code cracked, and every dramatic twist faced head-on.

The brain behind the mayhem is Alanoud Alsheikh, who brought The Escape Hotel to life in 2017—before Saudi’s entertainment scene really exploded.

“I wanted to create an immersive, cinematic experience that goes beyond the usual escape room,” Alsheikh, CEO of The Escape Hotel, shares with SceneTraveller. “We even added live actors to make guests feel like they’re part of a real, unfolding story.”

In fact, the team’s commitment to realism sometimes raises eyebrows. “We once had props held at customs for months because they looked like they belonged to some kind of forbidden temple,” Alsheikh recalls, laughing. “That says it all.”

The crowd? A wonderfully chaotic mix: teenagers, parents, tourists, couples, corporate teams—basically anyone with a tolerance for suspense and a friend group to test it on.

Each game is private (thankfully), with a two-player minimum. So it’s just you and your handpicked team—your ride-or-die, or your ride-or-let’s-watch-them-panic. Inside, there’s yelling, laughter, drama, high-stakes decoding, and the occasional existential crisis. You find out very quickly who crumbles, who leads, and who’s just here for the vibes.

Rules are strict: no phones, no food, no stilettos, and definitely no breaking stuff—even if the mummy room is really testing your patience. Abide by the playbook, and the reward is watching your team gradually crack something together—then scream in celebration when the final lock clicks open.

It’s the kind of experience that sticks with you. Between the logic puzzles, the adrenaline, and the high-pressure teamwork, you leave not just with memories, but a sharper sense of how your friends and family operate under pressure—for better or worse.

So if you find yourself in Riyadh or Jeddah and want a stay that trades room service for riddles and bellhops for jump scares, Escape Hotel might just leave you wide-eyed, adrenaline-pumped, and wondering if you ever really knew your travel companions at all.

Call it a stay. Call it survival. Either way, checking out has never felt so earned.

Costa Pappas