A G2E Asia panel on optimising customer experience explored topics such as diversification within the industry and how to serve larger visitation volumes.
Members of the panel included Mr Hakan Dagtas, COO at Newport World Resort, Lucas Cai, VP of Gaming Operations at Inspire Entertainment Resort and David Croft, SVP of Gaming Optimisation and Strategy at Tangam Systems.
The panel was moderated by Michael Zhu, SVP at The Innovation Group.
The panel discussed how they are looking to expand upon the number of people coming into casinos, with operators trying to reach out to people in a broader age range and across more cultural backgrounds than before.
Cai addressed an increase in accessibility by saying: "I think you start to see more accessibility in terms of recent price points, so we could reach out to a wider range of customers with different preferences in there as well."
Of course, an increase in traffic will result in issues related to capacity and the scale of the workforce. Additionally, each customer will want the ease of access to their desired gaming experience.
This was addressed by Croft, who said: “We know customers don't want to sit on the ground and they are likely to keep their money in their wallet if they can't find a comfortable seat. Similarly on a slot machine, if you walk in there and you can't get onto your favourite game, some will play other games; but what we've seen in the data is that they are likely to spend less if they can't get onto their favourite game.
"So we try and make sure what we have available in the product space for the new type of customer coming in is appropriate and try to be as flexible as possible years."
Similarly on a slot machine, if you walk in there and you can't get onto your favourite game, some will play other games; but what we've seen in the data is that they are likely to spend less if they can't get onto their favourite game
Croft discussed how technological advances can make an impact on the customer experience. He stated that there are three ways for improving customer experience: "One is making sure we get the right customer at the right time. Second, we make sure the right product is available for that customer, that is both through the resort and once they hit the gaming floor. Third is removing the frustrations from the customer experience, to make things more seamless and to have less waiting time for customers."
Croft would summarise by saying: "When I finish my experiences, whether it is an integrated resort or a shopping centre or a sporting event, I think about what frustrations there were that reduced my customer experience. So technology is continuing to grow rapidly with the whole experience."
While technology can play a huge part in the customer experience, all panellists were in agreement that customer service from staff members is still a vital part of their business.
The panel would also stress that customer experience needs to be a key point of focus throughout the whole business, regardless of the scale, with examples being drawn from how car parking that is affordable and small details in hospitality can have a huge impact on the overall experience.
