Being the host for a casino hotel is rewarding work for anyone who enjoys making friends of strangers.
Just ask 61-year-old Ron Lechtenberger of Mountain Home, who after years as a certified public accountant and a stockbroker wound up at the popular Cherokee Hotel and Casino in West Siloam Springs, Okla.
The 1974 University of Arkansas graduate, whose mother was Cherokee and father a Germanic dairy farmer, said he never suspected five years ago that he’d be earning his living by welcoming folks to a thriving casino.
“I’d have to say the very best part of my job is meeting people from all walks of life,” he said. Through his work, he said, he’s made at least 900 newfound acquaintances and friends.
An outstanding athlete for the Mountain Home Bombers from the class of 1970, Lechtenberger said this casino opened in 2008 and added its seven-story, 140-room hotel two years later. Cherokee originally offered him an accounting position.
“But I wanted something different as a career where I could visibly giveback,” he said. “Then they asked if I might become the casino’s host, which was something I knew I’d enjoy.” With that decision he began working with one of the nation’s largest American Indian tribes. The Cherokees now own eight casinos and three hotels.
Over the past decade, several popular casino-hotels have sprung up on tribal-owned properties along major highways within easy drives of the Northwest Arkansas corridor. Several months ago, curiosity overcame me and we headed north to visit the Quapaw tribe’s Downstream Casino Resort outside Joplin. That launched my intermittent tour of tribal-owned casino-hotels to tell interested readers what I find.
So most recently, it was off for the first time to visit Lechtenberger’s employer 40 minutes west of Springdale along U.S. 412. Lechtenberger has kept his residence in Mountain Home where he and wife, Joyce, raised their son, who’s now studying at the University of Arkansas, and a grown daughter who lives in Switzerland.
While these destinations with their ringing, flashing machines and gaming tables share similarities, each has its own personality.
Getting away for an evening to escape into a nearby adult wonderland of sorts can provide a welcome break from the ordinary for many thousands. Little wonder, since recreation seekers can only attend just so many summer movies and visit so many miniature golf courses before looking around.
The thing that struck me initially about the palatial log-and-stone Cherokee Casino with its three-story waterfalls was the adjacent seven-story hotel and 200,000 square feet (including 14,000 square feet of meeting space). It rises on the westernmost edge of the conservative community of 15,000 God-loving souls.
Lechtenberger and associate Ashley Madewell told me many of the casino’s 800 employees, 85 percent of them tribal members, also live in and around Siloam Springs. It’s an impressive payroll for any town.
I was also taken with the welcoming and genuinely friendly staff from the moment we walked through the door.
An accommodating lady named Sandy showed us the ropes. We saw many of the 1,500 electronic games, the various restaurants, the cashier’s cages, the 20 emerald tables and even where to find restrooms. I also was impressed with the enormous stained-glass window of bald eagles and the American Indian culture on display in the casino’s gallery. Waitresses Kelley and Rachel were equally attentive inside the spacious Flint Creek Steakhouse, which in addition to fork-tender filets, offered seafood and beyond in a white tablecloth ambience. Lechtenberger said the hotel is the tallest building between Springdale and Tulsa.
We quickly were drawn to the penny slots, where I practiced the age-old art of “betting a little to potentially lose a little.” Then I watched the woman from Springdale sitting beside us repeatedly cashing in on bigger bets. Larger wagers also spelled larger payoffs! I believe CPA Lechtenberger could have explained such fundamental financial logic, had I asked.
I ultimately was content to plop down and watch all the people enjoying themselves, much like observing a mall. They came in all shapes and sizes, singles, couples and parents with children. I met one person from Lincoln and another from Prairie Grove. Most folks were enthralled in their own moments while listening to the beats of a free live concert in the background at the casino’s open lounge, called Seven.
As for food, Cherokee’s sprawling buffet is among the finest, most diverse I’ve found and as reasonably priced as the hotel rooms. The adjacent cafe is a handy alternative for breakfast and lunch. And the casino’s steakhouse is filled to capacity most nights, according to Lechtenberger and what we witnessed.
I left the comfortable Cherokee Casino and Hotel feeling a twinge of envy at Lechtenberger’s unique job. There was no doubt why he gave up life in an office with endless numbers to serve his Cherokee heritage and an ever-swelling list of newfound friends.
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Mike Masterson’s column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at [email protected]. Read his blog at mikemastersonsmessenger.com.
Editorial, Pages 13 on 07/30/2013