Casino Style Magazine

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THE AUTOMATED BAR | THE BRINKERHOFF LEGACY | BUILDING EXCITEMENT

2018 Non-Gaming Amenities for Integrated Resorts • $10

A GGB publication

More in

Macau Is the opening of

Melco’s Morpheus a turning point?

Discover Your

Meet, Greet, Repeat

SUPERPOWERS Non-gaming amenities that give your property more lift

Grab your share of the important MICE business Official Publication of the Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers

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a

GGB publication

2018

CONTENTS

DEPARTMENTS:

COLUMNS:

4 Editor’s Letter

33 Figuring Out FF&E

6 Building Excitement

When it comes to furniture, fixtures and equipment, you’d better enlist the experts to make a deal.

44 Style Spotlight 44 45 45 46 46 47 47 48 48

By Carl Long

Agilysys Cunningham Group Architecture Entertainment Design Corp.

Gary Platt Manufacturing HBG Design Lifescapes International Purchasing Management International Patir Seating SOSH Architects

43 Know Your (Future) Customer Forget millennials versus boomers.

Here’s how to design for every generation of customer.

By Dike Bacon

50 End Game: Safety Matters Violent assaults at properties in Las Vegas and Manila have raised alarms about security. What’s the latest thinking about gaming resort safety?

49 TBE Architects 49 Sysco

FEATURES:

By Roger Gros

14 A Man for All Seasons: Don Brinkerhoff Don Brinkerhoff was the first landscape architect to create virtual Edens (and volcanos) in the Las Vegas desert. Here’s how his garden grew—and continues to flourish.

By Mike Sheridan

20 Do You Know Your MVPs?

Your best guests are familiar, freespending and deserving of a few perks.

But you can’t fully assess their worth without customer data.

By Frank Legato

28 Meeting Expectations Casinos have become the go-to destinations for many meetings, trade shows and conventions. To boost your bottom line, especially in mid-weeks and off-seasons, you want a piece of this business.

By William Sokolic

34 Super-Amenity

Superpowers

38 The Play’s the Thing Don’t overlook ergonomically designed chairs as a way for customers to sit longer, stay longer and play longer.

By Marjorie Preston

Why fast-casual, super-fresh foods are increasingly on the menu at casino restaurants.

Once upon a time, all you needed was a gaming floor, a buffet and a lounge.

Today’s hyper-competitive casino industry demands much more—and rewards those who offer “super amenities” like these.

Where’s My Drink?

By Marjorie Preston

By Michael Vanaskie

By Dave Bontempo

24 What’s Cooking?

40 Hey Bartender, When your bar staff is in the weeds, robots are ready to pitch in.

2018 CASINO STYLE 3

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EDITOR’S LETTER

Filling in the Blanks

A GLOBAL GAMING BUSINESS PUBLICATION 2018 Roger Gros, Publisher | rgros@ggbmagazine.com twitter: @GlobalGamingBiz Frank Legato, Editor | flegato@ggbmagazine.com twitter: @FranklySpeakn Monica Cooley, Art Director | cooley7@sunflower.com

Marjorie Preston, Editor

I

n a bygone era, the stereotypical casino was a windowless box with no clocks, no natural light and a mazelike interior, designed to capture guests and keep them at the slots or tables until their pockets contained nothing but lint. Fairly or unfairly, in those days casinos were sometimes compared to mousetraps.

What a difference a few decades make.

This is the age of the integrated resort—a less-than-sexy label with a powerful meaning.

As the term suggests, these resorts integrate gaming with scores of other entertaining diversions: day clubs and nightclubs, bowling and golf, water parks and theme parks, manmade beaches, swim-up bars and so-called “experiential” attractions, as well as dining and retail, spas and pools, wonderful accommodations and other amenities that help to keep the customer satisfied, gratified and eager to return.

In short, it’s not about capturing your guests, but captivating them.

Think of Casino Style as your vision board, with plenty of ideas to help you up your game, mine more value from existing guests, entice new ones and operate at peak efficiency (without sacrificing the fabulous).

In a feature on so-called “super amenities,” Michael Vanaskie explains how these non-gaming attractions dazzle customers of all generations and entertainment persuasions.

Dave Bontempo writes about robotic drink machines, which eliminate spillage and overpours and the revenue that goes down the drain with them (unlike other automated gizmos, they won’t eliminate server jobs, and in fact may boost gratuities).

In Frank Legato’s piece on revenue management, the experts share how to truly keep tabs on customer spend—not just to maximize their value, but also to boost customer

service.

Bill Sokolic contributes an excellent feature on how to get your fair share of trade shows, conventions and meetings, an increasingly important business segment.

Want to know about the latest food trends? Our experts define the fast-casual movement, and comedian George Lopez talks about opening his first restaurant, Chingon Kitchen, at a Southern California casino.

Mike Sheridan profiles Lifescapes International founder Don Brinkerhoff, the man who created the first oasis in the desert for Steve Wynn, broke the rules of landscape design, and made up some new ones that endure to this day.

In these pages, you’ll also learn what goes into the design and manufacture of a comfy chair, and why ergonomics matters, not only in the cubicle but on the casino floor.

Be sure to check out Dike Bacon’s column, in which the HBG designer shares how “healthy” guest rooms, abundant gardens and Outward Boundstyle adventures work together (often subliminally) to create a happier guest. And Carl Long of PMI crunches the numbers about savvy FF&E purchasing.

Finally, Casino Style Publisher Roger Gros weighs in on the increasingly critical matter of security in the casino realm, how to keep our customers and staffers safe and our assets free from harm.

We live in an era of rapidly changing, often baffling technologies and tons of new competition (including the digital variety).

For all the challenges, there may be no better time to be in this business, which has shifted from gaming-centric to “gaming and…” whatever else your customers want.

They’ll fill in the blanks. It’s up to you to deliver. Please share your success stories with us.

It’s not about capturing your guests, but captivating them.

4 CASINO STYLE 2018

Lauren Byrge, Director, Sales & Marketing LaurenB@GGBmagazine.com Floyd Sembler, Business Development Manager fsembler@ggbmagazine.com Becky Kingman-Gros, Chief Operating Officer bkingros@ggbmagazine.com Lisa Johnson, Communications Advisor lisa@lisajohnsoncommunications.com twitter: @LisaJohnsonPR Columnists Carl Long | Dike Bacon Contributing Editors Dave Bontempo twitter: @bontempomedia Mike Sheridan | William Sokolic Michael Vanaskie

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Rino Armeni, President, Armeni Enterprises

•

Mark A. Birtha, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Hard Rock International

• Julie Brinkerhoff-Jacobs, President, Lifescapes International

• Nicholas Casiello Jr., Shareholder, Fox Rothschild

• Jeffrey Compton, Publisher, CDC E-Reports twitter: @CDCNewswire

• Geoff Freeman, President & CEO, American Gaming Association twitter: @GeoffFreemanAGA

• Dean Macomber, President, Macomber International, Inc.

• Stephen Martino, Vice President & Chief Compliance Officer, MGM Resorts International, twitter: @stephenmartino

• Jim Rafferty, President, Rafferty & Associates

• Thomas Reilly, Vice President Systems Sales, Scientific Games

• Steven M. Rittvo, Chairman Emeritus, The Innovation Group twitter: @InnovGrp

• Katherine Spilde, Executive Director, Sycuan Gaming Institute, San Diego State University, twitter: @kspilde

• Ernie Stevens, Jr., Chairman, National Indian Gaming Association twitter: @NIGA1985

• Roy Student, President, Applied Management Strategies

• David D. Waddell, Partner Regulatory Management Counselors PC Casino Connection International LLC. 901 American Pacific Drive, Suite 180 • Henderson, Nevada 89014 702-248-1565 • 702-248-1567 (fax) www.ggbmagazine.com The views and opinions expressed by the writers and columnists of Casino Style are not necessarily the views of the publisher or editor.

Copyright 2018 Global Gaming Business LLC. Henderson, Nevada 89014 CASINO STYLE is published annually by Casino Connection International, LLC. Printed in Nevada, USA. Postmaster: Send Change of Address forms to: 901 American Pacific Dr, Suite 180, Henderson, NV 89014

Official Publication

At Agilysys, hospitality is our sole focus.

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

Whether you operate a multi-property enterprise or a casino resort, you’ll

POINT-OF-SALE

benefit from our deep industry expertise. Pure Hospitality means absolute

SELF-SERVICE KIOSK

commitment to driving guest service innovation. Our Focus. Your Success.

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BUILDING The Bold & the Beautiful • Morpheus Hotel, City of Dreams Macau •

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epending on your frame of reference, Morpheus is the Greek god of dreams or an action star in the Matrix movie franchise. Either way, the heroic name fits Macau’s newest and most startling hotel tower.

Designed by the late Dame Zaha Hadid in one of the final projects of her career, the futuristic 42-story hotel opened at City of Dreams Macau, a Melco Resorts & Entertainment property, on June 15.

Macau’s latest landmark is unlike any other, and literally turns architecture inside out with its extraordinary steel exoskeleton. The hotel’s massive double towers are joined by curved bridges designed to create “voids” that let the natural light stream in, says ZHA Project Director Viviana Muscettola.

Exterior steel ribbons hug the building, limiting the need for supporting columns within, and allowing for dramatically scaled interior spaces. The structure, equipped with a dozen high-speed glass elevators, was inspired by traditional Chinese jade carving techniques capable of rendering hard minerals into fluid-looking forms.

Muscettola calls the unexpected design approach “a jump into the unknown” that “makes no reference to traditional architectural typologies.”

With more than 770 elegant rooms, suites and villas, the hotel—yes, it’s named for the Greek god, not the superhero—will target premium-mass customers who spend freely at Macau’s casinos without the need for junket investors.

An entire floor is devoted to fine dining, with two restaurants from acclaimed Chef Alain Ducasse of Monaco; a pâtissierie from Pierre Hermé, “the Picasso of pastry;” and a Chinese fine dining establishment, Yi, located in the hotel’s Sky Bridge.

Morpheus also offers a modern art gallery on the 23rd floor; a rooftop sky pool, with 360-degree views of the glittering Cotai Strip; a deluxe spa; and a 12,000-square-foot luxury retail area. VIP guests may call on dedicated personal butlers, 24 hours a day. The property, targeted to the elite premium-mass customer, also offers 40 gaming tables.

In 2012, when the hotel project was in its infancy, Melco Chairman and CEO Lawrence Ho said he wanted “the most iconic architect” to create something “just insane” at City of Dreams. Hadid, the first woman ever to win the prestigious Pritzker Prize for architecture, certainly delivered.

“Morpheus is truly an architectural icon, not just for Macau but for Asia,” said Ho at the hotel’s grand opening. “We wanted to send a love letter to China and Macau, given all the support and the great business and relationships we’ve had over the years.”

Due to a 3 percent cap on new gaming tables in the jurisdiction, Melco reallocated 40 tables to Morpheus for the hotel’s debut. Even without new gaming capacity, Morpheus could still contribute up to 40 percent in revenue growth for City of Dreams, according to analyst Grant Govertsen of Union Gaming Asia Securities Ltd. Ho feels certain that the resort will get additional tables in 2019. “We have a great relationship with the Macau government. We’re confident.”

As Dame Hadid’s only Macau project—it was completed after her death in 2016—Morpheus will stand as a bold tribute to her vision, and Melco’s.

—Marjorie Preston OWNER: Melco Entertainment ARCHITECT: Zaha Hadid Architects DESIGNERS: Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher EXECUTIVE ARCHITECT: Leigh & Orange of Hong Kong INTERIOR DESIGN: Remedios Studio of Hong Kong ACCOMMODATIONS: 591 rooms, 181 suites and nine villas INVESTMENT: $1.1 billion

6 CASINO STYLE 2018

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History Repeats Itself • MGM Springfield •

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ow do you say excitement?

MGM Resorts International can count the ways—first, by opening MGM Springfield ahead of schedule, then by becoming a presence in its Massachusetts home.

The colossal $960 million resort, which covers three city blocks in downtown Springfield, was originally set to launch in September. That debut was then pushed up to August 18.

Igniting a cultural and economic renaissance in the historic New England city, the approximately 2 million-square-foot development, combining new construction with revived historic buildings, offers more than 125,000 square feet of gaming space, a 250-room boutique hotel on Main Street, superior spa services, inspired dining and diverse retail. MGM Springfield also features a luxury cinema, high-energy bowling complex, seasonal skating rink and outdoor marketplace displaying local art, events and talent.

Employment creates more excitement. MGM has pledged to create 3,000 jobs, with 35 percent of workers drawn from Springfield and 90 percent from the region. That boosts local tax revenue.

The property also salutes the past. The reimagined architecture will include whimsical design elements with tributes to local denizens Dr. Seuss and Emily Dickinson, among others. Historical reminders like a 1925 Edison-Western Union Stock Ticker, a 1915 Springfield-made Telegraphone and an 1895 Edison Home Phonograph will be on display. The company will restore the United Electric lobby with its terrazzo floors, marbled walls and stained-glass dome.

© Holland Casino & Ven amsterdam

Dutch Treat

The Friedmutter Group of Las Vegas served as the architect, overseeing the master plan, exterior design, the design of the casino floor and all nightlife and bar spaces. L.A.-based Avenue Interior Design oversaw the development of the hotel lobby and an onsite Italian restaurant, using a palette of warm reds with industrial wood and metal touches. Other details recalling Springfield’s industrial history include exposed concrete-planked ceilings.

Bringing more community attractions was important to MGM Resorts, so a Regal Cinema will bring back movies. An arcade and bowling alley will complement TopGolf Swing Suites, the latest in virtual golf. The South End Market, a shopping mall with more than 40 tenants, will return retail to Springfield.

MGM is also working with local attractions such as the Basketball Hall of Fame to spread the wealth through the region. Along with a world-class art collection, MGM is likely to quickly become the biggest attraction in Springfield.

—Dave Bontempo OWNER: MGM Resorts ARCHITECT: Friedmutter Group FEATURES: 252 suites, 2,500 slots, 94 table games INVESTMENT: $960 million

self “a unique place where work meets play, creativity meets business, wonder meets curiosity and dreams meet lift-off.” In addition to hotels, restaurants, an event space and a fitness center, Ven is now home to the sleekly contemporary Holland Casino.

Holland Casino’s parent company operates 14 gaming halls throughout the Netherlands. For the newest addition, it transferred its gaming license from Schiphol Airport to the western part of the capital city. It is the company’s second flagship property in Amsterdam.

“I am proud that after 12 years we can open a new casino where our guests can experience a successful evening,” said Holland Casino CEO Erwin van Lambaart. “The casino looks progressive and offers the latest and most exciting games, of which many are exclusive at Holland Casino.”

Holland Casino offers 503 slot machines, 12 gaming tables, a modern version of bingo that can be played on tablets, and remote roulette, in which customers in Amsterdam can play on tables in Rotterdam or Venlo.

“It is a beautiful casino at a top location,” said van Lambaart. “It is fast and easy to reach for guests from both Amsterdam and outside the city.”

—Marjorie Preston

• Holland Casino at Ven Amsterdam •

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n aerial view of Ven Amsterdam shows off the complex’s ultra-modern form with interlocking curved structures and mirror-clad walls, barely a stone’s throw from the busy Sloterdijk rail line.

A lifestyle hub developed on the site of a former office building, Ven calls it-

OPERATOR: Holland Casino DESIGNER: Karim Rashid TOTAL FLOOR AREA: 54,800 square feet MAXIMUM OCCUPANCY: 2,000 INVESTMENT: €30 million 2018 CASINO STYLE 7

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Pool Paradise

• Pechanga Resort & Casino, Temecula, California •

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he Angel of the Winds Casino in Arlington, Washington, located in the Seattle metro area, recently undertook the largest expansion in its history.

Representing a $64 million investment by the state’s Stillaguamish Tribe of Indians, the expansion—on the drawing board since 2016—will add 300,000 square feet to the property, including a parking garage for up to 575 vehicles, space for up to 300 new slot machines and 16 gaming tables, a 200-seat buffet and an upscale steakhouse called Whiskey Prime.

