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 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
22 CASINO STYLE 2018