Classic Skating (formerly The RinQ) — Local services in Saint George

I have had a very mixed experience with The Rinq. The first time I attended, I was with a small group for a private event that we were having before they opened. The second time was tonight for my sisters' bday. During the first experience, the staff were super friendly, patient and attentive, especially considering they are open during a pandemic. Regardless of not having many staff, the staff helped people who needed help skating and enforced their mask policy. On the other hand, the second experience was the opposite. When we came initially, they were at capacity and there were a ton of people NOT wearing masks. So we decided to leave and come back for the "college-aged" hour. When we came back, the rink was luckily less crowded but this time, less people were wearing masks. According the state mandate, people should be wearing masks in all businesses. Although there is minor "exercise" takes place while skating, the very least that they could do is strongly encourage people even on the floor to wear their masks. I wore mine the full time I was there and was just fine breathing. After I approached their employees Jada and Morgan about their COVID policy, I was given mixed answers, told to speak to the manager Shana, and waited about 20 minutes before the issue was resolved. Shana was nice about the situation but did little to solve the problem. She told everyone over the speaker to please wear their masks if they are on the floor which some people did. Everyone else went on the floor where they knew that they could be without a mask and did not social distance. Eventually, we left because my sister's feet hurt from the skates (so bring thick socks if you go) and we became uncomfortable with the lack of understanding that we are still in a pandemic and the careless of those around us as well as the facility and it's employees.

Solution:

Previously in the night, we went to another skating rink in Veyo. They told us that they were ONLY doing private skating times due to COVID and that they were booked for the weekend but are open next weekend. This is something that The Rinq could consider doing instead of setting the capacity at 100 people when most places including universities and other community centers are keeping capacity lower than that. Additionally, I'd suggest signing up for time slots for people and placing signs around the facility to show that the business cares about the fact that we are in a pandemic and respects the...

[Edit: Thank you to the owners for clarifying the price changes and responding so quickly. I do appreciate the timely response and explanation. I have changed my rating from 3 to 4 stars because while most of my criticisms do still stand, I still come to skate regularly. None of these issues have completely turned me away from skating here.] Recently the admission price increased to include the new karaoke room regardless of whether you're going to use it or not. Previously we paid $11/person admission on Friday nights, it is now $15/person. This does not sit well with regulars who just come to skate and have no interest in extra activities. The DJs they book for events detract from the experience by interjecting too often (and being incomprehensible), trying to blend songs together and failing, and unnecessarily remixing songs. People who depend on this place to skate have been consistently annoyed and frustrated with interruptions to the music from staff as well, as there is a shift lead that will consistently skip songs midway based on what he wants to listen to and replace the queue of requests with his own music or accidentally cause the music to stop because he's trying to control it from his phone. Staff could also do more to control the crowds and enforce rules, there are usually way too many people using Skate Mates in the inner circle when they're meant to stay on the outside ring. This is the ONLY place to skate indoors in Southern Utah and many people including myself and my spouse come here regularly for fun and exercise but it's not a guarantee that we'll actually have a good time. We've been coming 1-2x weekly for almost a year, but it's been very hit-or-miss the whole time. If you don't like skating with kids (for safety reasons and others), your only option is to skate from 9-11 on Friday nights, which also used to be from 8-11. There are also sometimes very frequent interruptions to play games which can drag on for far too long and disrupt peoples' skating time. Some of the issues this rink experiences are due to its size and I can't fault it for being small, but more crowd control, more consistency in music, fewer games, and increasing the 16+ skate hours or instating an 18+ skate once in a while would be great. Overall this place is great for children, but not really fitting for anyone else, especially...

Updated review... the RinQ has been open long enough to have worked out the reasonable kinks that existed in the beginning. Seems they’ve settled in to those kinks as opposed to smoothing them out.

The check in process is still lengthy even if paid online because of waiting in line behind those paying on site.

Would improve the skating experience if the sessions were run like sessions. Music at consistent volume and intentionally chosen to create a consistent rhythm and vibe and without curse words and sexual references. Games or special skates at periodic intervals to keep it mixed up.

Because the rink is nearly square and not very long they need to keep people moving in a circle and NOT allow them to go any and every which direction. The skate mates are great for those learning but should be limited to those in need. Strollers should not be allowed on the floor and parents definitely should not be carrying children while they skate.

At most every rink faster skaters stay on the outside because of larger circumference. Here they ask the skate mates to stay on the outter ring. It’s normally the opposite for good reason.

The owners and employees are all wonderful, it’s typically pretty clean, clean bathrooms, skates are in good working order and surprisingly the floor although very marked up, has been fairly clean with good grip.

Lastly stay consistent with scheduling of sessions and ensure the pricing structure is consistent.

Hopefully you keep striving to become better and create the most enjoyable and safe skating experience long in to the...