To maximize revenues, a new 750-capacity, 8,500-square-foot multi-purpose entertainment facility will house concerts, performances, conferences and private events. The expansion also will add a 12-lane, 8,500-square-foot bowling alley.

The project, which broke ground in January, is scheduled to be complete next summer and create new jobs at least 150 people, tribal officials said. It’s the second major expansion at Angel of the Winds, which opened in October 2004 and commissioned a $27 million addition including a luxury hotel 10 years later.

Brett Ewing, principal architect with the Cuningham Group, which designed the expansion, said the Angel of the Winds’ slogan—“The World’s Friendliest Casino”—is “very true.”

Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, Ewing noted, “The service here is the reason you’re successful. It’s not necessarily bricks and mortar. It’s the staff that you have, and it starts from the top and works its way down.”

Not to downplay the bricks and mortar, and a design that blends the natural with the nouveau. According to the architect, the look of the addition takes its cues from organic forms in the Washington landscape and uses modern details for balance. The main casino design creates a dynamic guest experience with sweeping pathways and ceiling elements. The food venues complement the casino and provide a diverse offering of spaces. The entertainment block channels a “Rock, Roll & Bowl” atmosphere with dramatic lighting and bold colors.

As construction continues at the site, crews labor under a banner that promises “A Change is in the Winds.”

“Angel of the Winds is proud to be the entertainment destination for so many here in the Pacific Northwest and for travelers from around the world,” said General Manager Travis O’Neil. “This expansion will allow us to add a new level of excitement for our customers through unique amenities, while still maintaining our warm and welcoming atmosphere.”

—Marjorie Preston

he $300 million expansion project completed this spring at Pechanga Resort & Casino has many elements: a new 14-story AAA Four Diamond hotel tower with 568 rooms and suites; 67,000 square feet of event space; a luxury two-story spa and salon with 17 treatment rooms and a fitness center.

The new hotel tower is made up of two buildings near the Journey at Pechanga golf course, and its rooms and suites include amenities such as large-screen TVs with HDMI outlets, floor-toceiling windows and native decor.

The new convention and meeting space will serve a rising meetings business at Pechanga, California’s largest Native American resort.

But the heart of the expansion is the new 4.5-acre pool complex, a vacation-style attraction made up of eight pools—five swimming pools and three smaller pools, with four whirlpool spas—one with a natural rock waterfall feature—a drought-tolerant roof garden, a family pool and an outdoor cafe.

The central pool covers 7,600 square feet and features a swim-up bar with underwater seating and a Baja ledge for chaises and daybeds that skim the water. The family pool (2,400 square feet) features two twisting water slides that splash guests into a beach-entry pool. Next to the pool is a large run-through sprinkler feature.

There also is a 1,200-square-foot “VIP Pool” and two other small soaking pools.

The new area, called the Cove, includes a large, grassy field used as an outdoor concert and event center.

The waterfall feature was created by Lifescapes International, a landscape architect with its signature all over the pool complex. Lifescapes was part of a design team led by San Diego-based Delawie Architects, the original designers of the Pechanga resort. Lifescapes, based in Newport, California, was selected as the pool-area landscape architect.

The firm has designed iconic landscapes at resorts such as the Bellagio, Wynn and Venetian in Las Vegas. This was Lifescapes’ first project with Pechanga Resort, owned by the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Mission Indians.

Lifescapes created an outdoor atmosphere surrounding the pools and central bar area. The landscape is dotted with a variety of oak trees, considered sacred to the Pechanga community. The project also features mostly drought-tolerant, desert-sensitive plant materials, reflecting the tribe’s commitment to sustainable landscaping.

Finally, an indoor/outdoor restaurant and bar serves poolside dining in an area that is already one of the highlights of the property.

Tutor-Perini was brought on as the project’s builder. Cleo Design was tasked with all interior designs of the new spaces.

—Frank Legato

OWNER: Stillaguamish Tribe of Indians ARCHITECT: Cuningham Group CONTRACTOR: Swinerton Builders SITE WORK: SCI Infrastructure INVESTMENT: $60 million

OWNER: Pechanga Band of Luiseño Mission Indians ARCHITECT: Delawie Architects and Planners LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT: Lifescapes International, Inc. INTERIORS: Cleo Design CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTOR: Tutor-Perini INVESTMENT: $300 million

A Change in the Winds • Angel of the Winds Casino, Arlington, Washington •

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8 CASINO STYLE 2018

Emerald Emerald Queen Queen Casino, Casino, Tacoma, Tacoma, Washington Washington

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Back to the Future • Resorts World Catskills •

Refined Rustic

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• Choctaw Casino Hotel, Grant, Oklahoma •

t the midpoint of the 20th century, New York’s Catskills Mountains were considered among the chicest and most desirable of vacation destinations. Dozens of five-star hotels and resorts dotted the smallish peaks and valleys, providing a welcome getaway for the millions who inhabited America’s largest city at that time, New York City.

During the summer, a short train ride or bus trip transported visitors from the steamy city to the cool breezes of the mountains. Gambling may not have been a legal activity, but it was certainly one of the amenities offered at the mountain palaces and surrounding properties.

The Concord was a premier hotel of the region, featuring 1,500 rooms and a dining room that sat 3,000. But its mid-century heyday wound down; it closed in 1998, and was demolished soon after.

It took a few years, but like a phoenix rising from the rubble, Resorts World Catskills (RWC) made its debut in February 2018. It may replicate the success of the Concord at its height—complete, this time, with legal gambling.

The last of four “northern tier” casinos to open in the last two years, RWC has the most going for it. Only 90 minutes from New York City, it has more amenities than the other Empire State gaming halls. With almost 100,000 square feet of gaming (out of a total property square footage of 1.6 million), gamblers can enjoy the latest slot machines, table games and a poker room.

The 332 room all-suite hotel has already turned heads for its in-room amenities and contemporary style.

The best part of RWC is that it will eventually be part of a vast entertainment complex with a water park, additional food and beverage outlets 10 CASINO STYLE 2018

I

and more accommodations.

The Concord’s legendary golf course, the Monster, will also be revived in a new Rees Jones design.

The Monster was often rated in Golf Digest’s list of the Top 100 American Golf Courses.

Entertainment was long a staple of the Concord—as in other “Borsht Belt” hotels—and RWC is restoring that crown as well. Singers, bands and comedians—including Jerry Seinfeld at the grand opening—will make RWC the entertainment capital of the Catskills once again.

Celebrity chefs like Scott Conant and others will resurrect the dining elegance once experienced only at the Concord. Along with Conant’s Cellaio, RWC offers two Asian-themed restaurants, two sports bars, a diner, the Food Hall—RWC’s buffet—and several other options.

It’s only the beginning in this magical part of the country, with possibilities and plans just ready to happen.

—Roger Gros OWNER: Empire Resorts ARCHITECT: JCJ Architecture FEATURES: 332 suites, 2 pools, 2 fitness centers, 100,000-square-foot casino INVESTMENT: $900 million

n the hyper-competitive Oklahoma gaming market, tribal casinos must take different approaches to attract and retain loyal customers.

The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma is well aware of this. Whenever it opens up or renovates a property, it adds non-gaming amenities that the competition lacks.

HBG Design’s architecture and interior design team worked with the Choctaw Nation on key improvements to the existing operation, with goals of alleviating traffic flow challenges.

They added a new 96-room hotel tower with 23 luxury suites, an expanded pool and bar/lounge environment, new and expanded food and beverage venues, and new gaming amenities.

The Choctaw Casino Resort in Grant, Oklahoma is a great example of the upgrades the nation insists upon. With architectural duties handled by HBG, it coined the term “refined rustic” to explain the design approach. At once contemporary, edgy and rustic in its interpretation, the concept builds on the Choctaw brand’s warm color palette as well as the existing property’s affinity for transitional styling, natural textures and materials, wood tones and wooden trim. Designers worked to enhance the materials currently in use, while introducing several new surprises involving unique textures and distinctive detailing.

They drew inspiration from the surrounding Oklahoma landscape: tall, tan grain stalks blowing in the fields, the vast open sky above and a deep contrast of colors all helping to in-

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Rollin’ on the River • Tropicana Evansville •

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form the palette. Designers were especially taken with the shape and texture of the area’s weather worn grain silos. These aged structures have a timeless, iconic aesthetic that combines wood and metal in a multitude of patterns, textures and patinas. It is this raw materiality within a distinctive contemporary form that designers have crafted to create visual interest and consistency between new and existing building elements.

Continuity of the “Choctaw red” color accents further solidifies the expansion design within the context of the existing property and serve to reinforce the brand.

—Patrick Roberts OWNER: Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma ARCHITECT: HBG Design FEATURES: 96 rooms, expanded pool, additional F&B options INVESTMENT: $50 million

vansville, Indiana has 50 million reasons for excitement—in the state’s first land-based casino, a $50 million development that opened in October.

Orchestrated by SOSH Architects and Hafer Design, Tropicana Evansville showcases Evansville’s scenic location on the Ohio River at the juncture of Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky.

Three states within short distance of one new gaming facility? Geographically, that’s triple 7s.

The project, which replaced Tropicana’s riverboat casino, not only fit market needs and anticipated future growth, but is designed to transform the city by drawing customers from surrounding states, enhancing revenues and bolstering the local tax base.

Revenues were reported at $15.7 million in March compared to $11.6 million for the same month last year. The successful expansion played a big role.

Tropicana’s 75,000-square-foot entertainment development includes a single-level 45,000-square-foot gaming floor, two new restaurants and an ultra-modern live entertainment lounge called 421. Havana-inspired colors, textures and other visual cues were woven into the design in keeping with Tropicana’s brand.

Gaming elements include 1,175 slot machines and more than 30 table games including blackjack, roulette and craps. The poker room

and high-limit room became instant attractions.

Live monthly tournaments include Top 3 Blackjack, Bad Beat Jackpots, Craps, High Card Flush, Mini Baccarat, Mississippi Stud, Omaha, Roulette, Texas Hold’em and Three-Card Poker. The high-limit room features high-limit blackjack and mini-baccarat with the Dragon Bonus side bet.

The casino exterior features more than 38,800 color-changing LED lights for a threedimensional facade that engages and entertains guests. Interior wall-mounted LED video ribbons also enhance the atmosphere.

Accommodations include the on-site Evansville Hotel and boutique LeMerigot Hotel, and 10 suites with spacious living and dining areas, master bedrooms and spa tubs.

In April, the company agreed to sell Tropicana’s real estate to Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc. and merge its gaming and hotel operations into Eldorado Resorts, Inc. The $1.85 billion deal is scheduled to close in the second half of this year.

—Dave Bontempo OWNER: Eldorado Resorts (pending) ARCHITECTS: SOSH Architects and Hafer Design FEATURES: Indiana’s first land-based casino INVESTMENT: $50 million 2018 CASINO STYLE 11

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First of its Kind

• Four Winds South Bend Casino, South Bend, Indiana •

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outh Bend, Indiana is most famous as home of one of the legendary universities in the U.S., Notre Dame. From the Touchdown Jesus mural near the stadium to the Golden Dome, Notre Dame has been the focal point of South Bend for generations.

Now South Bend has another focal point: the first tribal casino in the state of Indiana. The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians operates several casinos in Michigan and has roots in Indiana. After going through the “land-into-trust” process, it built an extraordinary casino in South Bend.

As an extension of the Four Winds brand, the South Bend property opened to the public in January. As with the other Four Winds properties, it integrates tribal symbolism into the guest experience with tailored elements that relate to the South Bend market.

“Over the past 10 years, architects and interior designers at HBG Design have built an ongoing relationship with the Pokagon Band and Four Winds in Michigan and Indiana,” says Paul Bell, project manager and principal at HBG. “Our team has worked to strategically enhance the design quality and aesthetic over their four-property, now multi-state, brand.”

Designers helped the brand evolve from very traditional to more transitional in design, in part to appeal to broader guest demographics. Within a high-contrast, contemporary aesthetic, unique tribal motifs are showpiece elements balanced proportionately with rich, dark wood tones, geometric ceiling patterns, a sophisticated palette of tile, stone and wooden finishes, leather-look upholstery and intricate flooring patterns that relate to aspects of tribal heritage.

“The Pokagon call South Bend ‘Ribbontown,’” says Nathan Peak, lead architectural designer and principal at HBG Design. “Known for arts and crafts, tribal symbolism is connected to unique patterns and artwork as well as the tribe’s original location on the river and water.”

A standout for the 175,000-square-foot South Bend property is the large dramatic rotunda entry, which connects key amenities within: the 1,800-slot casino with a dedicated 40-machine non-smoking area; a casino center bar; retail space; a coffee shop; and four new dining experiences, including Copper 12 CASINO STYLE 2018

Rotunda entry; Copper Rock Steakhouse

Rock Steakhouse, the Buffet, Kankakee Grille and Timbers.

The Potawatomi consider copper a sacred healing metal and the Pokagon are descendants of the Copper Culture people, an ancient indigenous tradition and lifeway of early inhabitants of northern Michigan and Wisconsin. Ancestors fashioned copper found in this Great Lakes region into tools, adornments and weapons. Modern Pokagons value copper still, especially as vessels for life-giving water in ceremonies.

Two found “float copper” rocks from Michigan’s Northern Peninsula were installed at the entrance of the Copper Rock Steakhouse. Each is well over 11,000 years old, and the two weigh five tons combined. The largest, placed within a dedicated niche at the steakhouse entry façade, stands more than 10 feet high and 5 feet wide. The smaller rock was placed in the main dining room of Copper Rock Steakhouse. Roughly 3,500 pounds, this specimen is roughly 4 feet tall and 3 feet wide.

—Patrick Roberts OWNER: Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians ARCHITECT: HBG Design BUILDER: F.A. Wilhelm of Indianapolis FEATURES: 175,000 square feet of overall space, 1,800 Class II slot machines, four restaurants, three bars and 4,500 parking spaces

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Mirage

Not a

The success of Lifescapes International began in the middle of the desert

By Mike Sheridan

C

reate an oasis in the middle of a hot, sandy, arid desert.

That was the first casino resort assignment received by Don Brinkerhoff, CEO of Lifescapes International, and his team— on one of the greatest midways in the world.

The client? Steve Wynn. The job? Unique. The challenge? Delivering an experience beyond any customer’s expectations.

Brinkerhoff’s solution? Locate a mountain topped by a “volcano” at the apex of the turn along Las Vegas Boulevard. Guests approaching from Southern California, the largest market for Vegas at that time, would be enticed to discover the unique and bold attraction, which included cascading waterfalls and a jungle of majestic palms surrounded by a lush, verdant tropical rainforest complete with animals, swimming pools and a dolphin habitat.

The result? A destination like nothing seen before in Clark County—or anywhere else. It would become the Mirage—the first casino resort to be built on the Las Vegas Strip in more than 16 years. Three decades later, it still draws millions of visitors from all over the world.

For three years, the Mirage had no competitors. Then other gaming operators, inspired by the casino’s success, built their own fully integrated resort destinations, hiring Lifescapes as the landscape architect on the vast majority of these new projects.

“Lifescapes can take a blank canvas and make something so very special out of it,” marvels Craig Cavileer, executive vice president of Majestic Realty Co. and CEO of its Silverton Casino Lodge in Las Vegas, a property that has undergone more than $250 million in renovation and expansion.

Loving the Landscape Lifescapes’ laser-like focus on creating financially successful landscape destinations to boost the owners’ bottom line—and extend the customers’ stay— has been at the heart of the firm’s business model since its inception six decades ago.

Working in collaboration with developers, operators, architects and consultants, Lifescapes’ team has created memorable, iconic landscape environments at more than 15 casino resorts on the Las Vegas Strip alone—and at 40 more across the country and around the world. The firm’s impressive portfolio has one thing in common: spectacular garden destinations.

Facilitating the owner’s vision requires commitment and participation by the entire development team. This requirement is a Lifescapes International prerequisite.

14 CASINO STYLE 2018

Encore Butterfly Garden

In addition to being beautiful and drawing multitudes of visitors, Lifescapes creations also produce additional income streams for their clients.

“Don and Lifescapes showed that landscape architecture can be an attraction that can power up the revenue at many businesses,” says Paul Steelman, CEO of Las Vegas-based Steelman Partners, who has worked closely with Lifescapes on numerous projects over the years.

