OPB.org – Tribal casinos are trying to appeal to a new kind of customer – one who may not even gamble at all.
Across the Northwest, one-time no-frills casinos are expanding into resort-style destinations and adding high-end amenities – spas, fine dining, luxury hotels. The tribes are hoping to give Las Vegas a run for its money.
Let’s face it: there’s not much ambiance in a room with a thousand slot machines. Or maybe it’s really that there’s too much ambiance.
But at Northern Quest Resort & Casino in eastern Washington, if you leave the flashing lights and dinging machines from the gaming floor behind, you find a very different side of the casino.
Yvonne Smith manages the spa. Here you’ll find nine different styles of massage to choose from, a locally-sourced, seasonal spa menu, and French moisturizers that cost as much as an iPod.
“You can hear water in the background. We have a beautiful, etched waterfall that greets our guests before they go into the lounges as well.”
Smith says, yes, it’s not what you might expect.
“The one thing I hear all the time is, ‘I had no idea this was here.’”
Since opening the casino in a field outside of Spokane in 2000, the Kalispel Tribe has built a top-rated hotel, 14 restaurants and bars, an outdoor concert venue, and the spa.
“It used to be that people thought tribal casinos were dirty and small and they just didn’t have what Vegas had or what Atlantic City had,” says Phil Haugen, a member of the tribe and the manager of Northern Quest. “You know, we were perceived as just being kind of second-class. But now you have these first-class properties. And it’s not just us.”
