The Pascua Yaqui tribe’s Casino del Sol Resort and Casino in Tucson, Arizona is in the midst of a major rebranding effort. Its “bigger brother” property, Casino of the Sun, opened in 1994, leading the way to Casino del Sol in 2001. By 2011, the property had a resort, spa and conference center and was the only Arizona casino to earn a Forbes Four Star distinction in addition to its AAA Four Diamond Award. Its 160,000 square foot gaming floor offered1,300 gaming machines plus poker and table games, along with bars, dining options, an entertainment venue and the Sewailo Golf Club, added in 2012.
But officials felt the time had come to rebrand with a new look and feel. Chief Marketing Officer Steve Neely said, “We’re doing that. We’re not reinventing, we’re refreshing and evolving.”
The first move was renovating Zebo’z Bar. Neeley said, “We had outgrown our center bar. One of our best amenities, Zebo’z offered openness, but not enough room for people to truly enjoy the spot to its fullest. Tribal Council agreed and approved a $2 million rebuild.” Today the 2,700 square foot, Mediterranean-theme bar, located in the middle of the Piazza gaming area under a perpetual daytime sky dome, holds five times its previous capacity and offers bar-top gaming machines. Chief Executive Officer Kimberly Van Amburg said, “The addition of 500 more square feet on the elevated platform enhances the ambiance of the property.”
Van Amburg said the next changes will be a $2 million project transforming 4,000 square feet of storage space into the relocated Paradiso Lounge in. She noted, “The current location has a really small stage for entertainers. Patrons can’t dance because the floor is too small. And if you’re a slot player, sometimes the music is too loud. We’d like to change that dynamic and remake the space into more of a casino lounge, a whole room for Paradiso.” The project will be completed by the end of the year.
Facilities Director John De Luna pointed out, “While we’re looking to implement a more modern and streamlined look, we’ve also taken the time and cost to bring in more comfortable and durable furnishings and add new lighting. It doesn’t sound sexy, but new LED lighting will save us tens of thousands of dollars because bulbs will last for decades. We’re trying to make the property as green as possible with changes in the back of the house like changing our metering system for power supplies. It’s not just bigger, better and newer, it’s also smarter.”
Air exchangers are a good example, De Luna said. “This property is 100 percent outside air that brings a full air exchange every 45 minutes. To improve on that, we’re doing things with ion machines that absorb odor molecules and get rid of them, taking comfort to the next level,” he said.
Neeley pointed out, “What’s especially good about all these changes is the process we went through. Over 85 percent of all the work being done here is being done in-house by our own employees, a huge percentage of which are tribal members.”
Van Amburg concluded, “Our challenge today is to make things better and there’s a lot of things going on that nobody sees, but everybody benefits from. The tribe recognizes the need to stay out in front of the industry and our competition. Everybody is always trying to keep up with the Joneses–and I like to consider that we are the Joneses.”