Brinkerhoff’s substantial contributions and innovations in the gaming industry have been recognized by the American Gaming Association, which in 2016 inducted him into the AGA Hall of Fame—the first landscape designer ever so honored. The Hall of Fame honors achievements in gaming industry leadership and entertainment; investiture is the highest respect accorded by the gaming entertainment industry.

At his induction, Brinkerhoff recognized members of his senior executive team, who worked side by side with him for four decades, and for the last decade have been successfully leading the company.

The induction was a well-deserved accolade for Brinkerhoff and his late wife, Barbara, who started Lifescapes in their bedroom with one drafting table

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The Grove, Los Angeles

Harrah’s New Orleans

in the corner and four small children causing havoc throughout the house.

Don was the trained landscape architect. Barbara was equally creative with floral and planting design, as well as managing the business and the family.

Barbara quickly gained an international reputation for incorporating lush gardens with a cacophony of color and texture complementing Don’s design approach and philosophy.

Noted international real estate developer Rick Caruso stayed at Bellagio— which has another iconic garden destination designed by Lifescapes International—and was so captivated by the property’s Italianesque beauty that he tracked down Lifescapes and asked the team to design a “garden that happened to have retail in it.”

That project would become known as the Grove—one of the top retail properties in the country, winning coveted Project of the Year Awards from both ICSC and the Urban Land Institute. The Grove, which receives an average of 49,000 daily visitors (more than Disneyland), is well-known for its inviting ambiance and high-caliber retail offerings.

“Barbara was one of the greatest landscape artists with whom I ever had the pleasure of working,” Caruso says. “She brought an incredible amount of energy to the project, which was an essential component in creating the destination retail environment.”

Vegas Versions With its innovations and beautiful gardens, Lifescapes simply changed the realm of landscape architecture, says Leonard Bergman, president of BWA, a world-class architectural and interior design firm based in Las Vegas that has completed major projects for Caesars Palace, Hard Rock and Paris Las Vegas, among others.

“Lifescapes considers the human emotional response first, rather than what plants to select and place,” says Bergman. “They are one of the most creative design firms ever.”

Lifescapes’ credo is simple: “We create gardens people love.”

That’s an understatement. Lifescapes goes above and beyond the usual scope of the job, and is adamant about creating the best environment possible.

Bhavna M. Mistry, formerly affiliated with Caesars Entertainment Corp., recalls working with Brinkerhoff and Lifescapes when Harrah’s—now Caesars Entertainment—was building its first 27-story tower at the edge of New Orleans’ historical district.

“It was a street that we really wanted to be like no other in New Orleans,” she recalls. “I wanted it to become a destination street, where people felt like

they were transported to Europe.”

Brinkerhoff and the Lifescapes team knew that covering the street with asphalt wouldn’t deliver a correct sense of place. They recommended granite pavers instead—which were more expensive.

“Don and his team were right and Harrah’s understood Don’s thinking,” Mistry recalls. “In the end, Lifescapes created this wonderful European street with beautiful sidewalks and large, striking Japanese yews. The street is so beautiful that when there is a major sporting event in New Orleans, the television networks often use it as a background for broadcasting. It’s become a wedding destination, too. It shows you the power of good design—the extraordinary and the ordinary—which is why you hire someone like Lifescapes for these kinds of ideas. Putting in pavers was absolutely the right decision.”

Working hand-in-hand with clients like Caesars is a hallmark of Lifescapes’ approach.

“You need to listen attentively, work expeditiously, interact skillfully and present confidently,” says Andrew Kreft, Lifescapes’ director of design. “The active participation during the early concept phase is crucial to developing a collaborative relationship with the client, as well the rest of the design team.

It’s important to understand that everyone is integral and essential to the process. This consensus-based design approach allows for evolutionary growth from the original vision and helps us all to guide and articulate the design direction.”

Over the last three decades, Lifescapes has worked with major casino industry property owners and operators including Golden Nugget Resorts, the 2018 CASINO STYLE 15

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Tao Beach, Venetian Las Vegas

Pechanga

Paradise City

Genting Group, Mirage Resorts, Bally’s, Pinnacle Entertainment, Diamond Resorts International, Boyd Gaming, MGM Resorts International, Caesars Entertainment Corp., Las Vegas Sands Corp., Station Casinos and others.

Lifescapes also designed the iconic 4.5-mile Las Vegas Boulevard National Scenic Byway for Clark County, encouraging all property owners’ participation starting with the early concept phases. The investment in the Las Vegas Strip is seamless and well integrated, a benefit of involving all stakeholders from the beginning.

Golden Nugget Lake Charles

Building a Reputation Working in an international tourist destination like Las Vegas benefited Lifescapes in other ways. Visitors saw Lifescapes’ work in the city, and the firm soon began designing numerous luxuriant gardens for clients in the Far East and elsewhere. That resulted in Lifescapes working on large-scale hotels, residential communities and mixed-use projects in more than 20 cities in the People’s Republic of China. Most of the developments are similar to projects in Las Vegas; Lifescapes has become the go-to expert for designing gardens atop subterranean parking structures.

With the expansion of gaming in Macau, Las Vegas Sands Corp. hired Lifescapes International to provide landscape design services for the Venetian (the firm also worked on Sands’ Venetian and Palazzo properties in Las Vegas) and the Four Seasons Macau, with Wynn Resorts bringing the firm on to work on the Wynn Cotai Palace, and MGM asking Lifescapes to help with its property in Cotai.

Other work followed, including the Paradise City Integrated Resort and Casino in South Korea for Paradise Hotels/Sega Sammy Holdings. The development opened in May 2017.

Lifescapes International has worked with notable architectural firms including Bergman Walls & Associates, Cuningham Group, Delawie Architects & Planners, Friedmutter Group, Gensler, Klai Juba, KGA Architecture, Paul Steelman Partners, SOSH Architects and others.

The firm continues to innovate. Lifescapes was one of the first, if not the first, to see the added profit potential of expansive water activities, says Joe Emanuele, senior vice president of design and construction for Hard Rock International in Orlando, who was introduced to Lifescapes when he was working in Las Vegas for the Friedmutter Group.

“I collaborated with Don and his team on the Pool at Harrah’s in Atlantic City, which was a game-changer,” Emanuele recalls. “It was this beautiful dome and pool. Lifescapes created a striking environment that even today is quite amazing—a tropical environment indoors that can be enjoyed year-round.

Nothing like that had been created of that magnitude before. Lifescapes built a 16 CASINO STYLE 2018

model of the entire pool and dome. The project instantly became an amazing attraction for that property and for Atlantic City.”

Lifescapes also created iconic landscapes in Atlantic City for the Borgata, the Water Club, Harrah’s and Bally’s Wild Wild West.

“The inclement weather made it necessary to bring the outside in,” explains Roger Voettiner, senior executive and vice president of design for the firm. “We designed enclosed pools and a VIP club pool with exotic interior planting, which included the use of large tropical trees and palms procured from Florida. The concept of expanding the use of the pool area for other events during evening hours soon became a popular and profitable trend across the country.”

Building on those ideas, Lifescapes designed Tao Beach at the Venetian for Las Vegas Sands, Encore Beach Club (with Roger Thomas of Wynn Design and Development) at Encore and numerous other water activities at other casino resort properties including Downtown Las Vegas, Lake Charles and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, among others. These “party pools” continue to evolve, with many new water activities offered in such places as Station Casinos’ Palms.

At the same time, the firm continues working on new casino projects nationally and internationally, including Wilton Rancheria Elk Grove Resort near Sacramento, California, with Boyd Gaming, and several other Native American projects and casino resorts in the U.S. and overseas.

One of the reasons the firm has been successful around the world is its keen

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knowledge of quality plant materials, Center in New York City. Tishman was which is essential to creating unique landimpressed by Lifescapes’ floral settings at scape environments. Lifescapes works dilithe Bellagio’s Conservatory. gently with clients to understand their “The Channel Gardens feature six preferences as well as their exclusions—a historic pools—each with a large fountainkey factor in working on the $300 million head sculpture, designed by Rene Paul expansion of the Pechanga Resort & Chambellan,” says Dan Trust, ASLA and Casino in Temecula, California. senior executive and COO of Lifescapes.

“Pechanga wanted us to use a variety “This is our third year designing themed of oak trees on the project because they garden displays around (and sometimes are considered sacred, heritage trees to the covering) the granite pools and fountains Pechanga community,” says Julie Brinkerthat are changed out throughout the year. hoff-Jacobs, president and CFO of It’s the perfect canvas for our team to creLifescapes. “The acorns from oak trees ate exceptional settings to delight and surhave been essential sustenance for them prise guests. We are honored to be part of since early times in California. Pechanga this unique and challenging project in also wanted us to include a majority of New York City.” drought-tolerant, desert-sensitive plant Unlike at the Bellagio Conservatory, materials because it wanted the property when Lifescapes had two to three days to swap out the gardens, the time frame is to reflect its commitment to having at literally overnight at the Channel Gardens. least a 60 percent to 75 percent sustainable landscape palette.”

“When we change the gardens, we Lifescapes, in collaboration with have from 9 o’clock in the evening until 6 Delawie Architects and Planners, also creo’clock the following morning to take ated the casino’s 4.5-acre water complex, away the previous garden and reassemble which features a drought-tolerant roof the new one,” says Adam Kober, garden, five pools, four spas, a beachLifescapes principal and project designer. entry family pool with two water slides “It can be quite a puzzle. Precise timing is and a splash pad, and an outdoor cafe. crucial as we must temporarily shut down a lane of Fifth Avenue. We work closely “The main pool is 7,600 square feet and features a swim-up bar with 18 with Tishman Speyer’s garden crew to pull Channel Gardens at Rockefeller Center in New York City submerged stools,” says Alvaro Amador, it all off successfully.” senior principal/project designer at Lifescapes has been wildly successful Lifescapes. “There is also a ‘Baja ledge’ allowing guests a chance to wade in shallow over the past six decades by adhering to the basics. Lifescapes brought back the water or dangle their legs over the edge or relax in one of the ‘floating’ daybeds.” heart and soul of the community by providing “destinations within a destination”—an active gathering place that goes back to the Souk in Byzantine, the Garden Party Agora in Greece, and the Forum in Rome.

Through the years, Lifescapes has become synonymous with exquisite gardens.

The firm incorporates into their designs—with, of course, much newer The firm’s secret: it “reinvents” simplicity through the use of color, volumes and technology—a gathering place where the community interacts, something many depth, explains Davide Padoa, CEO of Design International, a London-based real estate developers feel has been neglected for far too long. architecture firm with offices worldwide.

“The key to creating successful outdoor landscape environments is making “Lifescapes works with these three aspects in mind, thereby creating a lot of them interactive, experiential and beautiful—not just a static vision, but a vibrant layers in the picture,” says Padoa. “You always have a feeling of being immersed place that welcomes you, energizes you and engages you,” emphasizes Brinkerinto deep spaces which are full of surprises—even if the area is very small. They hoff-Jacobs. “What’s unique about Lifescapes is that we know how to create a know how to apply it very well, and they are not afraid of using a lot of color, so beautiful space that draws people in to have a meaningful, long-lasting memthat transforms the project into a very natural, very mature environment. Once ory—one that’s being made at the moment people are experiencing it, and acfinished, it looks like it’s been there forever, but creatively curated at the same time. tively immersed within it.

“This is what I love about their designs. Lifescapes’ designs are eternal, “For us, it all started in Las Vegas with the Mirage. Luckily, some things really beautiful, never trendy and always authentic.” shouldn’t—and haven’t—just stayed in Las Vegas!”

Such authenticity was one of the reasons global real estate giant Tishman Speyer asked Lifescapes to work its magic on the Channel Gardens at Rockefeller Mike Sheridan is a freelance writer based in Richmond, Virginia.

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architecture • interiors • planning www.sosharch.com

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The Best Guest

Finding the true value of a customer means recognizing all he or she spends—by using the data that’s already there By Frank Legato

C

asino operators have long known their best customers. Casino industry hoteliers, not so much.

Marketing professionals in the slot department and, to a lesser extent, the pit, have relied on data for decades to determine who their most valuable customers are, what they like, and how to transform all that information into repeat business through comps.

It’s only been a relatively recent phenomenon that the hospitality side of the industry has sought a similar view of its customers. In an era that has seen hotel, dining, spas and other non-gaming amenities come to dominate revenues for the large Las Vegas Strip casino resorts, technology is catching up with the hotel side of the industry in the form of software and systems that mine data from every corner of a resort.

The result is a complete picture of where in a resort a given customer is spending money, and how much. It is information used to guide decisions on room pricing, marketing offers and, combined and integrated with the data from the casino loyalty clubs, to get the best return on marketing dollars.

Casino resorts were not run efficiently when there were separate systems for the hotel and casino, comments Marco Benvenuti, co-founder and chief marketing and strategy officer for Duetto, a software and consulting firm that supplies revenue enhancement solutions for combined casino resort operations. “Basically, you had two databases, one for casino players—which, by the way, got all the attention of the marketing resources—and another for non-casino customers,” says Benvenuti, who co-founded Duetto after creating a combined revenue management system at Wynn Resorts.

Traditionally, while there was a marketer in charge of interpreting data from non-gaming revenue streams, “it was a very disjointed effort,” says Benvenuti.

“For example, you would say, ‘We have a customer that always comes to this spot and spends all his money; let’s do this for them. It was very ad-hoc.”

At Wynn Resorts, Benvenuti spent just over a year as IT director before being named executive director of enterprise strategy, charged with creating an ecosystem for managing all revenue streams. “When I took over, I wanted to join both databases together into one database,” he recalls. “I said, ‘Look, the value of a dollar is the value of a dollar.’ So now, we can create all the assumptions we want on the profitability of these revenue streams.”

Benvenuti says he dedicated his company to a “more cultural effort” to 20 CASINO STYLE 2018

view data from all revenue streams. “We looked at the true enterprise lifetime profitability of each customer that we had in the database, regardless of whether they were on the casino side or on the non-casino side.”

Luke Pfeifer, director of product management for Agilysys, another hospitality solutions provider that works with the casino industry, followed a similar path from hospitality to gaming. Pfeifer says he joined Agilysys after using the supplier’s software suite during his years in hotel and resort management.

He says he was drawn to gaming because casino resorts face similar problems in managing data to what he experienced in resorts. “What I just found fascinating was how the non-gaming spend at casino resorts was becoming more of an important focal point,” he says. “I knew that would be something in which Agilysys would help lead the charge, working with products I already knew, working in an industry I already knew, but also being able to touch the casino market and casino industry.”

“The industry has recognized that a dollar in the bank is a dollar in the bank regardless of where on property it was spent,” agrees Dan Skodol, vice president of revenue analytics for the Rainmaker Group, another firm providing revenue management solutions to the casino resort industry. “As revenue from non-gaming attractions overtakes that of gaming, the concept of total guest value is more important than ever.

“Without a complete view of customer worth, important marketing and hotel yielding decisions quickly become suboptimal.”

Finding the Right Offers Solutions providers in revenue management all have one overriding principle: know your customer.

For Duetto, it’s through the GameChanger suite, with tools like the Find My Rate app, which draws on prior customer spend data to determine a rate that is right for the customer and the resort.

Casinos can leverage Duetto’s solutions to forecast demand for each of their segments and yield group and transient rooms at the right price with the right comp criteria and reinvestment rates.

Duetto’s GameChanger suite is a modern and finely tuned version of the type of combined system Benvenuti created at Wynn. “Back then, we created what they called Wynn Private Access, a kind of secret gear to the

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“A platform that is scalable doesn’t need to be the repository of all the data, but it needs to connect all the data in a fast, reliable, scalable, useable manner.”

Duetto GameChanger suite

—Marco Benvenuti, Co-founder and Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer, Duetto

loyalty program where you are flagged and considered a VIP,” he recalls. “You have a special number from the moment you make the reservation—a special concierge, special access to clubs, etc. It was possible because of the data they have.

“Many people who are part of this program today are not big gamblers.

They are big spenders, but they are not big gamblers.”

