Casino Review spoke to Aaron Moss, general manager of Cliff Castle Casino Hotel in Camp Verde, Arizona, about how his property is adapting to the new normal, with employees practising “creative ways to be social and engaging while maintaining physical distancing”.
It is no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic has all businesses rethinking their operational strategies, casinos are no exception. Since Cliff Castle Casino Hotel reopened 1 June, we have seen a steady but reduced headcount coming through our doors. Some of the reduction comes at the consequence of the safety measures we have in place. When we opened our doors, we took an aggressive approach to mandating safety protocols including a mandatory mask policy, temperature checking, implementing non-smoking and reduce occupancy from the moment we reopened. We also have reduced the number of available machines to create physical distancing. These strategies have served us well and has allowed us to maintain a safe entertainment venue.
Innovating in customer service: “Our team have made a great effort to reach out to guests and deploy safety messaging in a fun way. We have initiated unique ways to get messaging across to help enforce our safety rules that does not sound like the same messaging you get everywhere you go.”
As we look to the future, I suspect we will have some protocols that will stay with us for a while; physical distancing and wearing masks will likely be a requirement until this pandemic ends and therefore change the marketing approach to maintain safe occupancy numbers in support of safe physical distancing protocols. Our business model relies heavily on our guest service and guest interactions, the safety protocols make it more difficult to meet those objectives. We constantly seek creative ways to be social and engaging while maintaining physical distancing. Our team have made a great effort to reach out to guests and deploy safety messaging in a fun way. We have initiated unique ways to get messaging across to help enforce our safety rules that does not sound like the same messaging you get everywhere you go.
There is likely no single strategy that applies to every situation; we must all find what works for our brand, our team and our guests. We have chosen to pull back on our promotions and focus more on letting people know we are here. The marketing team is staying in close contact with our guests who do not feel comfortable at this time and letting them know we care and we will be here when the time is right for them.
As the pandemic continues, we are constantly evaluating the circumstances and adjusting our protocols as new information becomes available. I have found that our approach to having a long-term strategy however being flexible enough to react quickly to the ongoing situation, has allowed us to be successful in our approach. Our initial reopening phases have been delayed as the case count in Arizona continues to rise. Our plan has not changed however; the timeline in which we were hoping to follow has been extended to maintain safe business practices.
Our strategies moving forward are to maintain business levels that are right for current situation and position ourselves to be successful when we can resume normal business operations.
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