Apparently, if you want outstanding service in a casino, Macau may not be the destination. A report released in the latest Macau Gaming Service Index (MGCI) shows that the service provided by the city’s casinos is, at best, just mediocre and that it has fallen when compared to last year.
The MGSI was compiled by analyzing data from “mystery-shopper” researchers that spanned a ten-month period beginning this past January. It also showed that the quality found in the casinos in Cotai was, on average, better than that found in Macau’s downtown casinos. Researchers reportedly visited 15 casinos in the city, covering all six of the casino operators in Macau.
For October and November of this year, the service quality index was 2.29 points. During the same period last year, the index was 2.37. The index scale ranges from zero to 3.5, with 3.5 being the best quality.
The MGCI is put together by the Macau Gaming Research Association. It is administered by SGS Hong Kong Ltd., who uses undercover researchers to rate the staff in 15 casinos. Those employees are judged on “proactive attitude,” their smile and “tolerance.” Tolerance, for the purposes of the index, is defined as the level of patience demonstrated by the staff when dealing with customers.
Seven different services were included in the latest report – cloakrooms, security, shuttle bus service, slot machine attendants, the membership desk, the cage and table game dealers. The final rankings are divided into two categories, one that covers the Cotai casinos and the other for the downtown venues.
In rating attitude, smile and tolerance, Cotai scored better than the downtown venues last year, as well as this year. Table games dealers, across all the casinos, saw their index drop to 1.87 points. This is a 17.62% drop over last year when they scored 2.27 points. Dealers aren’t smiling as much, either. The ranking was only 0.84 points last year, but has now declined to just 0.59 points.
If any gambler wants an upbeat, smiling dealer, there are a number of venues to avoid. The MGCI was based on findings from MGM Macau, MGM Cotai, the Venetian Macao, the Parisian Macao, StarWorld Hotel, City of Dreams, Wynn Palace, Wynn Macau, Grand Lisboa, the Lisboa, the Jai Alai and Oceanus venue, Altira, Galaxy Macau and Studio City.