Benvenuti says he used what he learned at Wynn to start Duetto in 2012, and it was his “great luck” that cloud technology happened to be advancing rapidly at the same time. “A platform that is scalable doesn’t need to be the repository of all the data, but it needs to connect all the data in a fast, reliable, scalable, useable manner,” he explains. “The fact cloud technology made a lot of advancement in the past 10 years was the perfect storm. What we pay for storage now is a fraction of what you would pay for storage 20 years ago, but also, everything becomes scalable and succeeds because you’re able to use services like Amazon Web Services, which takes care of a lot of headache that previously, an IT department would need to struggle to take care of.

“We build on the Amazon Web Services, and from the beginning, our own goal has been to connect, piece by piece, with every source system. We started with hotel systems, and then we went into paper management, and CRM systems, the hotel reservation system, and external data sources, to become really this backbone of a platform that can massage the data and serve the data to applications, whether they’re our application or applications from a third party, in a scalable, reliable, easy manner, that can be then consumed for final decision.”

Benvenuti says advances like this have changed the face of casino resort marketing.

“If you look at casinos, direct marketing has always been what I call an asynchronous process,” he says. “You have meetings with all the different departments and say, ‘OK, we’re going to do this offer. These players are going to get a free room, those are going to get a rate of X, those a rate of Y.’ Then, you print and mail or, for the ones that are more advanced, send an email.

The customer receives a very static offer.”

Duetto’s technology allows the offer to be modified over time—the first email offering a $55 rate, for instance, can be followed up if not taken by a second message offering $45, or if conditions with room inventories change, a second follow-up offering a free room.

“When they use our technology, direct marketing changes, culturally,

because now you can dynamically deal those offers,” Benvenuti says.

He adds that the technology also is effective for non-gaming customers seeking a vacation in a gaming resort. A significant percentage of Las Vegas visitors find room rates through online travel agents (OTAs) such as Expedia or Hotels.com, he notes. “That is a lot of money that the casinos have to pay the OTAs, because they pay a very high commission. And the reason is they usually don’t have technology to immediately recognize the customer if they come to the website, especially the non-gamers, and give them special rate to undercut the OTAs and have them book right away.”

Benvenuti notes that Duetto client Affinity Gaming is using the system to do just that. “You can go to the Affinity website and sign up for the loyalty program online right away, and just by virtue of signing up for the loyalty program, even if you never stayed at one of their properties before, you can get a rate immediately that will actually be better than what you will find on Expedia.”

Holistic Approach For Agilysys, revenue management comes via the rGuest Analyze suite, which draws data using applications LMS and InfoGenesis to provide customizable dashboards to aid in marketing decisions.

Agilysys also has tools to add efficiency to restaurant management—rGuest Seat provides reservation, table management and wait-list management; rGuest Pay Gateway provides secure payment transaction processing. “rGuest Analyze is our analytic system that brings together the cross-property and cross-revenue-center information, to be able to give a holistic picture of the guest,” says Pfeifer. “We also have partners that provide similar value in bringing it all together in a dashboard, then turning that back into offers that are very targeted to the guests.”

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Agilysys Infogenesis

“If you hit the right target and the right price point on the up-sells, you are not only getting the revenue uplift; you have the improved experience for the guest—They’ll see it as a ‘wow’ experience.”

—Luke Pfeifer, Director of Product Management, Agilysys

Pfeifer says a revenue manager from the non-gaming side who is looking at the guest holistically will be able to pinpoint ways to increase spend across the resort. But it’s not only used to capture the “highest guest wallet share,” he adds.

In addition to benefiting the hotel, the guest receives targeted offers—value for the activities the data shows he or she loves.

“There are two aspects to this,” Pfeifer says. “The first one is a concentration on targeted up-sells: I’m checking in and have the option to have a suite for an extra $40 a night. That suite is perishable inventory that I wasn’t going to sell anyway; it was going to sit empty. Now, I’ve got another $40 out of it; I had a revenue uplift for the property by capturing that up-sell.

“And the guest is now thinking, ‘Wow—I just got a suite for an extra 40 bucks. What a great experience!’ If you hit the right target and the right price point on the up-sells, you are not only getting the revenue uplift; you have the improved experience for the guest—They’ll see it as a ‘wow’ experience.”

Pfeifer says the Agilysys suite communicates with the casino management system to bring gaming data into the mix that completes the holistic customer profile. “We do integrations with the major casino management systems, where we will provide non-gaming spend information,” he says. “So, all of that nongaming spend information—room, spa, point-of-sale, etc.—can actually be made part of the patron’s profile.

“And there are now many gaming establishments that are actually having players earn points off that spend. As opposed to just earning value off your spend on the gaming side, the industry is really starting to recognize that there is actually a lot of value around this non-gaming spend, and that we should be recognizing those patrons that may spend very heavily on the non-gaming side.”

Optimizing Room Rates For Rainmaker Group, data aids pricing in tools such as GuestREV, which instantly optimizes room rates according to a guest’s historical spend across a property.

GuestREV Mobile enables instant, anywhere-anytime access to full interaction with pricing functions and reports in real time via smartphone or tablet.

Rainmaker also offers GroupREV, a stand-alone pricing software solution designed to apply the same past data for group pricing.

“Rainmaker has long been positioned to capture spend data from multiple sources and apply the appropriate margins on different revenue streams,” says Skodol, “with a particular focus on ensuring that the most 22 CASINO STYLE 2018

profitable guests have access to scarce hotel inventory at any given time.

“The most common method for collecting non-gaming revenue is through folio charges in the PMS. Recognizing that not every guest elects to charge items back to their rooms, we have the means to capture non-gaming data from various other repositories on the hotel side, including loyalty databases. Once we pull data over into our systems, we combine all available gaming and non-gaming spend data to assess overall customer worth. We then apply a segmentation scheme that helps operators easily understand the value of a customer relative to others, and recommend what types of rates, offers and/or comps to extend to each segment at any given time.

“Customer loyalty is driven by ensuring that a property’s most valuable guests always have access to rooms. Even a less valuable guest will not be systematically shut out from rooms, as the system dynamically yields availability and will grant that guest access to a room at appropriate times.”

The boom in non-gaming amenities in the casino industry shows no signs of slowing down, even in regional casinos, which means the value of effective technology to capture and use the mountain of data will only grow.

“The amount of effort they’re putting into the non-gaming side is pretty astonishing,” says Benvenuti. “The things they’re doing to start capturing the non-gaming dollars is quite impressive.”

“The emergence of new regional gaming markets has made gaming ubiquitous, but even more of a commodity than it has been in the past,” notes Skodol. “I believe that where intra- and inter-market competition is most fierce is where non-gaming will continue to develop as a means of differentiation, for both properties and markets as a whole.”

He adds that having the complete picture of each guest’s preferences will increase the effectiveness of personalized service. “Understanding spending patterns unlocks the potential for personalizing future experiences for the guest, which further enhances guest loyalty and can help drive more direct bookings for the hotel,” Skodol says.

“I do think that the old notion of ‘if you build it, they will come’ is dead. Operators that understand how to best leverage product, technology, data and people in concert with one another will prove to be the most successful.”

Rainmaker’s GuestREV

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Fast, Fresh Trends in F&B Clean, creative foods are having more than a moment in the casino space.

E

very casino needs a steakhouse, an Italian restaurant, a buffet and a noodle bar. But diners are also hungry for ethnic foods, crazy mashups (mac-and-cheese pizza, Reuben calzones) and fast-casual restaurants, with their healthier take on the fast-food flip-and-fry.

So what’s cooking in casino F&B? We talked to the experts: Chef Neil Doherty, senior director of culinary development at Sysco; and Karla Perez, vice president of gaming.

Casino Style: Is the steakhouse still de rigueur in a casino? And what else is new?

Doherty: Steakhouse, Italian, Asian and

seafood are not going anywhere. They’re definitely still in the lineup. For one thing, some consumers aren’t comfortable cooking steak at home, so they enjoy getting a well-cooked steak from a steakhouse.

Karla Perez, Vice President of Gaming, Sysco

Perez: Put a fast-casual, local focus on house-made items, allowing the consumer to get back to the casino floor, but still having a fresh food experience. Of the traditional lineup, buffets are an expectation for baby boomers in a casino, but the traditional buffet should transform.

Does a casino’s “destination” setting, with many other attractions, support fast-casual over formal dining?

Perez: Variety, good food and good service create a true destination

environment. As a segment, fast-casual, with a fresh-food angle, is currently outgrowing full-service restaurants. Consumers are steering away from regular fast food but still have a strong desire for the convenience of a quick meal.

Produce-rich, upscale options with bold flavors and ethnic twists are appearing, and the fast-casual cantina style is especially popular with the millennial crowd. This restaurant concept will continue to evolve and is forecasted to keep growing in popularity through 2020.

The main appeal is interactive service with food prepared in front of you, which you get to customize. Fast-casual restaurants have more maturity than a fast food restaurant, without the formality of an upscale restaurant.

Chef Neil Doherty says U.S. restaurants, which once followed food trends, are now ahead of the pack

Perez: Veggie-centric food is the trend right now. Another is bringing global flavors to the table, from breakfast to dinner to desserts. I personally look for ethnic flavors and enjoy trying new and interesting dishes, such as Peruvian, street food and Latin. But the key is small-plate sharing, which enables good conversation and interaction.

What kinds of foods are on trend right now?

Doherty: Vegan, gluten-free, plant-based protein, ancient grains and

Speaking of trends—some fizzle fast, and some become traditions. What’s going to last?

Doherty: It’s hard to predict, but one trend is here to stay and will even

natural/clean menus. Food should not be one-dimensional. It’s variety, not only in the concepts, but in the food itself. With influences from the Food Network and the Travel Channel, we’re exposed to more flavors, foods and variety, which contributes to cool plays on mash-ups.

get stronger: fewer protein-laden menus and more of a European influence with American flavors.

American flavors have become a melting pot, combining the flavors of the world. In the past, we were following trends. Now, we establish them.

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Last September, comedian George Lopez opened his first F&B offering, Chingon Kitchen, at the San Manuel Casino in Southern California

Keeping It Real For his first restaurant, actor-comedian George Lopez chose San Manuel Indian Casino in Highland, California.

Casino Style: George, you could have opened a restaurant anywhere. Why did you choose a tribal casino, San Manuel, for your first F&B offering, Chingon Kitchen?

George Lopez: When I was working with

CS: Chingon Kitchen is a “build-yourown” place. Why did you set it up this way? And what’s your go-to menu choice there?

my partner Michael Zislis on developing the restaurant, he was working on an expansion plan at San Manuel with General Manager Loren Gill. Loren said he’d love San Manuel to have the first location.

In today’s world everybody wants custom food; I know I love my tacos with extra cilantro and habanero salsa. Customers enjoy making the final decisions to build their own personal masterpiece. I really love the Cabo stuffed potato with carne Asada.

CS: There’s a great line from the movie Selena: “Gringos love Mexican food.” But a lot of us don’t know from the real thing.

Is your menu authentic Mexican?

CS: What does Chingon mean? You’ve said “badass.” We’ve read everything from “awesomely cool” and “super-smart” to “somebody who likes to mess with people” (aka “badass”!).

No salsa from New York City here! Everything from the marinades to the tortillas is made from scratch. Using my grandmother’s and family recipes was key to our success. The best quality meats and cheeses truly make it authentic.

I really feel the word “chingon” means “the best.”

—Marjorie Preston 2018 CASINO STYLE 25

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MEETING Expectations Here’s why the MICE industry is a natural fit with casino resorts.

T

he Italian food industry holds two trade shows a year. The smaller Pizza & Pasta Northeast comes to Atlantic City in early October.

The larger International Pizza Expo takes place in Las Vegas in March.

The Las Vegas version, some 34 years old, attracts 14,000 people who want to learn the latest in purveying pizza and other Italian culinary specialties. The Atlantic City edition draws about 20 percent of that number, but is within an easy drive of a third of the Italian restaurant market in the U.S. The A.C. show also provides an industry option to those who can’t make it out to Las Vegas.

“They can come for a day or two and get an idea what’s going on the industry and still network,” says Bill Oakley, show director for both conventions.

Time to Make the Dough That the pizza industry puts its money into the nation’s twin gaming capitals speaks volumes about the importance of Las Vegas and Atlantic City to the convention community. It also speaks to the importance of the convention and meeting business to the overall market mix of each city.

Put another way, gaming resorts cannot live by the roll of the dice or the swirl of the slots alone.

“Meetings and conventions are an incredibly important part of our growth because of their economic impact on the destination,” says Jacqueline Peterson, chief communications officer for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

Peterson identifies three categories of professional gatherings: trade shows, conventions and meetings.

Pizza & Pasta Northeast came back to Atlantic City last year 28 CASINO STYLE 2018

By William Sokolic

“Trade shows are the massive industry shows that focus on exhibition booths. Conventions are large gatherings that may include a trade show floor but focus on meetings, education sessions and seminars and presentations by speakers or panels. Meetings are typically smaller corporate or industry gatherings with no trade show component.”

To Rummy Pandit, executive director of the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality & Tourism at Stockton University in New Jersey, all conventions are meetings, but not all meetings are conventions.

“In the context of a meeting facility or convention center, the use of the term ‘meeting’ versus ‘convention’ may suggest differences of scale—a single-day, single-session event compared to a multi-day, multi-session event.”

Any way you define it, Atlantic City and Las Vegas fit the pizza industry quite well. “With Atlantic City, there’s not much going on in the day,” says

“All meetings and conventions contribute to the overall economic activity of the city regardless of which property hosts them.”

—Rummy Pandit, Executive Director, Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality & Tourism at Stockton University

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The Las Vegas Convention Center in 2017 hosted 50 trade shows and conventions with 1.4 million attendees

“People coming to conventions fill hotels during midweek and tend to spend more on their rooms, food and beverage and entertainment than leisure guests.”

—David G. Schwartz, Director, UNLV Center for Gaming Research

Oakley. “That’s similar to Las Vegas, where the action happens after the show closes for the day.”

In Vegas in particular, conventioneers can not only enjoy dining, shows, hotels and gambling but pro hockey. And an NFL team is around the corner for fall get-togethers.

Pizza & Pasta Northeast tried Orlando, Chicago and New York, then went without a regional show after the economic downturn in 2008. It came back to Atlantic City last year.

The proliferation of options in Atlantic City—minus pro sports—helps account for the growth in the city’s convention and meeting trade. “They’re changing the model to attract trade show business,” Oakley says. For example, the 2017 show brought in 300 booths and 150 exhibitors; this year, the convention expects to draw close to 400 booths and 200 exhibitors.

Rooms to Grow Last year, the Atlantic City Convention Center hosted 99 events that generated 153,463 room nights and $214.9 million in spending. Individual hotels held another 146 meetings, generating 113,922 room nights and spending of $88.8 million.

The number of events rose 4 percent over 2016, while room nights jumped 3 percent and spending 6 percent. And every $1 invested in luxury tax revenue returned $48 to the economy. Annual stalwarts such as the New Jersey League of Municipalities, the Pool and Spa show and the New Jersey Education Association confab led the way.

More meeting space in the city along with redevelopment and investment and a variety of new venues, restaurants and attractions stoked the gains, says Jim Wood, president and CEO of Meet AC, the organization responsible for selling the city. Now, the new Hard Rock Hotel & Casino and Ocean Resort will add even more meeting space and hotel rooms to the mix.

“The meeting and convention business is growing at a national level, and destinations across the country are looking to capitalize on the growth of these year-round, non-weather-dependent revenue streams,” Pandit says. “In recent years, several properties in Atlantic City have made investments in improving and expanding their meeting facilities. The increased availability has in turn been able to accommodate a higher volume of business.”

The marketing people at Meet AC have a plan in place to help its sales team with leads using a virtual-reality experience, monthly video podcasts and advertisements in top trade publications, Wood says. “Our sales team also brings in planners for different tours to showcase everything the destination has to offer.”

During the last four years, the city has doubled future booking space, converting 34 percent of meeting and convention sales leads. Future room nights booked by Meet AC expect to attract 883,993 people who will spend $349 million.

