Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming JUly 2015 32 CASINO MARKETING offerings, but not every regional casino can afford this. Sometimes it does not economically pencil out to add those amenities. But that is certainly a shift in the spending habits of the guest… they are willing to spend lots of dollars in nightclubs, dinners and entertainment. Mr Miller: We operate in a lot of markets where our facilities do not have the amenities other properties do. What we are finding… is that the one thing that hasn’t changed in the industry is the importance of service. Providing good service is important but you need to go beyond that; it’s really about building relationships. It is an easy thing to say, but a difficult thing to execute. You have to be able to build relationships with your guests so when they get that free play offer that is 50% higher from the place down the street, they don’t necessarily feel compelled to go there just to play the credits, because they get so much more out of their experience with the people they know at the property. When I worked on the Gulf Coast in the early days of Grand Gulfport and Grand Biloxi that was absolutely the case. We all sort of shared customers, but the relationships that were built between the employees, the market and the guests that came from all over the Deep South… I have never seen relationships like that. It was easier then to hold onto a guest because those relationships were so strong. Now there are a lot of other things tugging at them, but at the root of it I still think that is job one, to develop these relationships. Ms Varnes: One of the goals in our company is to build the best relationships with our crew as well as our guests. The reasoning behind that is because when you do screw up—and we all screw up at some time—the customer is more willing to forgive you because of the relationship. For example, we have a 24-hour restaurant and we get a little backed up sometimes. We have one guest who is there all the time and she will jump up from behind her table and go grab menus and seat other guests. She is so excited to be part of our family and part of our team… it is that type of relationship. EMPLOYMENT ISSUES: Mr Barber: This is a debate we have on an ongoing basis. From an employment standpoint, the needs and wants of a younger generation employee has dramatically changed. They work to live, not live to work; so time off, schedules, and day of week are very important to them. In our 24/7 industry, where 60-70% of your revenue comes on the weekends, that is not necessarily conducive to a younger generation schedule or lifestyle, they typically want time off when we are at our busiest. It has become a struggle to attract and retain that younger employee. Ms Varnes: We are still struggling with it from an employee standpoint. The younger group that is coming out, the sense of entitlement in which they were raised… we struggle on how to tackle that, because they will work a little bit, then they will not want to work anymore. The amount of surveillance I’ve seen with them using their phones throughout the day… it is second nature to them and it is really hard to explain that you really can’t do that at work… Mr Hoskins: I wish I had all the answers, but I have seen some interesting things I have never seen, like recently I saw a parent come with their child to the interview. Another parent called me the other day and told me we were all wrong in the way we were treating their child. I think there are a lot of challenges out there, and we will just have to learn as we are in this business. You have to handle your guests differently too, that is a changing demographic as well. CASINO OF THE FUTURE: Mr Barber: I think gaming operations in the future will be more mobile. They will be more online or Internet based. We will continue to see brick-and-mortar properties invest into what we refer to as hospitality or non-gaming revenue streams. So you try to match the demographical needs and wants of the customer of tomorrow. It is about giving them more choice; letting them have a say in the content and the games themselves, letting them enjoy the experience the way they want, to individualize the experience. Mr Hoskins: I think it is technology and options. I look at my kids and they live and die by the mobile phone; take it away, and there is nothing worse. That’s the way more of full service facilities with lots of non-gaming amenities. Mr Miller: I think right now if you look at the way casinos are built, by virtue of the way we lay out the slot floor and the gaming pits, we dictate where and how people play the games. That is all going to change. In 10 years I think the casino will look vastly different than it does today. I think it will look more like a lounge with different environments in different areas where people can go to where they are comfortable and bring their game on the iPad. We will still control the content, but they are going to control the environments. They will select where they sit and what room they want to play a game in, rather than us. The power is shifting… it has always sort of been in the guests’ hands, but it is shifting more and more that way. I think we are going to go well beyond the slot box; probably to an iPad where the guest will pick from the thousands of different games themes that are available, and play it where and when they want. “There is a new psychology at play here as well; essentially, when it comes to age, 50 is the new 30. So having products and services that attract a younger customer lets the older customer also feel good about being there.” R. Scott Barber | Caesars Entertainment