Evolution of Efficiency
Casinos and resorts view video as a critical tool
- By Scott Brothers
- Mar 01, 2017
The casino and hospitality sectors are changing, brimming
with numerous opportunities to use technology
to enhance business and significantly improve the guest
experience. Today’s customers have changed, as well,
and require a more personalized customer service approach,
which means casino and resort management teams must
work together in leveraging updated tools and intelligence-gathering
technology to deliver on guest expectations.
It’s important to note, however, that these organizations don’t
need to invest in all-new technology to achieve more advanced levels of personalization and customer service.
Video data gathered from intelligent
surveillance cameras, coupled with advanced,
yet affordable analytics software, can deliver
added benefits from capital investment that
can be seen across departments.
Mobile-centric, Interactive
Experiences
Fewer guests of casinos and resorts are seeking
out travel information from agents or by
calling for more information. Today’s guests
are internet-savvy, armed with smartphones
and often booking online. As a result, hotels
and casinos are beginning to incorporate
guest profiles that can present an advantage
when personalizing a guest’s stay or offering
added services through quick and easy
request portals. Through a digitally driven
smartphone app or Web interactions hoteliers
can be notified when a VIP guest arrives
and ensure their staff is ready to greet them
– by name or even by using personalized information
about these guests gathered from
previous visits. Gathering business intelligence
with personalized info allows hoteliers
insight into the services that will have the
greatest impact on their guest’s experience.
Casinos can also use the information
gathered to personalize guest experiences –
and this is already in practice in many casinos
today. Player’s loyalty cards are used in
a number of ways – at slot machines, table
games, in retail stores and restaurants – and
aim to provide marketing departments with
information on the shopping and gambling
habits of regular patrons. But there is significant
opportunity to couple the information
being gathered from these cards on how
guests navigate the casino floor and actual
video of guests that can be analyzed to determine
how marketing and advertising can
best engage with each and every guest.
The video data, which is being gathered
by security surveillance cameras, can have
additional uses, which span several departments
including business operations and
marketing. The capital investment in video
capture technology then becomes more
widely distributed as more departments
use the information, going from a required
“grudge purchase” to a Swiss Army Knife of
operational benefits.
Streamlined Processes
Video data gathered from both a hotel lobby
and a casino floor plays an increasingly important
role in the ability of these businesses
to gather intelligence that will help management
streamline operations. For example,
resort management can be notified when the
lobby becomes crowded with an influx of
guests waiting to be checked in. The security
footage, while scanning the crowd for possible
threats, can also be analyzed in real time to
gather a wealth of information about staffing
levels to floor managers. In the event of
a growing line, managers are immediately
alerted and can easily alleviate the situation
by pulling additional staff to help with the influx
of guests. Not only does the information
allow management to streamline operations,
it also provides exceptional customer service,
which can increase the resort’s bottom line.
The video data gathered also has a significant
effect on the casino floor in much
the same way. For example, on particularly
busy nights, many table games can become
crowded with people waiting to play. Using
video analytics and people-counting software,
managers can be alerted when tables
reach capacity so that they may direct dealers
to vacant tables and eliminate a “wait”
to play. Not only does this improve guest
perceptions, it also increases the casino’s revenue
by allowing more guests the ability to
participate in table play.
Going even further, marketing departments
can use video analytics to observe
how in-person campaigns are performing.
For example, determining whether guests are
lingering at a large-scale advertisement for a
long period of time (for example, a shiny new
corvette that slot players have the chance to
win). Marketing departments also can use
video data to determine where large crowds
tend to gather and use that information to
strategically place advertisements for retail
specials, dinner locations or special events.
Integration and
Collaboration
The critical component to making “smart”
casinos and resorts a reality is the willingness
of manufacturers to produce hardware
and software that can integrate seamlessly to
create this kind of user experience. This kind
of technology is can add significant value,
but many organizations still do not have the
commitment to make this a reality.
As more and more companies work together
to integrate security video data with
analytics capabilities and software that will
work with numerous solutions, casinos and
resorts can use this technology to better
serve guests in an effort to deliver the kind
of personalized service that customers will
come to expect from their visit in the future,
building on continued relationships and
returning visits from these guests, leading
to increased revenue
streams and realizing
the potential of these
technology offerings
to see true benefit.
This article originally appeared in the March 2017 issue of Security Today.