The rise in meetings has additional impacts, Pandit says: attracting visitors who may not have otherwise traveled to Atlantic City; guaranteed revenue streams for future bookings; and creating more year-round business.

Viva Las Vegas Out west, Las Vegas has been the top trade show destination in North America for the past 24 years, Peterson says.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority hosts approximately 22,000 meetings, conventions and trade shows annually, with an attendance of 6.6 million, utilizing more than 11.5 million square feet of meeting space and choosing among nearly 150,000 hotel rooms.

Meetings and conventions support approximately 65,000 local jobs with a $9.8 billion economic impact. Las Vegas saw record convention attendance in 2017. The strong schedule during the year included the triennial ConExpoCon/Agg construction trade show in March, and record-breaking attendance for shows such as the Consumer Electronics Show and IMEX America, the incentive travel, meetings and events exhibition at the Venetian and the Palazzo Las Vegas.

Leisure tourism is susceptible to a number of factors that may slow the pace of visitation, but the continuing growth in convention numbers shows how robust the business travel segment is for Las Vegas, says David G. Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

“Group travel is important because people coming to conventions fill hotels during midweek and tend to spend more on their rooms, food and beverage and entertainment than leisure guests,” he says.

Peterson says Las Vegas offers some impressive stats as a selling point. For one, convention attendance increases 8 percent when shows are relocated to Las Vegas. “Research also shows that attendees spend more time in meetings and on 2018 CASINO STYLE 29

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Harrah’s Atlantic City Waterfront Conference Center

Golden Nugget Biloxi convention space

the trade show floor when programs are held in Las Vegas, because they know this is a 24-hour town and they don’t have to rush off the floor to go to dinner or enjoy our world-class entertainment,” she says.

The Las Vegas Convention Center in 2017 hosted 50 trade shows and conventions with 1.4 million attendees.

The Franchise Times Corp. has held meetings in Las Vegas for more than 15 years, hosting a conference in spring for 400 and a larger one in the fall for 2,800.

“Attendees still like to go to Vegas, and it helps turnout,” says conference director Gayle Strawn, confirming Peterson’s research. Also, the meeting space, the restaurants and the ease of flying in and out make the city a perennial favorite.

Cross-Country Marketing Along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, the convention business remains primarily regional. “But we’re seeing more and more national attendance and national interest with the increase of air service,” says Anna Roy, media relations manager for Visit Mississippi Gulf Coast. “There is an incredible amount to do, see and experience here, from kayaking, boating, fishing and hiking to museums and championship golf courses.”

The Mississippi Coast Coliseum and Convention Center offers over 400,000 square feet of state-of-the-art meeting space and can comfortably house groups of up to 6,000 people.

While convention centers offer the largest space in gaming resorts, individual hotels host their share of meetings. “Meeting planners enjoy the added on-site benefits that casinos bring to the destination, such as dining, live entertainment and spas,” Roy says.

The Venetian and the Palazzo Las Vegas and Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City have their own conference centers. Like hotels, consider them one-stop shops that provide meeting-goers everything under a single roof: meeting space, hotel suites, restaurants, shopping and other amenities.

The Sands Expo and Congress Center at the Venetian and the Palazzo Las Vegas offer services, space and more than 7,000 suites, says Chandra Allison, senior vice president of sales for the properties.

“From the very beginning, the Venetian and the Palazzo Las Vegas attached to the Expo Center was conceived as a meetings-focused master plan. We were designed with the intention to appeal to the business customer. In the end, the networking opportunities are better in a facility where attendees are in one place. Also, logistically it’s much easier for planners and professionals.”

The expo center can host conventions from 10 people to 50,000 and also contribute rooms to CES and other larger trade shows, Allison says.

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T HEWI SHI NGCRYST AL SATT HEGALAXYMACAU

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Borgata’s Central Conference Center

On the Waterfront In 2015, Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City opened the Waterfront Conference Center, the largest hotel conference complex from Baltimore to Boston. The facility offers two 50,000-square-foot flexible ballrooms in addition to 25,000 square feet of existing space at Harrah’s. Since its opening, the center has become a corporate meetings destination. and its sister Water Club serve meetings of all sizes, from “A customer can have a group of 5,000 attendees and small conferences to larger trade shows and conventions. eat, sleep and meet in one location,” says Kevin Ortzman, Borgata continues to reinvest in the property to meet the regional president of Atlantic City for Caesars Entertaindemand, says Brian Brennan, the casino resort’s senior ment. “The financial results have exceeded all expectations. public relations manager. “Understanding the importance We’ve had several large Fortune 500 companies that have of the meetings, conferences and exhibitions market, been full-facility customers and have booked repeat Borgata invests heavily into both the property’s gaming business.” and non-gaming elements. On an ongoing basis, guests Ortzman views the conference center as a complement will experience new and upgraded meetings and events —Jim Wood, president to the Atlantic City Convention Center. “The customers spaces, restaurants, nightlife venues and more.” and CEO, Meet AC who are looking for meeting space at a hotel have different The recent launch of Borgata’s Central Conference needs than those who need a large trade show convention Center allows the hotel to accommodate more trade shows center,” he says. “Our customers find it important to have and business expos, he says. first-class guest rooms in the same space as their meeting.”

The one constant—in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Mississippi and elsewhere—is As for extracurricular activities, Harrah’s offers meeting-goers the Pool After that gaming is not the draw. Casinos “add a bit of incidental fun to a convenDark, which can be used as a partial or full buy-out; the Red Door Spa; and the tion,” Allison says. “However, we find that most attendees are here for business Viking Cooking School, hailed as a unique team-building activity. first and foremost, and gaming is not the driver.”

Harrah’s is hooked into the rest of Caesars Entertainment properties, where Says Wood, “Planners focus on content and education. Gaming is just one a team of more than 130 sales people around the country sell to convention and built-in amenity, just one form of entertainment.” meeting planners.

Ortzman adds that conventioneers are more interested in the quality of the “The sales team offers our entire portfolio of hotels,” says Michael product and the service as well as the food and beverage offering.

Massari, chief sales officer for Caesars Entertainment. “For example, when a sales manager is working with a customer who has conferences in Las Vegas, our sales people automatically offer Atlantic City for any upcoming East Coast The rosy picture doesn’t gloss over thorny issues. Oakley says March is a great meetings.” time of the year in Las Vegas, but hotel availability is strained. Occupancy the Caesars Entertainment offers customers the benefit of the Diamond Card, week of the pizza show is 98 percent citywide, and attendees booking at the last offering their VIPs priority service at restaurants and the business center, for minute find rates go up. example. “We remain flexible, as a customer only works with one sales manager “That’s a little problematic,” Oakley says. Still, the price points work in both and signs only one contract, with one food and beverage minimum,” Massari Las Vegas and Atlantic City. says.

Going forward, Atlantic City still has a selling job to do on meeting planners like Strawn, who says the St. Anthony, Minnesota-based organization never considered Atlantic City because it’s too gaming-centric.

While Harrah’s hosts one of the larger meeting venues, it’s still only a quarter of Casino resort destinations can’t rest on their laurels. Harrah’s and Borgata are the Convention Center’s 595,700 square feet. Still, the conference center and examples of properties that plowed money back into their properties to lure the convention center do compete with each other. meeting planners.

“All meetings and conventions contribute to the overall economic activity of “We continue to invest in the industry to maintain our position and our city’s the city regardless of which property hosts them,” Pandit says. “However, while economic future,” Peterson says. “Currently, approximately 3 million square feet the Convention Center might draw on neighboring food and beverage and of additional meetings and convention space is in development in Las Vegas, inlodging businesses to serve attendees, casino resort hotels already house those cluding the Phase Two expansion of the Las Vegas Convention Center District.” services, therefore capturing more of the visitor ‘spend’ related to the event.”

Says Oakley, “We would not have our expo anywhere else. And we expect the Individual hotels like the 2,800 rooms at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa Pizza & Pasta Northeast to stay in Atlantic City.”

“Planners focus on content and education.

Gaming is just one built-in amenity, just one form of entertainment.”

Putting out the Welcome Mat

Sharing the Wealth

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PURCHASING

The Power of Third-Party Purchasing To manage the 1,001 details of FF&E purchasing and project execution, rely on the specialists.

By Carl Long

T

he gaming industry delivers excitement and entertainment on a grand scale. But the development of new venues and amenities can expose gaming companies to great risk if the Funiture, Fixtures and Equipment (FF&E) project is not well-executed, delivered on time and under budget. Each FF&E project requires real purchasing power for proper project execution.

FF&E project procurement is more than just buying and issuing purchase orders. It’s the choreographed execution of thousands of transactions from sources around the world within a limited time and budget to fulfill the unique vision of a gaming facility. The success or failure of an FF&E project is in the management of the details. There are few disciplines that require greater attention to planning and detail than FF&E project procurement.

Navigating project constraints of budget and time requires specific skills, great attention to detail, creative problem-solving and deep product knowledge. That’s project purchasing management, which is essential for the successful execution of an FF&E project.

In the gaming industry, it’s not always necessary or advisable for owners to maintain a staff of project purchasing agents. Project procurement expertise is available from largevolume, qualified third-party companies that give owners the purchasing power they may not have in-house.

In the planning of a new construction project or renovation, gaming companies should exercise their purchasing power early in the project development process. This means utilizing conceptual budgeting

expertise, production lead-time knowledge and worldwide sourcing skills, bringing trained expediting and project purchasing experts into the pre-planning phase with the entire project team.

Line-item conceptual budgeting early in a project increases the efficiency of the designers’ efforts by giving them specific pricing targets. A conceptual budget includes quantities and unit prices based on a quality level for FF&E in rooms, corridors and public areas, even though final designs are not complete. Conceptual budgeting also helps define what is included in FF&E and who is responsible for buying and installing each item.

“FF&E project procurement is the choreographed execution of thousands of transactions to fulfill the unique vision of a gaming facility.”

Any qualified procurement agent should be able to provide this type of budget, including estimates for freight, warehousing, installation, overages, attic stock and sales taxes. Finally, a detailed conceptual budget gives owners a more precise target number for lenders and capital approvals.

Purchasing power also means project execution through expediting. Expediting is likely the most important ingredient on an FF&E project.

Project expeditors track and obtain design approvals and monitor every piece of FF&E from the factory to its final location. When the FF&E starts to move, it’s a make-or-break moment that can keep the contractor on its critical path and keep the project moving effectively toward a successful completion. Without a robust system of checks and balances, project expediting becomes little more than shuffling paper. Trained project purchasing expeditors contribute to the purchasing power of the project team.

Gaming companies can leverage the inherent large purchasing volume of their projects and the volume from their thirdparty procurement agent to enhance the overall purchasing power for their projects. Make sure to take advantage of conceptual budgeting, preplanning scheduling, worldwide sourcing, project management and expediting to get the most purchasing power for your projects.

Carl Long is senior vice president of Purchasing Management International, the gaming industry’s leading FF&E and OS&E procurement company. He is also president of the International Society of Hospitality Purchasers and regularly speaks on topics related to global sourcing and procurement.

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Super

Amenities

How companies are using a new class of non-gaming attractions to distinguish their properties

Poarch Band of Creek Indians’ $246 million expansion at its Wetumpka, Alabama property includes a 360-degree aquarium at the facility’s center bar

By Michael Vanaskie

U

nless you missed the headlines of the past several years about announced and completed development projects, it’s no surprise that non-gaming amenities are the focus of capital spend for existing gaming facilities. These non-gaming projects continue to get bolder, and (in some cases) bigger and better.

Whether it’s through sheer development size or diverse and dramatic elements, non-gaming amenities have evolved into something more than just a necessary evil and financial loss center for gaming resorts. Super amenities have arrived, and they’re here to stay.

In December 2015, the Poarch Band of Creek Indians opened a $246 million expansion at its Wetumpka, Alabama property that includes an iconic 360-degree aquarium at the facility’s center bar. In October 2017, Wynn Resorts announced its plan for Paradise Park—a dramatic lagoon and outdoor park area with a milelong boardwalk. In February 2018, Las Vegas Sands and the Madison Square Garden Co. announced plans to build the MSG Sphere—a 360-foot-tall, 500foot-wide arena. In March 2018, the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians officially unveiled its $300 million expansion that includes a 4.5-acre pool complex, a twolevel luxury spa, and the 40,000-square-foot Pechanga Summit.

While some of the first diversified gaming experiences relied on relatively “standard” amenities such as traditional food and beverage outlets and box-style meeting space, gaming properties can no longer rely on cookie-cutter non-gaming amenities.

“At first, it was inexpensive food, hotel rooms and entertainment,” explains Rich Emery, president of Thalden Boyd Emery (TBE) Architects.

“Later, a wide variety of amenities appeared to seduce new customers and keep older ones.”

Now, both destination and regional gaming facilities are expanding their non-gaming offering to include unique amenities such as Topgolf, social bowling experiences and indoor water parks, among others. Properties considering any nongaming expansion must now focus their development on differentiated offerings more than ever.

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The Non-Gaming Gold Standard The chart below illustrates a fact that’s not new in the gaming world—Las Vegas is the gold standard when it comes to non-gaming amenities and, perhaps, the global standard for the entertainment industry in general.

Non-gaming revenue as a percent of total Strip revenue reached an alltime high in 2017 at 66 percent of total revenue. This comes as Strip properties continue to jockey for a larger share of the seemingly ever-increasing flow of visitors to the destination—visitors who are seeking a one-of-a-kind experience that often involves minimal time spent on the gaming floor, if any.

From eSports arenas to social bowling venues, Las Vegas integrated resorts continue to reinvent themselves from a non-gaming perspective. Recognizing the revenue split of non-gaming to gaming, the focus on non-gaming innovation is justified.

In terms of absolute floor space, gaming floors undoubtedly continue to shrink as a percentage of total floor space within integrated resorts, from already miniscule levels—frequently less than 5 percent of total gross floor area.

Throughout its history, Vegas has transformed itself from the epicenter of

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Luxor’s recently opened eSports Arena Las Vegas is one of the latest eSportsonly developments on the Strip. The 30,000-square-foot arena represents one of the many new faces of non-gaming for integrated resorts. gaming to the epicenter of entertainment. Is its transformation a sign of things to come for gaming markets throughout the rest of the U.S.?

Recognizing that gaming revenue will be the main driver for the top lines of regional properties for the foreseeable future, how then can these properties learn from the Vegas bellwethers and other regional players?

Insights from Recent Developments Examining the completed and announced non-gaming amenity developments over the past several years from forward-looking developers and operators reveals key considerations for future non-gaming development.

Growth opportunities lie with new customer segments.

From eSports arenas to arcades to diverse pool concepts, integrated resorts are increasingly looking to draw customers from outside the baby boomer demographic. They’re doing so with novel amenity concepts.

The rise of eSports-oriented amenities is a clear trend targeting the muchdiscussed and elusive (to gaming floors) millennial customer segment. This bet on eSports appears to be warranted. A 2017 study completed by Limelight Networks found that 22 percent of American millennials polled say they regularly watch competitive gaming, and that males between the ages of 18 and 25 in the U.S. say they prefer eSports over traditional sports.

Luxor’s recently opened eSports Arena Las Vegas is one of the latest eSportsonly developments on the Strip. The 30,000-square-foot arena represents one of the many new faces of non-gaming for integrated resorts.

Las Vegas represents perhaps one of the best environments for eSports, as the city welcomes more than 40 million visitors per year. Without a major tourist base like this one, it remains to be seen whether significant eSports amenities can be successful at regional gaming properties outside of millennial-dense urban centers or travel destinations.

No matter the location, many gaming properties need to focus on customer segments outside the core gamer to thrive. Providing an atmosphere that pleases a diverse set of patrons is key to expand a property’s customer base.

While the millennial customer segment may not be available as a target customer for regional gaming properties, one demographic group available to

many gaming properties is the family.

Throughout the U.S., more and more gaming properties are introducing one-stop, family-oriented entertainment destinations.

A non-gaming element that is increasingly common at regional gaming resorts is the movie theater. “We have recommended and built movie theaters in several casino properties. They have been very financially successful,” says Emery. “It not only draws new customers to the casino to be more familiar with the property, but is also a place to drop the kids off for a couple of hours while Mom and Dad are focused on slot machines.”

