FLANDREAU – After more than a month of planning and dozens of task force meetings, Royal River Casino & Hotel along with the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe announced the reopening of the casino to the public at 8 a.m. May 29.
The COVID-19 Task Force was formed by the FSST leadership.
After making the decision to close the property on April 1, the task force continued studying the data and started developing a strategic plan for how to successfully reopen the casino with proper social distancing and preventative protocols.
When the casino reopens to the public, guests are going to notice many new features upon visiting.
“Our top priority is the health and safety of all guests, team members, and the community. In maintaining this priority, the casino has developed an extensive reopening plan which was approved by the FSST Executive Committee on May 12, 2020. It is the belief of casino as well as the FSST Leadership that honesty and transparency are of utmost importance during this pandemic,” Royal River said in a release.
One of the first steps being taken was to have a soft opening to a small number of invited guests over Memorial Day weekend.
The property will also be opening its doors to media partners from May 26-28 to provide them a chance to see the protocols in action as well as showcase to the public what they can expect to experience when the property reopens.
Social distancing
The casino has partnered with e-gads to install its My Own Space paneling system between all slot machines as well as at table games to provide each guest with polycarbonate shielding from other guests playing in their general vicinity.
All high-volume locations where queuing takes place will be clearly marketed to ensure six feet of distance between parties.
Staff responsibilities
All team members are receiving training on the new cleaning and social distancing protocols. Team members will also receive a health screening to include temperature checks before each shift. In addition to the health screening all team members are being issued personal protective equipment including face masks, clear face shield, and gloves that they are required to wear at all time while on property.
The guest experience
Guest entrance points will be temporarily limited to the main casino and hotel entrances.
A team member will greet each visitor to the property. Visitors will be screened and asked to use hand sanitizer and offered a mask and gloves to wear (which will be provided by the property). Appropriate signage will also be prominently displayed outlining proper mask usage and current physical distancing practices in use throughout the property. Valet services will be suspended until further notice.
Environmental cleaning practices
Prior to the soft opening of the property, the casino has contracted with Intek Cleaning and Restoration to fully disinfect and sanitize all areas of the casino and hotel utilizing their industry leading Steramist System.
“While we want to reiterate that there has been no exposure of the COVID-19 virus at the casino. We want to take every precaution possible and will continue to contract with Intek to disinfect and sanitize the property as needed in the future,” the release stated.
The casino has also increased the staffing levels as well as made custodial products and protocols accessible to all team members to expand the effort to increase the frequency of cleaning and sanitizing all touch points across our property. The touch points include:
• Faucets and toilet flush levers
• Doorknobs and locks
• Entrance and exit doors and door handles
• Handrails
• Slot machines handles and armrests
• Elevator buttons
• Light switches
As well increasing the placement of hand sanitizer dispensing stations in high-traffic, visible areas, sanitizers will be available to guests wishing to wash down their machine prior to gaming.
