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Press Releases & Articles
Casino Guest Satisfaction Doesn’t
Matter
By Martin R. Baird
(Print,
PDF)
Wow, now is
that a bold statement from a gaming guest service consultant or
what? The reality is that the headline for this column is not a
completely true statement, but it’s more true than most people would
believe.
There is a
new study out that appeared in Harvard Business Review. The study
found that there is zero correlation between customer satisfaction
and future growth of any business. Translation: there is
absolutely no correlation between guest satisfaction and a casino’s
future growth. That’s a fact!
How can this
be? If you’re like many others in gaming, you have been told in
countless guest service training sessions that guest satisfaction is
THE most important thing. Without satisfied guests, you have
nothing, so go out there and smile, smile, smile. Certainly guests
want to be satisfied with their gaming experience, just as employees
want to be satisfied with their work. But measuring satisfaction in
either camp is a very poor way to predict future growth.
What, even
employee satisfaction doesn’t matter? It’s true. Casinos’
employee “sat surveys” have little or no bearing on the property’s
success down the road. Sure, the executive team likes walking
around patting themselves on the back because 89 percent of their
employees are satisfied or extremely satisfied. But it doesn’t mean
anything when it comes to the casino’s growth.
Now that I’ve
created a dilemma, what’s the solution? Here’s my suggestion. If
you really want to be an asset to your casino and help it grow and
serve more guests so you can be promoted or make more in tips or
just feel good about yourself and the work you do, you need to
create “advocates” among your guests. An advocate is a person who
will do something for someone else without hope of personal gain.
For example, you are probably an advocate of your favorite club,
bar, restaurant or sports teams. You tell other people how great
they are and you get nothing in return from those you praise.
How can
advocates resolve the dilemma? Research has found that satisfaction
is too fickle an area to measure for determining future growth. A
happy guest today can be an unhappy guest tomorrow. But determining
if people are advocates is a much more accurate yardstick.
The first
step toward creating guest advocates is knowing what your guests
want. However, this is not as simple as it may sound.
Let me use
myself as an example. A couple of months ago, my wife and I stayed
at one of the mega resorts in Las Vegas. It was an amazing place!
We checked into our room and it was just the style and feel that we
really like. Unfortunately, we had to move because you could hear
the music from the club below our room. Then at 4 a.m., my wife
smelled this terrible odor in our room. The front desk explained
that the grease traps were being cleaned. We were graciously moved
yet again to a different part of the hotel and upgraded to a suite
with a great view of the Strip. But it was a totally different kind
of room. We didn’t like the style.
Are my wife
and I advocates of that casino? Absolutely not! The way to create
advocates is to ask people what they like and then determine how you
can deliver it.
What I want
you to take away from this column is a clear understanding that the
way to create success for yourself and your casino is to turn your
guests into advocates. Look for ways to more than just satisfy your
guests. Look for ways to move them to the level of freely sharing
with others how great your casino, restaurant or resort is.
If you are a
supervisor, manager or casino executive, you need to take it one
step further and stop looking at employee satisfaction and start
measuring employee advocate scores! After all, employees who are
advocates of your casino are not looking to jump ship at the first
opportunity. They are committed to the property’s long-term growth.
Article appeared in the November 2005 issue of Casino Connection
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