Some operators are rethinking conventional gaming resort amenities to attract a diverse group of customers. An example of this is the pool. The pool amenity is often built to capture one of two seemingly opposite customer segments: the younger patron in search of fun and entertainment, and the older patron visiting the resort, perhaps with family, in search of rest and relaxation.

To capture one of these two segments, many properties have historically created an atmosphere that caters to only one—a pool-party atmosphere to capture the younger demographic, or a spa-style pool to capture the older demographic.

More recently, however, properties are creating pool areas that offer value to a diverse set of patrons. One such example is the Cove, a 4.5-acre pool area that was part of Pechanga’s recently completed $300 million expansion project.

“Pechanga has done an incredible pool area where they’re trying to retain families and party pool millennial guests as well as guests that want to watch the party pool but not participate,” says Julie Brinkerhoff-Jacobs, president and CFO of Lifescapes International. “(The Cove) has multiple, segmented areas that cater to each of these guest segments.”

There’s an important caveat to consider as properties expand their customer base with non-gaming amenities, especially through the targeting of families: Don’t forget your core customer. Experts stress that creating an overall theme for a casino resort that strays too far from the core gaming customer can be a fatal flaw.

“Children-oriented amenities can work in certain markets and attract family customer segments,” explains Emery. “It’s important to not design the facility around them, though. The goal is to accommodate (children), not cater to them.”

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“Our recommendation has always been to build the amenities with the greatest return on investment first.

Then you can afford to build the other things that may be desired but are less profitable.”

—Rich Emery, President, Thalden Boyd Emery (TBE) Architects Regional properties must give outer-market visitors a compelling reason to visit.

When targeting customers from outer markets, it’s imperative for regional and local gaming properties to offer a compelling reason to visit. As many of these properties compete with metropolitan areas that can provide a diverse set of leisure and entertainment offerings, gaming properties must provide something more than a steakhouse and mediocre entertainment to entice outer-market visitors to make the one- to two-hour drive to their properties.

“Many of our clients are proximate to metropolitan areas but they’re not in the metropolitan areas,” says William “Dike” Bacon, principal of HBG Design.

“Their opportunity and challenge is to create interest and desire for sophisticated customers from metropolitan areas to drive to their facilities.”

Continuing to innovate and positioning themselves as one-stop shops for entertainment is crucial for regional casino properties to capture and retain outermarket visitors. For gaming customers, “the key phrase is ‘stay and play,’” says Emery. “More amenities means more to do and more reason for outer customers to make a visit.”

From an entertainment perspective, attracting and securing a diverse set of entertainers (and at the right cost) can be a major differentiating factor for regional gaming properties, even if they’re competing with urban centers. After all, there are few city-center destinations that can offer dinner from a high-quality restaurant, a show from a well-known entertainer, a potential nightcap on the gaming floor, and a hotel to spend the night in, all under one roof.

Not only can regional casino resorts offer a diverse set of amenities to patrons, they can also offer them to potential entertainers. According to experts, this is a negotiating tool that many regional gaming operations often overlook.

“Regional casinos very often won’t have the budget to compete with urban venues, but they have the amenities to compete,” says Clinton Billups, a veteran professional manager in the entertainment industry. “Casinos can offer premium ground transportation, food and beverage, and luxury accommodations among other amenities that venues like performing arts centers, universities and municipal arenas can’t compete with.”

Super amenities come in all shapes and sizes.

Don’t let the term “super amenity” fool you. Super amenities don’t have to be super in size, though they often are—particularly in Las Vegas. Perhaps the largest non-gaming amenity to be recently announced is the Paradise Park project under construction by Wynn Resorts in Las Vegas. The project will replace the 130-acre golf course to the east of the company’s existing hotel towers with a lagoon that is expected to be roughly three times the size of Bellagio’s lake. The plans include a boardwalk and beach as well as a hotel tower with up to 3,000 rooms. Projects like Paradise Park and the MSG Sphere will certainly drive more non-gaming visitors to Las Vegas for years to come.

Moving away from the Strip, regional gaming properties reveal that nongaming amenities don’t have to be massive to be super. The Pala Casino Spa & Resort in North San Diego County introduced a wine cave in recent years. This is a fitting additional non-gaming amenity, as the greater area seeks to position itself as a “wine country” destination similar to Northern California.

The new Ocean Resort Casino in Atlantic City seeks to capitalize on the growing popularity of Topgolf without the space required for a full-scale Topgolf range. The resort will offer the world’s largest Topgolf Swing Suite, which will in36 CASINO STYLE 2018

clude 11 golf-simulator bays. At less than 30,000 square feet, the amenity is large, but significantly smaller in scale compared a full-fledged Topgolf range.

Elsewhere, there has been a trend of introducing “food hall” food and beverage concepts at regional gaming properties. From an operator’s perspective, these offer an attractive speed of service, allowing gamers to return to the casino floor quickly, and a similar footprint to quick-service food courts. From a patron’s perspective, these concepts offer a diverse set of higher-quality food offerings— from wood-fired pizza to specialty ethnic cuisine to specialty cocktails.

“Food courts have generally always offered the same things,” notes Emery.

“The food halls are getting past that and getting to much higher-quality food and unique items that the casino customer isn’t used to.”

Are Super Amenities Super Investments?

Super amenities may draw press coverage and attract a new type of customer to gaming properties, but are they financially viable? And, perhaps more importantly, does it matter if they represent financially attractive investments on paper?

It is true that these so-called super amenities may not be for every property.

“TBE’s research suggests that building a parking garage shows the highest return on investment for gaming properties,” Emery says. “Our recommendation has always been to build the amenities with the greatest return on investment first.

Then you can afford to build the other things that may be desired but are less profitable.”

While a successfully operated hotel project at a casino resort, for example, will generally have a cash-on-cash return of three to five years, it may take developers of some of the more atypical super amenities longer to recoup their investments.

However, anecdotal evidence suggests that some resort elements in this new class of amenities, such as movie theaters and tech-infused golf ranges (with capital costs ranging from roughly $10 million to $50 million, respectively), provide very strong financial returns.

Given the small sample sizes, it remains to be seen whether the success will translate from market to market. For regional and local properties that have all of the “necessary” amenities, such as a parking garage and hotel, how can they financially rationalize investing in a super amenity?

“It is a rigorous financial debate,” says Bacon. “Oftentimes it’s almost impossible to completely quantify the ROI on something that is a statement, is memorable, and creates an iconic definition for a facility that is used in multitudes of ways to inform its brand.”

For an industry on a never-ending quest to maximize financial efficiencies, that may not be the ideal answer. However, for facilities that have the financial ability to explore and create these super amenities, it may be worth it—whether it pencils out financially or not.

Commenting on one of the first super amenities, the Fountains at the Bellagio, Bacon says, “Those fountains have been running for years and years, and the sidewalk is still packed when they come on. Something like these fountains can become an iconic element that defines the notion of what a resort’s experience is.”

Michael Vanaskie is director, operations planning for The Innovation Group. Based in the company’s Denver office, Vanaskie’s work covers an array of scopes, clients and geographies. Having worked with both domestic and international clients, he maintains a focus on the Asian-Pacific markets.

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Sit + Stay = PLAY L

et’s start with a quiz. The term “ergonomics” refers to:

a. A people-friendly science that makes tools, furnishings, vehicles and the like more user-friendly.

b. A sneaky form of “human engineering” that boosts productivity by keeping laborers longer on the treadmill, grindstone or latter-day equivalent.

These designer chairs ensure that your patrons will sit pretty—and sit longer—at the slots, tables, casino bars and more.

By Marjorie Preston

Ed Abadie, head designer and “chair guru” for Reno, Nevadabased seating manufacturer Gary Platt Manufacturing, says both definitions are true—up to a point.

“It used to be when you sat in a chair, all it had to do was keep you off the ground,” says Abadie, who sold commercial seating and case goods for 15 years before joining Gary Platt. “Then they realized that in order for you to stay at your desk rather than walking to the water cooler, the chair had to be more comfortable.”

And so the comfy chairs once reserved for the penthouse trickled down to the typing pool, and theoretically made all those worker bees work harder (or at least longer).

This simple equation is as important in the casino as in the cubicle. By helping to keep players at the slots or tables, ergonomically designed chairs show that top-line seating is crucial to bottom-line revenue.

Elements of Style Subject to use 24/7/365, and accommodating customers of all sizes, weights, girths and fidget levels, casino chairs arguably must be more durable than other commercial seating. They must be adjustable and responsive, yet stable and supportive. Of course they should be comfortable—not just for a couple of minutes, but for the couple of hours it may take a gambler to dispose of his disposable income.

“When you sit in it, does it really ‘follow’ you and support you at your 38 CASINO STYLE 2018

Gary Platt’s Lugano and Sonoma chairs, available in a variety of fabrics and base styles, guarantee stylish comfort for the life of the game

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Patir Casino Seating offers unsurpassed ease and elegance for VIP clients

task?” asks Abadie. “Are your arms at the right level? Is your lumbar at the right spot when you lean forward?” If not, your body will signal that it’s time to move on.

The chair must look as great as it feels, and in the casino world that usually means a variation of the midcentury modern style that’s been ubiquitous for years. That design aesthetic, interestingly—the angular, Eames-inspired look or stripped-down Bauhaus style—often doesn’t look very comfortable at first glance.

“When people sit in an aesthetically pleasing chair,” as Abadie notes, “the last thing that they expect is comfort.”

That’s when you’d better surprise them.

Sizing up the Market Casino chairs are mass-produced—in batches, based on client oratory “crash testing” to ensure durability, strength and safety. Patir chairs, for specs—but one size doesn’t fit all, says Jim Keranen, vice president of sales example, are subject to up to 200,000 simulated hand strikes to assess how the and marketing for Patir Casino Seating. fabrics, vinyls, leather and other coverings stand up under constant use, says The company, which originated in Europe and opened its U.S. headquarKeranen. By contrast, other commercial chairs may endure less than half that, ters in 2016, is unusual in that it does everything from design to manufacture and household chairs get off easy (as few as 10,000 strikes). internally, says CEO Dennys Patir. “We work closely with interior designers StylGame’s Iulita says his company measures “resistance to stress levels that and build up the chair from the ground. All our products are manufactured go far beyond the ones required by the standard certifications, frequently overin-house, which allows us to completely custom-make chairs, according to coming them by more than 200 percent.” your design specifications, working with all kinds of material—aluminum, steel, wood, etc.”

The Look of Luck In appreciation of a broader clientele—no pun intended—the firm Operators have traditionally preferred simpler fabrics for chair seats and backrecently debuted a new line of chairs for the American market at the Indian rests, and something snazzier for chair backs (including company branding), Gaming Tradeshow and Convention in Las Vegas. because it’s more visible across the gaming floor. Even It’s a timely idea. Americans tend to be a bit in the simplest, most austere chairs, fine details such more zaftig than their European and Asian as contrasting double-stitching can add a look of counterparts. They require a roomier sit. For the richness and luster. new line, Patir “spent a significant amount of time Speaking of shifting consumer likes, some fabrics testing and refining, working closely with casinos are actually considered cooler than others. Mesh to really fine-tune the design to American player backs, for instance, are more appealing to that coveted preferences,” says Keranen. (but as yet, coyly elusive) customer, the millennial.

Those preferences change from sea to shining Mesh is desirable for several reasons, says Abadie. sea. “For instance, the East Coast in the United “It allows a lot of give in your back; you have a States is a little different from the West Coast,” lumbar that’s adjustable, so you can find your most says Keranen. “They prefer wider chairs, especially comfortable position. It also allows a lot of air circuladown in Florida, where the retirees are.” Traditiontion, for a comfortable temperature for your guests. ally, middle-aged women—the Bingo Marys so “I understand that the primary casino customer is beloved of casino operators—prefer a seat made of a 58-year-old gal who enjoys the solitude of slot playspringier foams, covered with softer fabrics. ing,” he says. “But we’re creating a chair that’s more StylGame, with offices in Italy and Las Vegas, —Ed Abadie, head designer, current, and casinos are starting to catch on.” produces chairs for casinos in 70 countries. It bases Gary Platt Manufacturing Mesh-backed chairs are also a snap to replace in its seating dimensions on “the average values of case of cigarette burns, wine spills or the other weight and height of the people where they will be defamations that can happen in a casino; often a used,” says CEO Luigi Iulita. “This approach aldamaged back can be screwed off and a new one lows us to obtain outstanding results in terms of playing comfort, which installed without a chair ever leaving the floor. directly and positively affects the revenue of the rooms.”

Iconic designer Charles Eames, creator with wife Ray Eames of those faThere are differentials beyond size. In Europe, Keranen notes, functionalmous minimalist chairs of the 1950s, once said the role of a furniture craftsman ity is more important to operators, while in the U.S., comfort is No. 1. is that of “a very good, thoughtful host anticipating the needs of his guests.”

“Think of European beer halls. People are getting up and down more The same is true for casino operators who want their guests—the players— frequently, so it’s less about how much time they are in the chair. Now think to spend more time and money on property. of U.S. gamblers, who will sometimes be at the same slot machine for hours.”

“That’s the secret,” says Keranan. “It’s what will make my customer happier.”

As the most utilized furniture in a casino, chairs undergo a version of lab-

“When you sit down, does the chair ‘follow’ and support you at your task? Are your arms at the right level? Is your lumbar at the right spot?”

2018 CASINO STYLE 39

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The Robo-Drink: Bartender’s Friendor Foe? Bar technology advances make it easier for operators to turn a profit—and could mean a bonanza for bar staff. By Dave Bontempo

“H

ey, bartender” has become a loaded phrase, on a worldwide scale.

For most, it still denotes an employee scrambling to fill drink requests over the din of a noisy establishment. But today, it also means a sophisticated robot pouring precise, pre-programmed beverages. The phrase may also describe a hybrid: the human bartender aided by a mechanized device. Welcome to another world.

Bars now use apps, tablets, downloads, credit-card swipers and other interactive components, not merely at taverns but inside an increasing number of gaming facilities. And they’re fast.

The high-energy bar business meets the casino world at the crossroads of bottom line and bottoms up. As casinos break the player-tracking world down to small details, they join an industry with accounting holes bigger than the Grand Canyon.

The bar business by definition has long been vulnerable to waste. It faces dilemmas like an estimated 20 percent cost for not being fully stocked, and the loss of thousands of dollars for spillage, over-pours and giveaways. Cash can also be loosely transported, bundled with food revenue and not always reconciled with daily sales totals.

There’s also pressure. Drinks are poured hurriedly, often to crowds who feel the need to shout for a bartender’s attention. Try recalling multiple ingredients for hundreds of drinks at the snap of one’s fingers amid loud music, fast-paced orders and the pulse of excitement.

The perception that a bar makes money faster than it can be counted is only true if waste is eliminated. Casinos and their clubs embrace three new success terms: automate, calculate, celebrate.

40 CASINO STYLE 2018

The Employee View As with most technological breakthroughs, bartenders view mechanical aids with ambivalence.

On the positive side, they have a partner able to produce more drinks. This increases tip opportunities from patrons who usually give something automatically.

Second, the devices reduce wait time and the chance that impatient customers will leave. There’s a mythical lore to automated bartending; George Thorogood, who proclaimed the need for “One Bourbon, One Scotch and One Beer” in a well-known song, might get them all now in 12 seconds.

On the flip side, automation monitors inventory. Every drink is measured, accounted for. There’s no option to make stronger drinks using more liquor to encourage tips. An unspoken status tier similar to a first-class airline passenger or frequent customer disappears. The phrase “on the house” vanishes. And the celebratory air of a drinking establishment faces bean-counting parameters like accuracy, accountability, speed and consistency.

Like most change-facing employees, a middle ground may be found. A creative bartender can gain conversational value in the automated device. He or she may even obtain management permission to dispense some free pours—extending the human arm, not the automated one, of player rewards.

There’s a negative side to the automation, however. In a recently threatened Las Vegas strike of culinary workers, the issue of bar automation became a rallying cry of workers fearful of losing their jobs. While the issue wasn’t directly addressed in the contract that averted the strike, it remains something that both union officials and casino executives will monitor.

