Murder Mystery

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mooseberry

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Has anyone here ever hosted or been to a Murder Mystery night/weekend? Or anything alike?
How did it go? How was it set up?
Since we are far from a destination, I think I could drum up some business this way in the slow season, but am not sure to do it right.
Thanks for your input :)
 
This kind of thing never held any appeal for me. I know there are some here who think it is a fun and good thing...maybe they will chime in. I am not sure it would be enough of a DRAW to bring people in for an off season especially if you are far from a "destination." I would find something more worthwhile..like a special cooking workshop, guest lectures etc etc.
 
There is this one place, by Fairbanks, they have hot springs. They hold one anually and are sold out quick.
And that's only 60 miles from the city. Alaskan winters are loooong and boring, so people jump at everything to get them out of the house/city.
I guess will have to check into it some more......the school did one here at new years eve, don't know how it went. I did not go since it was bad timing and lasted from 6 pm until 2 am....kids were allowed too, so it could not have been too exciting....mostly kids screaming and running...haha
 
There are many inns that do Mystery Weekends successfully. Do a Google on Mystery Weekend and see how many pop up. I assure you that they ARE successful. I have never done one because I only have 3 rooms - not enough people to make it interesting to my mind.
There are scripts already written that can be purchased or you could write your own. It is am excellent idea.
 
There are many inns that do Mystery Weekends successfully. Do a Google on Mystery Weekend and see how many pop up. I assure you that they ARE successful. I have never done one because I only have 3 rooms - not enough people to make it interesting to my mind.
There are scripts already written that can be purchased or you could write your own. It is am excellent idea..
Yes this is true, but ask yourself..why would I travel to the middle of nowhere just to do a murder mystery weekend at a B & B? Wouldn't get me there sorry:-(
 
I think theme weekends of any kind have to be a good fit for your personality, but if you can find something like that that you enjoy and your demographic of guests would enjoy, you might want to try it. Don't just limit yourself to murder mystery weekends - you can do cooking school weekends (local specialties of moose, maybe) or knitting workshops (have had one of those here) or aspiring innkeeper weekends. Do a survey of your current guests to find out what their interests are.
Unfortunately you can google who has murder mystery weekends but you can't google who has tried them and given them up because they weren't successful. I personally wouldn't do or go to a murder mystery weekend - I love to read mysteries but am not interested in acting or directing, which you would need to do to put one on. But that's just me. I'd like to try a handyman's weekend - teach handyman skills and get some needed maintenance tasks done at the same time!
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I have been to a couple with friends, not at a place that was charged. They were a lot of fun. One time it was on a train going to wineries in Seattle and the actors were paid.
Downtown San Diego had some very old historic hotel/B&B's that held them. They were very pricey - but that was...let's see...in the late 80's. Are they still doing it? Probably not.
It is a lot of work, a lot of planning and if ONE person does not do his part the whole thing is shot. I did one for a Christmas dinner/party one year where i worked. The restaurant was downtown Tacoma in an old bank, called THE VAULT. The play was perfect for the location.
The KILLER (who was very dramatic and perfect for the role and would be right into it) was stuck on the Snoqualmie pass in a blizzard coming over from Yakima WA and the whole think went kerplunk.
 
I think theme weekends of any kind have to be a good fit for your personality, but if you can find something like that that you enjoy and your demographic of guests would enjoy, you might want to try it. Don't just limit yourself to murder mystery weekends - you can do cooking school weekends (local specialties of moose, maybe) or knitting workshops (have had one of those here) or aspiring innkeeper weekends. Do a survey of your current guests to find out what their interests are.
Unfortunately you can google who has murder mystery weekends but you can't google who has tried them and given them up because they weren't successful. I personally wouldn't do or go to a murder mystery weekend - I love to read mysteries but am not interested in acting or directing, which you would need to do to put one on. But that's just me. I'd like to try a handyman's weekend - teach handyman skills and get some needed maintenance tasks done at the same time!
angel_smile.gif
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Hey that handyman weekend sounds interesting to me.
Maybe gear that to the ladies for a girls getaway..
hey they need to know how to fix a leaky faucet.
It could be a fun thing to do..especially is lots of chocolate, wine and maybe a massage is included:)
Come away with some real useable skills and a relaxing weekend as well.
 
