Hyatt Carmel Highlands Introduces Special “Less is more … Love is all” Elopement wedding package

The acclaimed Hyatt Carmel Highlands, which overlooks the Big Sur coast and features 48 luxuriously appointed guestrooms, announced a special elopement package for lovebirds looking for an intimate ceremony in a romantic location.

Carmel Highlands, CA, August 15, 2017 — The acclaimed Hyatt Carmel Highlands, which overlooks the Big Sur coast and features 48 luxuriously appointed guestrooms, announced a special elopement package for lovebirds looking for an intimate ceremony in a romantic location.

The special “Less Is More … Love Is All” elopement package starts at $4,000 for up to 10 persons (plus taxes and fees) and includes:

· Wedding ceremony in The Gazebo overlooking the Big Sur coastline (one-hour ceremony and two-hour set-up).

· Three-hour reception in California Market at Pacific’s Edge Wine Room.

· Reception menu includes two preselected entrees, a signature cocktail, unlimited beer and wine, and two bottles of sparkling wine.

Perched high above the rocky cliffs of the Big Sur coast with an expansive view of the Pacific Ocean as a backdrop, The Gazebo is the perfect setting for wedding ceremonies. The Gazebo’s spacious redwood deck, which is surrounded by lush gardens and cool ocean breezes, offers ample seating for up to 120 guests, each of whom will be talking about their memories for years to come. As a stunning venue for a buffet lunch, The Gazebo can accommodate up to 40 guests.

Other reception venue options and guestroom packages are available for an additional cost.

As part of the package, Hyatt Carmel Highlands also offers a list of approved vendors, including officiants, floral designers, wedding cake providers, photographers, and hair and makeup specialists.

To book the “Less Is More … Love Is All” elopement package, call +1 831.620.1234, or for more information visit hyattcarmelhighlands.com.

Adjacent to the property is the Hyatt Residence Club Carmel, Highlands Inn, which includes 94 one- and two-bedroom units each with wood-burning fireplace, private balcony, and ocean or garden view. For more information, visit hyattresidenceclub.com.

About Hyatt Carmel Highlands

Perched on the hillside of the Carmel Highlands with breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean, Hyatt Carmel Highlands combines true Carmel luxury with an approachable and sophisticated spirit. A haven for artists and discerning travelers since its opening in 1917, Hyatt Carmel Highlands features 48 luxuriously renovated guestrooms, including 11 suites, 32 ocean view rooms and five garden view rooms.

Situated only 4 miles from downtown Carmel, Hyatt Carmel Highlands’ idyllic setting and personalized service has attracted families, bridal couples, honeymooners, and privileged travelers for a century. Hyatt Carmel Highlands has been recognized among the world’s finest hotels as part of Condé Nast Traveler’s Gold List and Travel + Leisure’s “T+L 500” World’s Best Hotels.

Contact:

Marci Bracco Cain

Chatterbox PR

Salinas, CA 93901

(831) 747-7455

http://www.hyattcarmelhighlands.com

Hottest Trend in Interactive Immersive Entertainment, Escape Rooms, Opens on Cannery Row in Monterey

Save the Date for The Escape Room Grand Opening Ribbon Cutting with the Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce Tuesday, September 26th from 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Details to Be Announced Soon. Open To the Public

Monterey, CA, August 15, 2017 — Imagine being closed in a room with a half a dozen other people and you’re given just one hour to figure out — through clues, codes and suggestions scattered throughout the room — to solve a murder.

Change the scenario to a bank heist, a hostage situation, a kidnapping, a prison, pirate ship, a space station, and much more, and you have one of the hottest trends in interactive or immersive entertainment — Escape Rooms. They’re based on escape-the-room video and online games, as if the classic board game “Clue” became a live-action game you play with others in real locations.

And now Monterey has its own version — Exodus Escape Room on Cannery Row — founded by entrepreneur Christina Riddoch of Monterey.

“My granddaughter Andrea and I would play these games online together,” says Riddoch, who opened Exodus Escape Room the first weekend in August. “We were walking around Union Station in Kansas City and we saw a live escape room. We did it and we had so much fun. I said, we need to do this in Monterey, so I started looking into it.”

She contacted an owner of an escape room in Los Angeles to discuss franchising and even attended an escape room conference in Niagara Falls. But it was that first experience with a “live” escape room in Kansas City that sealed it for her.

“I was literally on a high from it for days,” she says. “You feel alive again, it was such an experience, it got us outside of ourselves.”

She talked the escape room operator in L.A. into franchising, found a suitable location above and behind The Whaling Station restaurant on Wave Street in Cannery Row, set up two escape rooms there and opened to capacity crowds — “It was nonstop until 11:30 at night that first night,” she says.

Exodus has two rooms, Sherlock’s Study (recommended for four-10 people) and Masquerade Manor (recommended for four-eight people), with the simple goal of working together with other players, crack codes, solve cyphers and study clues within 60 minutes to escape the room.

In Sherlock’s Study, in the midst of a murder investigation, Sherlock Holmes has been kidnapped by the very murderer he was trying to catch. It’s up to the players to piece together the evidence he has left behind in his study. Will you be clever enough to step into Sherlock’s shoes and solve the mystery?

In Masquerade Manor, wealthy and famous composer Ludovico Manin is the prime suspect in a recent, high-profile crime. That night, during his annual Masquerade Ball, is the best chance to look for evidence against him. Disguised as guests, players must infiltrate the ball, find proof of Manin’s guilt, and leave without being detected. Can you find the stolen object and escape in time?

The rooms are monitored by video cameras with audio. If players fail to solve the mystery and escape, they can return to take another crack at it for half-price. Riddoch says she hopes to open a third room with a bank heist theme.

“Ours is family-friendly since we’re on Cannery Row,” says Riddoch, referring to some of the more gruesome or frightening escape rooms out there. “I think Cannery Row needs this.”

Originating in Japan as Real Escape Game (REG) in 2007, Seattle-based Puzzle Break became the first American-based escape room company in 2013. They are patterned after video or online games such as Zelda, Myst and Crimson Room. There are estimated to be more than 3,000 escape room venues worldwide. There’s even a website directory of escape rooms (escaperoomdirectory.com) and people who are fans of the games are called Escape Room Enthusiasts.

“There is a growing consumer demand for social play experiences that are live and unique and can’t be repeated,” Sam Roberts, assistant director of the Interactive Media and Games division at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, told the Los Angeles Times. Roberts says that immersive entertainment will be the next frontier of gaming — “the future of play spaces,” he says.

“It’s just so much fun,” says Riddoch. “It’s great for team-building, it’s fun playing it together with friends. It’s such a great experience.”

Exodus Escape Room

765 Wave St., between Irving and Prescott, Monterey

Monterey@exodusescaperoom.com

(831) 324-0513

http://exodusescaperoom.com/monterey

Contact:

Marci Bracco Cain

Chatterbox PR

Salinas, CA 93901

(831) 747-7455

http://www.exodusescaperoom.com