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“Obviously, the fact that they’re robots makes them able to produce perfect drinks every single time. They’re appreciative if you leave them a gratuity.”

—Rino Armeni, Makr Shakr distributor Armeni Enterprises

Shake, Rattle and Roll Come and see the show. Or be in the show.

Makr Shakr 3.0 provides a drink, not a shrink. The robotic device won’t have a human bartender’s conversational skills, but it will make a good cocktail. Novelty, not speed, is its stock in trade. Makr Shakr is already deployed in Las Vegas and Biloxi, with sales efforts aimed at wider distribution.

The device reproduces the actions of a bartender from the shaking of a martini to the muddling of a mojito. The robots don’t make mistakes, and they can mix doses to millimeter precision. Sixty spirits can be stored in bottles alongside syrups, sodas, juices, lemons and limes.

Patrons can employ this unusual bartender by downloading the app and launching the drink order on a phone from one of the bar’s tablet stations. Date of birth and drink selections are established and sent to the system.

What follows is the show. The robot washes off the shaker, dries it and places an empty cup on the counter. Ice is poured and the spirits, drawn from ceilingmounted bottles with custom valves to ensure precise dispensing, are delivered. A garnish, like a lemon, can be added. The robotic arm with the water-tight lid then hits the visual hot spot, shaking and stirring the drink before pouring it. The shake and the stir prompt patron reactions, and should be accompanied by music.

This entertainment caught the eye of Las Vegas entrepreneur Rino Armeni, who discovered Makr Shakr on the internet and contacted the company in order to distribute what’s called the world’s first robotic bar.

“To me, the magic is in the sheer entertainment and attraction produced by the product,” Armeni says. “It’s not necessarily to replace bartenders. The whole area where the robot bar is situated is about 600 square feet. It is very easy to deploy because it comes in crates and is installed in about three days.”

Armeni says it will pour 653 drinks on a given night. Where is its appeal?

“When the customers come inside and sit in front of a tablet, the tablet has a menu for the choice of cocktails or also the ability to create their own cocktail,” he says. “The tablet will communicate with the robot as soon as the credit card is swiped. People seem to have a lot of fun with this, as there’s a lot of curiosity on how the robots respond to the request. It eliminates spoilage and over-spilling.”

The automated bar at the Miracle Mile stores at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas is known as the “Tipsy Robot” bar. At the Hard Rock Casino Hotel in Biloxi, it’s called the “Robo Bar.” Makr Shakr mixes automation, entertainment, flair and imagination. But it doesn’t come with ears to interpret one’s problems.

“I found this product to be extremely exciting for people who are always looking for an innovative way of entertaining themselves,” Armeni says.

“Obviously, the fact that they’re robots makes them able to produce perfect drinks every single time. They’re appreciative if you leave them a gratuity,” he laughs. “But all in all, it’s the technology that people appreciate, and that’s why they come to us, because we offer them something very unique.”

This is another score for Armeni, whose journey in Las Vegas began following a successful career with Marriott and the Walt Disney Corp., when he was named vice president of food and beverage for Caesars Palace. In 1994, he became executive director of marketing for Southern Wine & Spirits, the leading liquor distributor in Nevada, and later held various F&B positions with MGM Resorts.

As the head of Armeni Enterprises, he remains active in several food-andbeverage-related developments. In this project, he can give the public a fair shake.

The Evo Shuffle Las Vegas-based Bar Evolution, with inspirational roots in Germany, has been true to its name.

Its bartender-support device, Evo (short for “evolution”), is used on a grand scale at nightclubs, sports stadiums, festivals and cruise ships. Evo is installed in Europe and served more than 2.7 million concert and festival attendees in the past year, according to Bar Evolution partner Bernd Witzany. The company wants to EVOlve further into the gaming world, with speed as its calling card.

“Evo mixes any cocktail of up to 40 ingredients in just three seconds, and one-liter pitchers in just over an amazing four seconds,” Witzany says. “A recently installed device dispensed nearly 90,000 cocktails flawlessly over a threemonth period without failure or interruption, a testament to the device’s high quality. Evo can connect to any ingredient source.”

Witzany say Evo helps operators serve patrons exotic and popular cocktails more efficiently. It figures to turn the slash of reduced labor costs into the cash of a casino-owner windfall.

“Driven by new, patented Hydromix technology and paired with emerging 2018 CASINO STYLE 41

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“We call it ‘cocktail automation with a human touch.’ This is not something that will replace a bartender’s job—it will help that person.”

—Bernd Witzany, Bar Evolution partner

management and control software, this innovative cocktail machine mixes perfect drinks with minimal operator effort,” he says. “It will become an establishment’s most efficient front-line asset by increasing sales volume, eliminating waste and greatly reducing labor costs.”

That should not threaten bartenders, he insists. Evo is a tool that supports them.

“A recent Evo case study validates the reported increase of 50 percent in server tips after the product was installed, due to the dramatically decreased wait times for drinks,” he says. “Customers have been waiting for this, and bartenders stand to benefit a lot as they can now focus more on those unique customer requests.

“We call it ‘cocktail automation with a human touch,’” he says. “This is not something that will replace a bartender’s job—it will help that person.”

Witzany cites another company report drawn from the Seven Feathers Casino in Oregon. Drinks were served to gaming floor guests in less than half the time, from 20 minutes down to less than nine, he says. The average drink tab was up 38 percent, servers could enter and pour their own drinks and the bar profit increased a whopping 148 percent in 10 months. This report says server tips rose nearly 44 percent; loss spillage and theft dropped by 75 percent; and material costs went down because Evo allows the purchase and use of larger containers.

The technology may also upgrade the atmosphere. Witzany says Evo’s aesthetic design and unique features add a dramatic flair to the environment. He touts a fascinating LED lighting feature giving Evo the ability to enhance mood and elegance. The integral processor-controlled LED lighting can be colorcustomized with an infinite number of lighting programs. The illumination also shows customers where to get a cocktail.

Evo was developed and patented in 2002 by an owner and operator of a nightclub in Munich, Germany, Witzany says. It is in its fourth iteration. It stands out in any club or bar, he says, and a design patent has been awarded for it. The company’s first version for the American market was approved almost two years ago, he says.

“It has been successfully installed in the United States, which has provided a solid and successful case study,” he says. “We anticipated certification for the next version of Evo by middle of June that would include some patented new features and refinements.

“We’ve designed our own self-contained and customized shipping-container solutions that can be deployed at any festivals throughout the world and be made operational within an hour,” he adds. “These highly refined units include complete, functional service bars complete with fold-out service counters, water, power, pumping systems and even eye-catching signage.”

42 CASINO STYLE 2018

Straight Up Sometimes, the robot is... you.

Smartender, from the Smart Bar company of Henderson, Nevada, is a self-contained portable automated device that can pour hundreds of cocktail choices, from martinis and specialty drinks to juices and soft drinks at the touch of a button. Any authorized individual can use it on behalf of a company.

A dispense head ensures the accuracy of the pour within 1/20th of an ounce, officials say. The liquor drawer holds room for 16 bottles and 12 mixers with easy access to replace empty ones.

A bartender starts the process by tapping the device and inserting an unlock code. Player cards and room keys can also be swiped. A selection menu includes soft drinks, shots, martinis, tropical drinks, recently poured, user favorites, specialties and liquor/mixer to build one’s own drink.

Ice is taken from a dispenser, the glass put under the head, and voila! A drink in seconds, perfectly poured, recorded on a database and placed in a spreadsheet-type list of drink type, time of day and who used it.

Smartender has a feature telling the operator when a bottle is empty. It also connects to the mixer bay. And like an ideal employee, it can relocate. In this case, from room to room.

Used in stadiums, theaters, hotels and casinos, Smartender is among the family of products trumpeting large savings. Seemingly minor elements of the bartender-under-pressure scenario become costly. Smartender officials estimate a staggering loss for a simple overpour. Take the average price of a drink at $5.

Multiply that by 15 cases of liquor. In one year, that can amount to more than $175,000 in losses—that’s for one-eighth of an ounce. Imagine a slightly more substantial overpour, not to mention giveaways. Double the loss for drinks costing $10.

There’s overpour, spillage and theft. Bar owners have long been wary of these problems, employing everything from mystery shoppers to security cameras to curb their impact. Now comes something just as useful to them, and, to some bartenders: another sales associate.

Throughout the industry, automated bar service is gaining momentum.

The technology of tomorrow greets the patrons who wanted the drink yesterday, and it’s working. Pick the stylish presentation of a robot or the savvy engineering of a portable drink factory.

Either way, “Hey, bartender” now means a lot more.

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DESIGN IN MIND

Timeless Design Think outside the box—and beyond demographics— when considering amenities and design concepts.

By Dike Bacon

P

redicting the casino resort customer of the future has sparked an interesting debate.

Many think millennials will be the downfall of the traditional casino floor. Others think way too much time is spent trying to decipher that demographic, which has a low propensity to gamble.

Some argue the industry should continue to focus on the bread-and-butter gaming customer—baby boomers—who will continue to be viable for several decades. And then there’s the next emerging gaming-centric generation that, curiously, doesn’t get a lot of attention—Gen X, which is currently the 30-50-year-old segment.

The optimum future target demographic exists somewhere in the middle, and there are several interesting emerging trends that support this.

Instead of catering to one generation or the other, the gaming and design industry should focus more holistically, which is best accomplished by broadening and elevating the total guest experience for all demographics.

All too often, resort offerings are compartmentalized, designed to appeal to a very narrow guest profile. When properties fail to perform to expectations, the marketing department is usually the first to be scrutinized for not promoting these offerings properly, or the design team is criticized for not incorporating emerging trends.

But when resort offerings and experiences encompass a broader spectrum, they yield a wider audience. The best opportunities for future success happen when engaging experiences develop meaningful connections between a property, its brand, and all guests, regardless of the generation.

How can this be accomplished? An interesting example is by gaining a better insight of each generation’s psychographics, then finding commonalities that merge them. Psychographics is the definition or identification of personality traits, attitudes, interests and lifestyles.

Big Data has the potential to revolutionize this kind of study, but data analytics have to be trans-

lated into ideas and concepts that are useable.

Health and wellness is one convergence. For instance, millennials as a group aspire to clean eating and active lifestyles. As a demographic, they practice good health and exercise. They seek great outdoor experiences and desire direct connections to the outdoors within indoor environments; they don’t like to be boxed in.

Boomers, by comparison, aspire to live longer and be healthier in their later years. In many instances, they aspire backwards. They want to achieve greater longevity by feeling young and acting young, and interestingly they look to millennials as inspiration. Boomers have clearly become much more health-and-wellness focused than they were just 10 years ago. They’re more in tune with outdoor experiences and connections like millennials, and today are actually more likely to take outdoor-oriented adventure trips than any other demographic segment. The ability to afford adventure travel is part of that equation, but the overall principles remain the same— multi-generational wellness, high-performance living and connections to the outdoors are not generational experiences, but human experiences.

How does this translate to design? One of the hottest trends in hospitality today is wellness. Flags like Four Seasons, JW Marriott and MGM are implementing wellness as a differentiator. Look at what MGM Resorts has created with its “Stay Well” guest rooms. These rooms incorporate the latest wellness technologies including air filtration and purification, personalized lighting, chromotherapy and increased acoustic treatments. According to reports, MGM is realizing 25 percent higher rate premiums on these rooms, which have better air quality and use more natural materials without chemical byproducts, such as low VOC paint, low-emission glues and natural organic linens. They also have better lighting, both natural and artificial, which promotes a more restful and calming environment. HBG Design is currently designing wellness-oriented guest rooms at two major casino resorts.

Hotel lobbies are becoming more welcoming and relaxing as well. Deidre Brady, HBG Design senior associate and interiors project manager, notes, “Complex patterns and textures found in nature can create comfort and stress relief. In the past, nobody wanted the casino guest to spend too much time in the hotel. Today, a more relaxing and healthy stay can clearly be a marketable priority.”

The pioneer who brought the outdoors inside the casino was Steve Wynn. Natural light became a very important design and brand element at Wynn Resorts properties, and their design teams took every chance to celebrate elaborate outdoor environments.

Lately, MGM is also clearly going beyond the four walls of the hotel and casino and bringing the outdoors in (and vice versa). It’s successfully integrating immersive urban gardens and parks at its Park MGM neighborhood. In stark contrast to the old days, the company is encouraging guests to go outside and experience activities at the Park.

Multiple generations also share a heightened desire for quality, luxury and convenience. They want more than just a resort stay; they seek authenticity and context. Instead of collecting objects, they’re collecting and reporting their experiences on social media platforms. As guests continue to leverage immediate access to review and critique on the internet, they’ve become savvier about their choices. And as operators become more sophisticated about data analytics, they’re learning things about their guests that were unimaginable just a few short years ago.

It’s all a great runway for growth and sustainability.

Dike Bacon is a principal and the planning and business development leader at HBG Design, a leading gaming and hospitality planning, architecture and interior design firm. In this role, Bacon is focused on influencing and aligning the firm’s expertise, multiple disciplines and national presence with client objectives and vision. His direct professional practice experience spans 38 years.

2018 CASINO STYLE 43

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STYLE STYLE SPOTLIGHT

Move More Sales with Mobile POS AGILYSYS

L

ooking to take your POS mobile? Consider a full-featured mobile POS experience—InfoGenesis Flex by Agilysys.

Entertainment facilities are under pressure to differentiate their guest service from that of competitors. Guest expectations continue to increase with a growing population that demands greater convenience. According to a recent Forrester Research report, consumers owned 257 million smartphones and 126 million tablets by 2016. And that’s just in the U.S. Whether they accommodate dozens of guests or thousands, businesses succeed when they appreciate the value of every single relationship. POS mobility helps forge those lasting guest relationships.

InfoGenesis Flex, the leader in POS mobility, enables a casino to: • Boost guest spending with mobile tablets that facilitate order placement and payment. Servers can satisfy guests’ immediate requests while

providing faster service.

• Accommodate more guests by augmenting stationary terminals with mobile alternatives that use the same unlimited POS functionality.

With broad temperature tolerance, drop and shock resistance and long battery life, it’s easy to take more orders.

• Count on unprecedented payment security with PCI-validated P2PE (point-to-point encryption) when integrated with rGuest Pay. Enjoy 24/7 access to advanced support from an established industry leader with a reputation for quality and a proven track record of exceptional customer service.

For more about InfoGenesis Flex, call 877-369-6208 or email sales@agilysys.com.

InfoGenesis Flex offers the ultimate in POS mobility, enabling casinos to respond swiftly to customer demand—inside, outside and poolside.

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Telling the Tribal Story CUNINGHAM GROUP ARCHITECTURE

D

esigned by Cuningham Group Architecture for the Puyallup Tribe of Indians, the new Emerald Queen Casino balances the eye-catching flash of a Las Vegas-style resort with memorable references to Puyallup tribal culture.

The facility relocates the tribe’s existing gaming operations to a highly visible site along Interstate 5 near downtown Tacoma, Washington. When complete, the full-service gaming facility will include approximately 100,000 square feet of slots and table games, a 2,000-seat event center, five food and beverage venues and two parking garages with direct access to the gaming floor.

The project utilizes an innovative and unprecedented solution to fitting a large gaming facility gracefully into urban city fabric. Due to site and infrastructure constraints, the gaming floor and amenities are strategically placed four levels above the ground floor, spanning over the city streets, supported structurally by two parking garages. This approach creates a breathtaking

Architects of Astonishment ENTERTAINMENT DESIGN CORPORATION

Subtle references to nature activate the floor at the Puyallup Tribe’s new Emerald Queen Casino near Tacoma, Washington

building that is highly visible from the highway with panoramic views of the downtown, Mt. Rainier and Puget Sound.

Mt. Rainier, Puget Sound and the Puyallup River all are important cultural landmarks for the tribe. Cuningham Group collaborated with Puyallup cultural leaders to develop an interior design concept that honors and tells the story of this relationship between culture and the tribal land base.

