By Kathy Chin Leong
I usually think of myself as relatively smart. And hey, my hubby is a Stanford graduate. But we met our match by trying to solve puzzles in the Curiosity Room by TED on a recent trip to the San Francisco Marriott Marquis.
If you have ever been to an escape room where you have an hour to solve a mystery in a warehouse, you will understand how the hotel chain is now taking a page out of the escape room playbook with this experience. Instead of escaping, the hotel guest explores San Francisco by solving riddles and puzzles related to the city landmarks. Instead of having one hour to figure it out, you have your entire stay to stretch those neurons.
Working with the experts at TED-ed, the educational arm of the TED talks organization, Marriott has just launched its Curiosity Room by TED where it takes one of its own hotel rooms and adds interior touches to accommodate the clues found on its wall mural, shades, and other parts of the space.
The Curiosity Room adventure is designed exclusively for overnight guests and families with children ages seven and up. The concept will be replicated at the Marriott Marquis Queen’s Park in Bangkok in August and then at London Marriott Hotel County Hall in September. This in-room adventure is available for three months in each location. The San Francisco Curiosity Room is open until mid-October. As far as we know, the Marriott is the first hotel in the world to offer such an immersive activity.
The experience begins once guests step inside the room which is, according to officials, “a puzzle box waiting to be solved.” Clues are hidden in the décor and solving each puzzle leads to one surprise after another. The Curiosity Journal guidebook provides direction and offers hints when guests are stumped.
The puzzles, curated in partnership with TED-ed, the youth education arm of TED talks, have been customized according to the notable sights and attributes of each geographical destination. Guests who visit the Curiosity Rooms in Bangkok and London experience something completely different. Upon completion, the guests get a certificate of completion and a dessert.
My husband and I found the session fun and challenging, just as the designers have hoped. Walking into the hotel room, we immediately began upon seeing the wall that read: “START HERE.” Arrows, hidden clues on the bedroom wall mural showing SF landmarks, and furnishings held the answers by which we had to rack our brains, take deep breaths, and pace around to figure out what these clues meant. Finding The Curiosity Journal is the first challenge because the booklet is what you use throughout the game. Page after page has questions and points you to hints secluded throughout the room.
What is important is that you don’t have to do anything physically straining like climb ladders or steps to get to what you need. You shouldn’t draw on the walls or deface or tear things or get aggressive with the furnishings because that’s just wrong, even if you are frustrated! It is amazing that the game developers of this experience were able to do so much with the game in such a small space. You do need your cell phone and the ability to download the app to play.
Note: this is a regular room type modified to accommodate the experience. You sleep here and must book a minimum of two nights. If you are relatively new to the city, the Curiosity Room will be a great way to trigger your interest in seeing all the landmarks. Plus, the room is furnished with guidebooks that will help you learn more about the city’s history and places to go see, play, and eat.
Meanwhile, the Marriott Marquis in San Francisco has been renovated throughout, offering an extra treat when you come. The multimillion-dollar remodel was completed in late 2019, and given the blip of the last two years, everything is as good as new. All 1,500 guestrooms in the 40-story skyscraper boast a masculine gray and black palette in modern furnishings, walls, and plank flooring. New in the rooms are wide multi-purpose work surfaces for desktop computing and watching TV. The SMART TVs are equipped with Netflix and curated TED Talks, a custom Marriott thing. It is a conference hotel in the middle of the financial district, so you don’t get that boutique feel compared to staying in one of Marriott’s Autograph hotels.
If you do come, book a room with city views. Our windows on the 23rd floor looked out to the Museum of Modern Art, the waterfront, and the downtown core. At night the lights of the adjacent skyscrapers lit up like tiny stars.
Spots such as the M Club lounge (for club members or an additional service fee) have been revamped with a large screen TV, wine, specialty coffee dispensers, and all-day snacks and beverages. In the evening the M Club features hot appetizers, salad, and sweet treats. Of course, all those calories cannot just stay there. The impressive two-level health and fitness center provides a generous space for free weights, weight machines, cardio fitness machines, and an area for personal exercise such as yoga or stretching.
Unique to the Marriott is the iconic View Lounge, on the 39th floor with aerial panoramas and a half-round palladium window that gives off the vibe of a celestial lair. To me, View Lounge is a San Francisco favorite, and a place I like to show off to friends and family members who have never been here. Open at 4 p.m. daily, it is already so popular that many will go up the elevators exactly at 4 pm. to snag the best tables for views. Small tables and cushioned chairs hug the windows all around the 360-degree expanse of the lounge.
A weekend at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis is complete when you book your Curiosity Room adventure (www.TEDroom.marriot.com) and pay a little extra for dining at the M Lounge. If you have the discipline, do a workout or at least some yoga stretches in the new gym, and enjoy a full buffet hot breakfast at the hotel’s B55 Craft House & Kitchen. Next time you escape to San Francisco, do something completely different and challenge your noggin while doing something fun. Your brain will thank you for it.
- To book or to learn more visit: San Francisco Marriott Marquis
