Telecommunications system speeds marketing data for casino-hotels

A new stream of marketing information is flowing into executives' offices from an unlikely source a new telecommunications system at the Eldorado Hotel Casino and Silver Legacy Resort Casino.

With the communications server and attendant consoles that the two properties acquired from NEC Unified Solutions, staff members can track in real time the origin of calls and can track the number of calls that become reservations.

And that, in turn, provides almost real-time information on the success of marketing programs, said Cindy Carano, executive director of hotel operations at the Eldorado, which also owns a half ownership of the Silver Legacy in partnership with MGM Mirage.

For instance, Carano said, one of the hotels might launch a television advertising campaign in the Bay Area. By tracking the origin and outcome of inbound calls, executives can learn quickly whether advertising is effective.

Improved information about calls coming into the hotels also allows executives to better manage their labor costs, Carano said, both because the NEC system provides real-time information about calls as well as detailed historical data.

And in the hotels' executive suites, the new phone system provides caller ID.

The new system provides improved service to guests they can, for example, request additional room supplies or set wake-up calls without talking to the front desk and that allows staff to focus on the fine points of customer service rather than routine requests.

"It's pretty transparent to our guests," Carano said. "They know that their phone works."

The hotels began shopping for a new telephone system about two years ago after technicians warned that the previous system was becoming technologically obsolete after two decades.

As executives of the Silver Legacy and Eldorado worked with a consultant to sort through the telecommunications alternatives that were available, Carano said the properties decided that they wanted a system on the forefront of technology.

"We saw a bunch of bells and whistles, but bells and whistles can be expensive," she said.

The task for the hotels' management before it settled on the NEC Unified Solutions system involved weighing systems' features against the potential payoff, either through cost savings or increased revenues.

NNBW staff