Interior elements subtly weave in and draw influence from the textures, shapes and colors of the mountain, river, forests and sounds that define Puyallup tribal land. Traditional and contemporary Puyallup art, cultural patterns and language also are incorporated into the design. From the bold black and red exterior to the organic textures that give life to the interior, a powerful, modern and resilient Puyallup culture is expressed.

It’s all in keeping with Cuningham’s belief that “Every building tells a story.” For more information, visit cuningham.com.

A dazzling symbol of good fortune, EDC’s Fortune Diamond fountain at Galaxy Macau has become a must-see attraction for resort patrons

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ntertainment Design Corp. designs and produces award-winning branding attractions for some of the most successful integrated casino resorts in the world.

EDC’s branding attractions are site-specific artworks of wonder that tell the guest-experience narrative, extend guests’ stay time and generate Instagrammable photo ops for social media, press and word of mouth.

Such was the case with Galaxy Macau. Francis Lui Tiu Tung, deputy chairman of Galaxy Entertainment Group, commissioned EDC to create one-of-akind, spectacular welcoming experiences for the VIP and main arrival atriums within the multibillion-dollar integrated casino resort.

Set in the VIP arrival atrium, the Fortune Diamond is 20 meters (65 feet) in diameter. The two-tiered fountain goes through a series of dazzling transformations, culminating in the appearance of an enormous, perfectly cut, 8meter (26-foot) “floating” diamond.

Drawing on universally recognized properties of the diamond—invincibility, excellence, strength, abounding prosperity and good fortune—this transformational work of public art creates a feeling of wonder and heightened anticipation.

The Wishing Crystals, a spectacle of giant clusters of colored crystals set in a mirrored pool, is located on the East Promenade arrival atrium. As guests traverse around the pool across three elegant bridges, their interaction with the sculpture produces enchanting harmonies as well as symbols of health, love and good fortune.

By integrating original narratives, new-age technology and captivating media, sound and theatrical lighting, EDC’s branding attractions embody the spirit of the casino resort, so guests feel they have left their ordinary world and entered a realm of romance, luxury and adventure.

For more information, visit entdesign.com.

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Taking Design Seriously GARY PLATT MANUFACTURING

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ary Platt takes design as seriously as the designers it works with.

Over the past 20 years, the company has partnered with worldwide design firms, creating custom chairs for casino projects of all sizes, ensuring designers’ visions are perfectly executed down to the last detail.

Whether it’s a remodel, an expansion or a new casino, Gary Platt has the experience, the products and the reputation that make it an easy choice.

For 20 years, Gary Platt has handcrafted chairs using only the best materials, right down to a proprietary blend of foam that goes inside each piece, pairing up-to-the-moment fashion with unsurpassed comfort. Why the proprietary blend of foam? Because 20 years of on-floor research has proven that when players are comfortable, they stay and play longer.

Casinos are Gary Platt’s specialty. The company produces seating exclusively for all areas across the gaming floor: slots, tables, sports book, poker, bar-top and bingo, as well as hotel rooms, and also offers a new line of office-style chairs.

Two models that are popular with operators are the Monaco and the Lido. Like its name, the Monaco chair evokes the elegance and beauty of Grace Kelly with the thrill and edge of Formula One racing. Its patent-pending design and razor-sharp details bring new meaning to the term unparalleled comfort.

The sleek elegance of the Lido fits easily anywhere in the casino, enhancing design without overpowering it. The chair features a distinctive center stitching on the front, with a multitude of options for customization, including space for a logo on the back.

For designers whose clients seek an incomparable combination of comfort and style, Gary Platt is the clear choice. For more information, visit garyplatt.com.

Designing Experience HBG Design

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A mix of stunning natural finishes on a grand scale elevate the front desk area at the Choctaw Casino Resort in Grant, Oklahoma

BG Design delivers integrated architecture and interior design to the national hospitality and entertainment industry from offices in Memphis, Tennessee and San Diego, California.

HBG Design consistently is ranked a national Top 10 hospitality and entertainment design firm and was named a Top 35 “Interior Design Hospitality Design Giant“ by Interior Design magazine.

HBG Design’s award-winning projects span the United States, with diverse clients representing 37 Native American nations plus commercial hospitality and gaming corporations including Elvis Presley Enterprises, Caesars Entertainment, Hard Rock International and Starwood Hotels. The firm’s diverse projects are inspired by a passion for creating memorable, transformative experiences.

Recently completed projects include the contemporary new Four Winds Casino in South Bend, Indiana; three complementary expansion and renovation projects for Ho-Chunk Gaming in Wisconsin Dells, Black River Falls and Wittenberg, Wisconsin; the stunning expansion of Choctaw Grant Casino Resort in Oklahoma; the distinctive, regionally inspired Point Casino Hotel in Kingston, Washington; and the acclaimed 400-room Guest House at Graceland Hotel, adjacent to the historic home of Elvis Presley in Memphis.

HBG Design is uniquely positioned as one of the largest providers of professional services in the Indian gaming industry, with client relationships representing some of 46 CASINO STYLE 2018

Elegant yet edgy and offering matchless comfort, Gary Platt’s Monaco Red chair is a show-stopper on the casino floor

the most high-profile tribal business enterprises across the country.

HBG is a past Associate Member of the Year of the National Indian Gaming Association; a five-time recipient of Global Gaming Casino Design awards for Best Casino Resort projects across the U.S.; and an eight-time recipient of both national and regional Top Workplace Awards.

Learn more at hbginc.com.

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It’s a veritable Eden in the desert, thanks to Lifescapes International’s garden environment at the $300 million expansion of the Pechanga Resort & Casino in Southern California

Gardens of Delight LIFESCAPES INTERNATIONAL INC.

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elebrating its 60th year in business, Lifescapes International Inc. is a renowned landscape architectural design firm based in Newport Beach, California. The company has created some of the most significant and influential designs for casinos and destination resorts worldwide, as well as mixed-use, commercial, retail, multifamily and entertainment-driven projects.

Lifescapes International began designing casino and gaming-related properties 34 years ago, in 1984, with the Cascades Hotel in South Africa. It has since grown to more than 31 properties in Las Vegas (15 on the Strip alone) including the Mirage, Paris Las Vegas, the Bellagio, Caesars Palace, Red Rock Casino Resort & Spa, the Venetian/Palazzo and Wynn/Encore, plus more than 80 casinos and resorts across the U.S., Asia and Europe. Lifescapes International continues to create unique, successful, dynamic destinations that delight guests every day.

Recently, Lifescapes International designed the garden environment for the $300 million expansion at Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula, California, the West Coast’s largest four-diamond resort, as well as Wynn Palace in Macau and Paradise City in Incheon, South Korea.

The company is currently designing Resorts World Las Vegas and the Palms renovation and assisted with conceptual designs for the MGM Grand in Macau.

Lifescapes’ 36 talented professionals are led by the executive leadership team of President/CFO Julie Brinkerhoff-Jacobs, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President Daniel Trust, Vice President of Design/Horticulture Roger Voettiner, Director of Design Andrew Kreft and founder Don Brinkerhoff, FASLA. The team has collaborated with some of the most successful entertainment companies worldwide and has based a career on creating gardens people love.

For more information, visit lifescapesintl.com.

Integrity, Reliability—and Buying Power PURCHASING MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL

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onnect with Purchasing Management International—the gaming indusCherokee, Wind Creek Casino, Wild Horse Pass Casino and Chukchansi. try’s premier purchaser of furniture, fixPMI’s well-trained staff, deep vendor tures and equipment (FF&E) and operating knowledge and unique system of checks and supplies and equipment (OS&E). balances offers clients better project results, With extensive experience in the gaming more project savings and higher design execuindustry, PMI works with designers, architects tion. and owners to offer the accuracy, integrity and PMI understands that in the gaming world, buying power needed for demanding gaming every minute matters on a project. FF&E and resort projects. PMI saves its clients time and OS&E sourcing and procurement are no differmoney. ent. PMI choreographs thousands of moving The company has purchased and installed parts from international sources to deliver some more than $3 billion in furnishings, operating of the most well-designed and complex projects equipment and systems at properties such as in the gaming industry, on time and under Maryland Live!, Del Lago Resort, Rivers budget.

Casino, Isle of Capri, Caesars Palace, MGM For the best in gaming FF&E and OS&E Grand, Harrah’s, Treasure Island, Mirage, procurement services, connect with the best— Choctaw Casino, Bellagio, Tropicana, Hard connect with Purchasing Management InternaRock and Station Casinos’ Red Rock Resort. tional.

The Bellagio Las Vegas relies on PMI to equip the luxurious PMI has worked on casinos from the East property with well-sourced, right-priced, long-lasting For more information, visit furniture, fixtures and equipment to the West, including Borgata, Harrah’s pmiconnect.com.

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One Company, One Brand, One Objective PATIR SEATING

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he story of Patir started more than two decades ago in a small workshop. Today, it’s one of the leading designers and manufacturers of seating solutions for the casino and hospitality industry.

Patir has been developing and manufacturing chairs for the world of gaming for 27 years, and has supplied operators and OEMs all over the world with German-engineered Patir chairs. The product portfolio includes chairs for slots, table games, poker and hospitality areas. Patir aims to ensure that its high-performing seating solutions not only protect the health and vitality of people who remain seated for prolonged periods, but also make sitting on a Patir chair a pure pleasure. Comfort has a direct influence on the length Comfortable as well as stylish, Patir seating makes playing a pleasure of play time and, therefore, on a casino’s revenue. at Les Ambassadeurs Club in London Patir’s know-how and experience in development and production guarantee quality and innovation. The company has one objective in them in its own production facilities. The commitment of Patir’s employees mind in everything it does: to offer customers the best possible solution for their is the basis of its excellent seating solutions. Patir is proud to say, “We don’t seating requirements. just supply chairs—we deliver superior seating.”

Patir is a global, family-run company with headquarters in Munich, For more information, visit patirseating.com, contact info@patirseating Germany and a U.S. office in Las Vegas, Nevada. or call 702-952-9572.

Patir not only develops its own products, but also completely manufactures

The Rewards of Quality Design SOSH Architects

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OSH Architects was founded in 1979 on the core conviction that quality design continually rewards the community, the client and the design team.

The firm has steadily grown from a company of four partners to its current size of more than 50 design professionals and support staff engaged in the execution of master planning, architecture and interior design commissions worldwide.

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SOSH’s philosophy drives a design process that values exploration, visualization and the contributions of multiple voices to deliver the best design solutions that are the result of thoughtful collaboration and creative analysis.

With offices in Atlantic City, New York and Philadelphia, SOSH has handled every aspect of hotel and casino design—from small, intimate VIP lounges and retail spaces to expansive casino floor and hotel renovations. Each project has its own unique set of design opportunities and technical requirements, which SOSH addresses to meet client needs and stay ahead of market trends.

SOSH was pivotal to the transformation of the former Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City to the highly anticipated Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, which opened June 28. Other Atlantic City projects in progress include the Ocean Resort Casino, formerly Revel, and ongoing renovations at Tropicana Casino & Resort.

While hospitality-based work is a substantial aspect of its business, SOSH also is engaged in a variety of project types around the globe.

To learn more, visit sosharch.com.

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Nods to tribal culture blend seamlessly with contemporary design at the Wildhorse Resort and Casino in Pendleton, Oregon

Success on the Menu Sysco

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resh food and fresh ideas are at the heart of food service. Sysco delivers exceptional produce, custom cuts of meat, high-quality seafood and imported foods offering global flavors.

Sysco is the global leader in selling, marketing and distributing food and food products to casinos, hotels and restaurants. Its family of products also includes equipment and supplies for the food service and hospitality industries. The company operates approximately 300 distribution facilities across the globe serving more than 500,000 customer locations.

Its network of specialty suppliers pairs well with its renowned culinary and business expertise. Sysco’s unparalleled selection of innovative ingredients and cutting-edge products connects your business to the industry-leading distribution network—keeping your property stocked with the freshest products, trends and ideas.

In the competitive food and beverage industry, make Sysco your trusted business partner. For more information, visit sysco.com.

All Hospitality, All the Time TBE ARCHITECTS

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or 47 years, the Native American-owned firm TBE Architects has been a premier casino-hotel architect in America. “All Hospitality, All the Time” is not simply a tagline. It’s the firm’s client base.

TBE has a depth of experience like no other Native American-owned architecture firm, having worked with more than 114 tribes and First Nations, designing more than 200 casino projects and 400 hotels.

Combining the Native American background and architectural expertise of Chief Boyd, chief executive officer and principal; the creative hotel and casino design expertise of Rich Emery, president and design principal; the design acumen of David Nejelski, creative director and principal; and the management talents of Nick Schoenfeldt, vice president and principal, TBE Architects provides full architectural services including master planning, engineering and interior design, and delivers projects on time and on budget.

Recently the firm was rehired by Wildhorse Resort and Casino in Pendleton, Oregon to complete an additional 214 rooms, four cinemas, 24 bowling lanes, outdoor pool, ballroom/event center, arena and parking structure at the existing property. Phase I was completed with minimal disruption to business at the existing facility, which remained open and operational during construction.

Phase II, which will add a 24,000-square-foot gaming floor, 3,500square-foot outdoor pool and more retail options, will prove more of a challenge. But the trust placed in TBE Architects by its clients demonstrates the firm’s ability to perform and work through all challenges to a successful outcome.

The project is characterized by tribal-inspired designs throughout the casino and hotel rooms. By honoring the past, TBE believes, we honor the present.

For more information, visit thalden.com.

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Safe & Secure Why integrated resorts need to make security a priority

By Roger Gros

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he terrible events of 1 October still resonate strongly in Las Vegas. Yes, it’s been less than a year, but there have been big changes in the way the casinos operate.

The No. 1 responsibility of any casino, hotel or integrated resort is to keep its guests safe. Customer service is great. Non-gaming amenities are important. Great gambling is a given. But if your guests don’t feel safe or perceive a situation as dangerous, all those things mean nothing.

I was on the Strip on that fateful night. The next morning, Global Gaming Expo, the industry’s major trade show, was going to debut. As usual before the start of this event, people are on the town, partying and networking with clients and colleagues.

I had done the same and was just returning to my room when I heard the sirens and chaos.

Turning on the TV, I could see that something had happened. I was worried, but thought the great security forces of the Las Vegas casinos would minimize the damage. I was wrong. The cunningness of the shooter enabled him to evade all security provisions, and the price was devastating.

Today, much has changed in Las Vegas. No longer can you put a “do not disturb” sign on your Resorts World Manila was closed for months after a disgruntled gambler attacked the casino and set it ablaze.

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Most casinos need to upgrade their security systems from analog to digital to ensure a clearer view of their properties and to protect against evildoers.

On October 1, 2017, a gunman broke out windows in a suite on the 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay and opened fire on an outdoor country music concert, killing 56 and wounding hundreds more.

door for more than 24 hours. Bags will be scrutinized much more than before. Access to employee areas will be more strictly controlled. MGM Resorts has assembled a response team for any future threat.

And there are a hundred other things that guests will never see that have changed.

But Las Vegas isn’t the only place where violence has occurred. In Manila last year, a disgruntled gambler stormed Resorts World Manila, killing more than 30 people and setting a fire that took hours to extinguish. And in casinos around the world, major and minor incidents have impacted guests and employees.

Las Vegas has done a great job emphasizing that its resorts are safe. But it takes more than just PR to ensure it.

All casinos, hotels and integrated resorts must have plans in place for “active shooters.” Policies and procedures must be vetted with local and federal law enforcement so if and when an incident occurs, everyone knows their responsibilities.

There must be more awareness from security about people acting strangely. The “see something, say something” mentality we all put on in airports must be extended to all public situations.

And casinos need to upgrade their surveillance equipment. Even in the top Las Vegas Strip casinos, surveillance is conducted on analog recorders. Even today’s grocery stores have better equipment. So step it up and bite the bullet (no pun intended). Spend the money on the top-of-the-line system, because your guests are expecting it.

All employees should be an extension of your security department. They see things that security doesn’t. They recognize when something is out of the ordinary. They should be protected as much as the guests.

So let’s not kid ourselves. If another incident like 1 October occurs in Las Vegas—or in any other casino destination, for that matter—our entire industry will be at risk. But that’s not why we need to invest more in training, security and surveillance. It’s just the right thing to do.

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