Hotel Delirium, a locally owned escape room run by Rachel and John Deslongchamps, gives El Pasoans an immersive experience unlike any other. Those in the Sun City who believe there is “nothing to do in El Paso,” might want to take a second look.
Opened in September of 2021 by the Deslongchamps couple, Hotel Delirium began as an ambitious passion project for multiple pop-up escape rooms to open all throughout the city of El Paso.
Originally, the Deslongchamps were both in the medical profession. With the couple having creative sides to them, they felt there was no creative outlet in their field for them to express themselves. They say their enjoyment of escape rooms was the driving factor in the creation of their business, Hotel Delirium. They also wanted more activities for families. “We’re big on family experiences to where everybody can get involved and it’s a moment where everybody is working on the same thing and working together.” Mr. Deslongchamps said.
Hotel Delirium’s escape room was made with El Pasoans in mind, to give locals a unique experience that could only be found in El Paso.
“Every time a generation comes up, you always see the exact same thing. ‘There’s nothing to do here [El Paso].’ So, we really wanted to change that narrative and provide something that El Paso can enjoy,” Mrs. Deslongchamps said.
The story of the escape room is close to home as well, as the creators wanted it to have a feeling of El Paso by weaving it into the narrative.
“A lot of that has to do with our storyline as well, our two main characters are from El Paso and there’s a lot of stuff that correlates with only what an El Pasoan would know,” Mrs. Deslongchamps said.
The escape room for the couple branched off from the idea of an escape from life. For guests to come to Hotel Delirium and if only for a little, forget about the stress and hardships of daily life. This local experience was made for this purpose but to also allow escape room goers a chance to show off their own creative thinking.
“When you’re in there [the escape room] the only thing that you’re thinking about, is how to get out of this room. Everything within the world, your life is completely gone, and we love that because it’s nice to get an escape, but also to still use your mind,” Mrs. Deslongchamps said.
For El Paso, the Deslongchamps not only want to give guests a fun and unique experience, but to also inspire them. Neither owner had experience in the creative industry but have learned so much through their business. Creating their own props, making their own puzzles and writing the story that makes the escape room, showing that hard work pays off.
The story for the escape room series is close to being completed, with the third and concluding chapter of Hotel Delirium “Unseen lab” opening by the end of January. Once opened, El Pasoans can fully experience the unique escape from life into an immersive new reality and experience the story of Hotel Delirium.
Joseph Montero is a staff reporter for The Prospector and may be reached at [email protected]
