IAG December 2015

CASINO
MARKETING
One would think that employees earning tips would contribute to
great casino customer service. However, from my experience, that is
not always the case. Sure, great tipped employees tend to make great
“tokes” (as tips are called in our industry), but too often this “gratuity
culture” leads to only well-tipping casino customers getting great,
friendly service. Perhaps that is human nature.
What I have yet to see in the gaming industry (and what I think is a
great opportunity) is a casino company strategically align its interests
with the interests of its tipped employees – ok, Barona Resort and
Casino in San Diego is the one huge exception.
What exactly do I mean by that? I’ll try to explain and highlight
the huge marketing opportunity that I see with this tipping culture
and then offer some tips (pun intended) on aligning those interests.
The “casino tipping world” and the unique flow of the casino’s
business patterns (most business occurring from Friday night to
Sunday afternoon) creates some interesting tip situations, such as:
Employees working busy times make a lot more in tips than
those working during slower times.
Certain tipped positions (cocktail server, dealer, gourmet room
food server, and so on) make a lot more in tips than most other
tipped positions (cage cashier, guest room attendant, players
club rep, and so forth).
All else being equal (and certainly there are glaring exceptions)
tipped employees serving VIP customers make a lot more than
those tipped employees serving the masses.
Casino employees who are allowed to keep their own tips in their
job role will make a lot more than employees in that same job
role who pool their tips with other employees.
With these “tip realities” in mind, here are some suggestions for
leveraging the casino tip environment to help your business (let HR
figure out how to make it happen):
Always have your best employees, by whatever objective measure
you decide, work the best tip-earning shifts in all tipped positions.
Where tips are pooled, try to find ways to have best employees
keep their own tips instead of contributing them to the pool.
Investigate ways to create career paths across tipped positions in
ascending order of their tipped value (for example players club,
to valet, to dealer, to cocktail server to server in high-limit room).
And don’t tell me it’s impossible!
Find ways to promote tips for your best employees with your
customers. I’ve always felt that there should be a sign at every
blackjack table that said, “We encourage generous tipping for
great service. For anything less, do not feel obligated to tip.”
Quit sweating the great employees who make huge tips in
whatever job role they have (unless they are doing it in an unethical
way). I know a casino that has several slot attendants that make
over US$100,000 a year in salary and tips combined. But they
magnificently serve slot players who, combined, spend several
million dollars a year at that casino. What’s wrong with that?
One acronym for “TIPS” is “To Insure Prompt Service.” I say
use tips to ensure your best people are paid best for providing best
service to your best players. And that is a great marketing result.
Reprinted with permission of Casino Journal.
“One acronym
for ‘TIPS’ is ‘To
Insure Prompt
Service.’ I say,
use tips to ensure
your best people
are paid best for
providing best
service to your
best players.”
December 2015 inside asian gaming 29