Case Study: Silver Reef Hotel Casino Spa

 

Property Description
Silver Reef Hotel Casino Spa is a tribal casino located in Northwest Washington State in Ferndale, approximately 100 miles from Seattle and within 15 minutes of the Canadian border. Offering Las Vegas style gaming with approximately 975 slots, 20 tables and a 106 room hotel, Silver Reef is in a competitive gaming environment catering to a strong local’s market as well as tourists.

Challenge
According to Marty Sauvage, Director of Slots:

• With the onset of TITO, Silver Reef needed to transform traditional slot attendant jobs from selling change and tickets to player development specialists.
• Their players club card utilization was low.
• New players club sign-ups were not significant.

Solution
Based on the needs stated by Marty, Raving recommended its on-site Slot Ambassador program for Silver Reef.  This program encompasses training former “slot attendants” in developing customer service and sales skills. Specifically, these skills would address Silver Reef’s challenges of encouraging users to play with their cards; signing up new players to the club and creating a more comprehensive customer service role.

This program would also train employees to effectively “sell” other amenities at the casinos; to successfully communicate and sign up players for marketing promotions; to engage comfortably in conflict resolution; and to develop further skills around customer engagement.   While on-site Raving would tailor training scenarios to fit Silver Reef’s specific challenges. Silver Reef had Raving work directly with front-line slot department staff, slot supervisors, pit supervisors, dual rates and shift managers.

The Win
According to Marty, not only were the initial challenges addressed but several beneficial by-products occurred after this training:

• Early indicators showing higher card-in usage and increased players club sign ups.
• By including both slot and table games staff and supervisors, the “message” to customers has been much more consistent.
• The “regulars” have noticed a more positive attitude from the Silver Reef team.
• The ambassadors are much more proactive and comfortable in engaging guests.
• There is much more dialogue between customers and the new ambassadors.
• Sliver Reef is creating a rewards program specifically for the slot ambassadors.
• This program is now being used as a training tool for shift managers.
• In the future, this program will be a “must” for anyone who comes into contact with guests on the floor.

Propery Description
L'Auberge Du Lac Casino Resort (Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc.) features 30,000 square feet of non-stop Vegas style action with more than 60 table games and 1,600 slots. The premier gulf coast resort destination in Lake Charles, LA, offers 1000 luxurious hotel rooms and suites plus a championship Tom Fazio golf course, Spa du Lac, an array of award-winning restaurants, unique shopping and more!

Challenge
Kirk Houser, Senior Director of Player Development had a host and player development department that was based on a traditional model-specifically relying on delivery of comps and keeping existing players happy.

Kirk envisioned a pro-active, professional "sales team" that would drive more gaming revenue long term; encourage loyal players to greater worth; better manage their already heavy amenity and reinvestment program; and not show any gaming decreases in the current challenged economy.

Solution
Kirk reached out to Raving to create a gaming specific, very targeted, meaningful and non-generic training program that his player development staff and hosts could relate to.

First, Raving created a skills training cirriculum that focused on critical player development concepts and proficiencies and partnered this with a workshop program centered on goals and strategies designed by the property.

Because of the success of the first program, Raving returned to do an advanced primer to reinforce and polish the initial training and to do additional training focused on specific player database reinvestment.

The Win
From the two programs, Kirk's team was able to create a new model for their host and player development department, custom to L'Auberge, based on a series of best practices and policies; goal setting; and skills training to manage and develop customer relationships.

This new program has resulted in:

• A reputation of consistent and superior guest service.
• Increased efficiencies and improved communication within the department and the entire organization.
• A very effective comp reinvestment philosophy and strategy, where everyone is on the "same page".

To learn more about L'Auberge, call reservations at (866) 580-7444 or visit www.idlcasino.com.

Property Description
Suquamish Clearwater Casino Resort is a naturally breathtaking casino and hotel nestled among the pines and cedars of the scenic Kitsap Peninsula. This expansive, luxurious retreat offers four-diamond amenities and a wide array of indoor and outdoor pleasures including a full-service spa, zero entry pool and of course, the endless excitement of video poker, craps, keno and roulette. The resort is a half-hour ferry ride from downtown Seattle.

Challenge
According to the Senior Management Team at Suquamish Clearwater Casino Resort, they were looking for some specific tools to answer the following questions:

1. Are we reinvesting too much in our players; are our players club reinvestment levels on target?
2. How do we stay within our marketing budget? Is our marketing budget appropriate to our desired results?
3. How do we utilize our database more effectively?
4. We run promotions, we're busy, the head count is great, but how do we improve our ROI?
5. Demographics- how do we reach out further and how much should we spend on that reach?

Solution
Based on the challenges listed above, Raving recommended a Marketing Reinvestment Program. The program entailed two senior Raving consultants conducting database review and analysis, financial budgets for marketing and promotions and providing Clearwater with innovative working spreadsheets and templates for future planning and implementation of promotions, player development and direct marketing.

The Win
"The Raving team provided us with a variety of options regarding the challenges listed above. The innovative database analysis and spreadsheets allowed us to look at our entire player base with new goals and objectives for player development and promotions. We will be incorporating the marketing and database analysis as part of our 2011 marketing plan. They understood our challenges and we were very pleased with the way they worked with our team to understand and provide us with alternatives to approach our reinvestment programs. We have engaged the same two consultants to partner with us for review and analysis over the next four quarters."