Survey | Casinos’ gaming service quality dropped

Hannah Koo

All casinos saw a drop in their Gaming Service Index (GSI) scores in 2018, with a 11.2 percent decrease in the overall GSI score. The GSI 2018 survey results were co-announced yesterday by the Macau Gaming Research Association (MGRA) and SGS Hong Kong Limited.

In 2018, MGRA and SGS completed mystery shopper surveys of the mass market of 15 representative casinos: Altira, City of Dreams, Galaxy, Grand Lisboa, Jai Alai- Oceanus, Hotel Lisboa, MGM, MGM Cotai, the Parisian, Sands, Star World, Studio City, the Venetian, Wynn and Wynn Palace.

The survey covered customer service, cloakroom, bussing and toilets, staff in slot machine areas, security staff, cashiers, dealers, and staff in food and beverage areas.

Overall, GSI by region showed that Cotai offers the best service, while services in the Macau Peninsula are worse than Cotai. However, both regions’ services are worse than they were in 2017.

The survey found that weekday groups performed better compared to other groups. Morning and evening groups performed steadily.

Air quality had a satisfying result and the average waiting time for shuttle buses decreased.

Around 90 percent of toilet environments were rated good in 2018. The percentage still fell compared to the same period of last year however, according to the survey.

On the sidelines of the press conference in which the survey results were announced, MGRA assistant director Hannah Koo noted that a significant drop in gaming service was recorded in the second quarter of this year.

“This time, the survey was conducted by mystery shoppers. Regarding the drops, the analysis will be given to the casinos, and then they will review why the significant drop occurred,” said Koo.

“Smiling, proactiveness and tolerance dropped more than other aspects, the proactiveness and tolerance decreased about 20 to 30 percent. We don’t assume the reasons, we only reflect the facts.”

According to Koo, SGS will give the data to the casinos concerned in a few weeks.

The survey results showed security staff had the best GSI, with a 2.79 points recorded in 2018. However, the index still showed a drop compared to the 2.89 points of 2017.

Dealers were given 1.87 points compared to the 2.27 points in 2017, representing a 17 percent decrease.

Customer service also went down 11 percent to 2.32 points in 2018, compared to 2.61 points in 2017.

The quality of cashier service also worsened 10.98 percent, with 2.19 points recorded in 2018 (compared to 2.46 points in 2017).

Regarding slot machine staff, slightly better service was reported, receiving 2.59 points in 2018 (2.58 points in 2017).

“Among all departments, security staff received rather higher grades because their work is simpler. Dealers and cashiers need to take care of more things, […] their work is more complex, […] so there is a chance for them to receive lower grades,” said Koo.

In addition, the survey found that there was no relationship between the number of customers waiting to be served and the service quality.