A recent research study at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas is important as a beginning look at the gaming industry. If the study can be expanded and replicated, it have strong implications for a variety of industries.

The researchers (all doctoral students) conclude that with more competition in the gaming industry, that customer satisfaction be the key to long-term financial success.

In brief, the resarchers concluded that "loose machines" got people in the doors. Most people who gamble end up losing their money, and most go into casinos fully understanding that this will happen. There is always the hope for hitting the big one, but it takes a lot of losing players to pay out for the big wins. But "loose machines" enable the players to play for a longer period of time, and that is the recreation that they are looking for. At least this way, even if they lose, they had a full evening's worth of entertainment. So, the reputation for "loose slots" is critical.

But once the players get to know a particular casino, the thing that keeps them coming back is the "friendliness" of the casino staff. (Interestingly, men in the study perceived customer service as being more important than did the average female player.)

Here is what the researchers conclude: "This model indicates that although potential customers initially be enticed by the casino's theme and its associated paraphernalia, it actually be the feeling of warmth and belonging that enhances guest satisfaction and casino customer loyalty." They conclude, "In other words, employees are inseparable from experiential affect." Staff create this feeling of warmth and part of the total experience for customers.

We suspect this same conclusion could be reached about theme parks, themed restaurants, and perhaps even shopping malls.

Janelle Barlow, Coauthor
A Complaint Is a Gift
Emotional Value
 
 
 

Previous "Complaint Is A Gift Corner" pages: 
 

#1	Overselling Service
#2	Not Listening to Complaints
#3	Plastic Chicken
#4	Complaints You Can Do Nothing About
#5	A+ Complaint Handling
#6	Beware! Others are Watching You
#7	At Least Keep Talking!
#8	Let Customers Know You'll Tell Someone
#9	If You're Going to Apologize, Then Mean It
#10	Keep Front-life Staff Well Informed
#11	Don't Set Goals to Reduce Complaints
#12	Products Used During Special Events
#13	Best Practices of Complaint-friendly Organizations
#14	Complaints About Mother Nature!
#15	Socially Offensive Situations
#16	A Complaint Is a Gift in Action
#17	Information Systems  Users' Complaints, I
#18	Information Systems  Users' Complaints, II
#19	Creating an Internal Service Culture
#20	When Your Customers are Industrial Buyers
#21	Customers Who are Poor Complainers
#22	Complaints That are Difficult to Talk About
#23	Do You Mistreat Your Customers?
#24	Fairness: Treatment of Staff
#25	Expectations and Complaints
#26	Successful Toll-free Experiences
#27	Small Companies and Service
#28	A Banking Customer Strikes Back
#29	Complaints in the Hospitality Business
#30	Customers Be More Cynical
#31	Above All, Communicate When Things Go Wrong!
_#32	Eliminating Blame

We invite you to submit your "best" examples by fax or e-mail. We won't print any company names with the "poor" examples, because we believe that every organization fails from time to time. We will give credit to companies delighting their customers. In the case of the "poor" examples, we'll comment on how we think this situation could have been handled better. If you want us to list your name, please tell us that is what you want to do.

A Complaint Is a Gift, The Training Program 

A Complaint Is a Gift, The Book

Note: We have been getting e-mail from our readers asking us to list the names of the companies who get complaints. Our policy is to never list names. The reason for this is because every company fails from time to time, and we wouldn't want to tar some company's name just because of one bad example. Furthermore, we are dependant upon the writer's side of the story. We don't know for sure what happened, and in the name of fairness, we will not post names. Furthermore, the purpose of this corner is not to pass complaints along to corporations. This Complaint Is a Gift corner is designed to look at examples of good and bad complaint handling so we can learn from these experiences. Please, if you have a direct complaint you want a company to learn about, contact them directly. In many cases, we have never heard of the company in question and have no idea how to reach them. Janelle Barlow

tel: 702 939-1800

fax: 702 939-1804

email: 

Website designed by 
©2005, TMI US