Inside Asian Gaming

December 2013 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 19 IN FOCUS Entertainment, in the form of celebrity chef restaurants or one- of-a-kind attractions, is another key to attracting Generations X and Y to the resort experience. house area is critical. Amenities such as restrooms, relaxation venues, dining and entertainment are best located so the patron flows easily in and out of gaming areas. A successful guest experience ensures patrons can easily find a favorite slot machine or table game, and also effortlessly obtain a much-needed beverage or food. Wild Horse Pass Hotel & Casino was designed with this concept in mind. As the first casino to bring Vegas-style gaming to the greater Phoenix, Arizona, area, Wild Horse Pass’ gaming floor is centrally located, creating easy access to a full complement of dining and entertainment opportunities around its perimeter. Similar texture, materiality and movement throughout the casino pay homage to the owners’ desert-dwelling Gila River Indian community. Shades of blue contrast the earthen tones, similar to water upon the desert floor; crystal chandeliers cascade from the sky to reflect the summer monsoon; and at night, the hotel façade’s vertical stream of blue reaches toward the curve of the sky. Together, these textures and visual movements connect the gaming floor to the outside areas, lounges and theater in a manner that does not overwhelm or compete with the overall concept. This layout and design continuity not only physically moves patrons between spaces efficiently, but easily connects each individual experience to the overall casino resort visit. Employee Consideration When designers understand the needs and challenges of employees, they can actually increase productivity and effectiveness in the most mundane and routine of tasks. Casino design has always centered on the patron; however, a good designer will look at ways to accommodate both. Designing a more accessible and efficient work environment creates a more positive experience for employees and thus boosts operational output. A few examples of inefficient work environments include placing employee parking, entry and clock-in locations remote from their actual working space. This creates immense inefficiencies in employee productivity as well as associated operational costs. The solution? Electronic monitoring and access points eliminate the need for a single security-guarded point-of-entry for employees. This allows resorts to increase productivity by shortening the arrival sequence through multiple employee entries and parking areas discretely located around the perimeter of the facility. Additionally, strategically located areas for team meetings between work shifts, in lieu of one location, decreases the time it takes employees to gather and disperse to their task locations as well as facilitates the supervisor’s ability to oversee and allocate tasks to their staff. Walt Disney Parks and Resorts is one of the best practitioners of employee efficiency. Its famous theme park utility tunnels allow employees to freely and discreetly move throughout the workspace, creating an improved and more productive routine for employees without affecting guest experience. Another prime example is Genting-owned cruise ships, where the design process meticulously takes into account all employee needs and activities. Specifically, the company researched the number of steps every employee would have to take aboard the ship to create maximum efficiency and employee interactions across all operations. with them. “The premium player expects there to be family-style entertainment at the resort, and to be comped with the best tickets and seats”Mr Wu said.“It gives family and friends something to do so they can focus on the business of gambling.” • Intimacy —Not surprising, considering the crowded nature of many Asian cities, most premium mass-market players prefer to gamble in private areas that offer a lot of space; which might explain the boom in high-limit salon development taking place at casinos in Macau and throughout Asia. “The VIP gaming salons have everything now,” Mr Wu said. “Bathrooms, showers, tubs, massages—all the comforts. Having all these items is very important to the customer.” That’s Entertainment While many Asian gaming projects continue to max out on size, scope and offerings, casino development elsewhere in the world is taking a different tack, especially in the mature gaming markets of the US and Europe. Here, greater attention is being paid to market segmentation and designing facilities to appeal to a specific group of consumers. “You really need to understand who your customer is and then develop the offering to appeal to them from the outset,” said Oliver Lovat, a partner with London-based Puji Capital. “This market segmentation has already occurred in London and is now happening >>>