“ 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 .”
— Marco Benvenuti , Co-founder and Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer , Duetto
Duetto GameChanger suite 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 .”
2018 CASINO STYLE 21