Survey shows a drop in gaming service quality

An employee stands at a cloakroom outside the casino floor at the Studio City casino resort

After hitting a historical high in gaming services in the second quarter of 2015, the Gaming Service Index (GSI) dropped in the third and fourth quarter of last year.
The Macau Gaming Research Association launched its survey conducted by SGS Hong Kong Ltd yesterday. As has been the case previously,  “mystery clients” visited casinos in the city to conduct the report.
Representatives from eleven casinos belonging to the region’s six gaming operators participated in the survey.
The smiling, proactiveness and tolerance index were the three sub-indexes that were used, under the general service index.
Max Lee Kim Cheung, research manager of SGS Hong Kong Ltd. emphasized that the drop is mainly attributed to the smiling index, which was 10 percent less than the previous quarter, and the proactiveness index, which was 11 percent less than Q4.
The “smiling” score for the fourth quarter of 2015 is 0.68 out of 1.50, while “proactiveness” scored 0.55 out of 1.00, and “tolerance” is 0.88 out of 1.00, having an index of 104, 121 and 122 respectively.  However, there is at least a 10 percent increase for each quarter when compared to the same quarter in 2014.
Cheung added that the typical negative comment recorded under the “proactiveness” criterion is that staff kept chatting, failing to notice customers with queries.
Security employees showed the best service performance among numerous staff categories that were assessed.
In terms of other measures, the air quality of casinos was deemed stable in the second half of 2015. The facilities in eighty-three percent of the washrooms are continually improving, however the waiting time at shuttle bus stations increased to 14.6 minutes in the fourth quarter, compared to 8.2 minutes in the third quarter, which was on par with the same quarter last year.
This year, 13 casinos will be evaluated.  Six core casinos will be assessed on a quarterly
basis while the seven non-core casinos will be analyzed on a semi-yearly basis. Checkpoints for conducting the survey will be 1,824 in comparison to last year’s 1728.
“Later this year we have more casinos being established and we need to review the scale and methods of this research to be more constructive and useful for this industry,” says Dr. L. C. Koo, assistant director of the Macau Gaming Research Association. According to him, the index should continue  to “help to adapt to improve service levels, particularly during this period of consolidation of the gaming business.”
Representatives of casino operators tackled the question of whether or not casino operators should remain anonymous in GSI reports.