There is this one place, by Fairbanks, they have hot springs. They hold one anually and are sold out quick.
And that's only 60 miles from the city. Alaskan winters are loooong and boring, so people jump at everything to get them out of the house/city.
I guess will have to check into it some more......the school did one here at new years eve, don't know how it went. I did not go since it was bad timing and lasted from 6 pm until 2 am....kids were allowed too, so it could not have been too exciting....mostly kids screaming and running...haha.
We have done the mystery murder for family at christmas time when a bunch of us are together. It was fun, but it wasn't at the bnb. I ran them at the family and it was alot of work and we use the boxed game. You would have to buy or write one to use for the bnb. I don't think that would be the hard part. But like Jeanne said, you have to want to direct it. I love reading and participating, but the directing isn't for me. I am thinking about other possible things, scrapbooking, sewing, cooking, maintenance or whatever. If you want to do one, I would invite friends in and try it with them to see how it goes and work the kinks out.
We went to one at a restaurant where the actors were brought in. It wasn't as much fun. But I think it wouldn't hurt to have a couple of actors in the group to keep things moving.
 
There is this one place, by Fairbanks, they have hot springs. They hold one anually and are sold out quick.
And that's only 60 miles from the city. Alaskan winters are loooong and boring, so people jump at everything to get them out of the house/city.
I guess will have to check into it some more......the school did one here at new years eve, don't know how it went. I did not go since it was bad timing and lasted from 6 pm until 2 am....kids were allowed too, so it could not have been too exciting....mostly kids screaming and running...haha.
We have done the mystery murder for family at christmas time when a bunch of us are together. It was fun, but it wasn't at the bnb. I ran them at the family and it was alot of work and we use the boxed game. You would have to buy or write one to use for the bnb. I don't think that would be the hard part. But like Jeanne said, you have to want to direct it. I love reading and participating, but the directing isn't for me. I am thinking about other possible things, scrapbooking, sewing, cooking, maintenance or whatever. If you want to do one, I would invite friends in and try it with them to see how it goes and work the kinks out.
We went to one at a restaurant where the actors were brought in. It wasn't as much fun. But I think it wouldn't hurt to have a couple of actors in the group to keep things moving.
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I was thinking about doing it with Family first. I throw a big christmas perty every year for friends and family, that could be my test run. If that goes ok, I thinl I advertise in the nearby towns and see what happens.
Then there is the question about the pricing....
 
I think theme weekends of any kind have to be a good fit for your personality, but if you can find something like that that you enjoy and your demographic of guests would enjoy, you might want to try it. Don't just limit yourself to murder mystery weekends - you can do cooking school weekends (local specialties of moose, maybe) or knitting workshops (have had one of those here) or aspiring innkeeper weekends. Do a survey of your current guests to find out what their interests are.
Unfortunately you can google who has murder mystery weekends but you can't google who has tried them and given them up because they weren't successful. I personally wouldn't do or go to a murder mystery weekend - I love to read mysteries but am not interested in acting or directing, which you would need to do to put one on. But that's just me. I'd like to try a handyman's weekend - teach handyman skills and get some needed maintenance tasks done at the same time!
angel_smile.gif
.
Hey that handyman weekend sounds interesting to me.
Maybe gear that to the ladies for a girls getaway..
hey they need to know how to fix a leaky faucet.
It could be a fun thing to do..especially is lots of chocolate, wine and maybe a massage is included:)
Come away with some real useable skills and a relaxing weekend as well.
.
Handyman weekend....hmm
A neighbor offered "Logcabin building classes". He charged $500.00 PP....got his cabins built for free and got paid on top of it.....
Got any renovating to do?????
tounge_smile.gif

 
sounds like lots of fun....
We've been to one at a B&B for New Year's Eve weekend and it was a HUGE amount of fun!! We really enjoyed it. It was a lot of work for the innkeepers & I imagine that they're on pins & needles hoping that all the rooms get booked so that they have all the characters. This particular place has been doing them for a good number of years, so has the kinks worked out. Let me say....there was a lot of drinking involved. Haha!
I've also hosted murder mystery dinner parties in the past & it was fun...also a lot of work. But we enjoyed it.
I would think if you could find some activity unique to your location, that would be the niche for your slow times.
 
As with anything, you have to have the right people. Folks who enjoy mystery weekends would be the ones to book it and those who do not enjoy that kind of thing will not touch it.
As with anything worthwhile, I am certain it is a lot of work - especially the first couple times until kinks get worked out. We all try a lot of things, some work for us and some don't but the same thing that did not work for us, will be a huge hit for someone else.
I would not dream of discouraging an idea based on whether I would do something or not - I would discourage if I thought it was a bad idea in general. Location and demographics determine a lot of what does and does not work. Is it something that might build in interest if we do it a few more times or was it such a huge amount of work with such a dismal showing that you do not even want ti think about trying it again. If it will not "break the bank" try it. That is the only way to know for sure.
Good luck with whatever you decide to try.
 
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