Episode III of the UNLV Gaming & Hospitality Series, produced by Global Gaming Business and the William F. Harrah College of Hospitality at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and sponsored by Cognizant, examined the value of data collection and analysis in the casino industry. The Episode drew the largest attendance for the series with more than 100 attending both in person and registered online.
The Episode featured a panel moderated by Brian Wyman, a principal with Innovation Analytics and feature panelists Marco Benvenuti, chief technology officer of Duetto Research, Rob Jacks, vice president of professional services for Agilysys, Ayman Taha, vice president of innovation and enterprise technology solutions, for MGM Resorts; and Marilyn Janssen, vice president of marketing operations for Caesars Entertainment.
Janssen spoke about her experience as a financial analyst beginning in Atlantic City during the 1990s, and how the use of data for marketing has evolved since then. She said casinos now look at their customers “holistically,” compared to the early days of buses and coin giveaways.
“It didn’t matter if you were 18 or 82, but every person got $20,” Janssen said of that early period. “That seems like a bad way to do business these days, but back then that was perfectly acceptable.”
Janssen said she questioned the practice after she personally observed someone take his $20 and walk to another casino.
By tracking every person today, that enables the company “to give the right offer to the right guest at the right time,” Janssen said. “That’s important today as we talk about omnichannels and notification,” Janssen said. “Is it better to give that push notification at 7 a.m. or noon?
“As we leverage new capabilities and new technology, we got more channels to communicate various data sources and make sure we use them appropriately, and that’s where we are headed in terms of the casino industry,” Janssen said. “We have some robust data we can leverage (whether food and beverage, entertainment, spa and hospitality).
“We’re excited where we are going,” Janssen said. “Caesars has the ability to hone down and give you the right offer. We understand what works and what doesn’t for a single person.”
Jacks told the audience that customers are requesting a lot more data today than the property management systems and casino management systems they drew from in the past. Whether it’s spending money at the spa or the golf course, it’s important for casinos to track those customers who don’t gamble, Jacks said.
“For Vegas customers and big operators, we are finding how we take that data and build a loyalty program and how do we value those customers and what they bring and how they are treated when they come in,” Jacks said. “Operators are interested in understanding that portion of the population that doesn’t have a comp rating.”
He also noted that tracking customers will grow in importance as millennials enter the casino market. “That seems to be the greatest opportunity as baby boomers move out of the marketplace,” Jacks said. “The question they are asking is how do we get those millennials to spend and where to spend it and how do we treat them when they come on the property?”
The Episode kicked off with a presentation by David Norton, chairman of GALE Partners. Norton has just published a book about his time at Caesars entitled, The High Roller Experience: How Caesars and Other World Class Companies Are Using Data To Create an Unforgettable Customer Experience.
Norton spent eight years as chief marketing officer of then-Harrah’s Entertainment, where he helped evolve the groundbreaking Total Rewards loyalty program, focusing on keeping customers rather than simply offering a better deal than competitors.
“We wanted people to make decisions based on a deeper sense of loyalty,” Norton said. “There were a lot of valuable $50-a-day players who were coming 100 times a year. It changed the industry dramatically to start these tiers. The notion that better service leads to retention was something we believed in, and we put a ton of energy into data. We were getting hundreds of thousands of surveys back a year.”
Also appearing at the Episode was Dr. Ralph Thomas, the chief data scientist for VizExplorer. Thomas explained how it was important to parse data by examining all facets of the customer experience and their history with the property.
“Sometimes you think you can have a profitable event,” he explained, “but when you really examine the incremental business that it acquired, you just can’t justify the expense. So it’s crucial that you consider the other outlying factors in causing customers to visit your property.
The UNLV Gaming & Hospitality Series will return in the fall with three more episodes. An October 25 event will feature a discussion about eSports and their impact on the gaming industry, and how the legalization of sports betting across the country will impact the reputation of the Nevada participants. On November 20, payment processing takes center stage and finally an episode on player development will be held on December 13.
For more information on these and all the Episodes, visit UNLVGHES.com.
