Established in 1987, Steelman Partners has positioned itself as a leader in the industry, boasting some of the most talented and acclaimed architects, designers, planners and artists, all working in-house. This international, Las Vegas-based firm specializes in the multi-disciplinary facets of hospitality and entertainment architecture, interior design and lighting design.
Steelman Partners owns and operates several affiliated design companies: Dalton, Steelman Arias and Associates; shop12 Design; Inviro Studios; and MARQI Branding Studio.
DSAA is a full-service interior design firm specializing in the creation of engaging interiors for the high-end hospitality, resort and gaming industries. DSAA has created entertainment-based, profitable interiors for thousands of restaurants and lounges, casinos and VIP gaming salons, spas, retail and performance venue projects across the globe.
Shop12 Design is a full-service lighting, visual feature and theater design studio specializing in creative collaboration on cutting-edge performance venues, custom visual and interactive environments and all facets of high-end hospitality lighting.
Inviro is an international animation studio creating content for the film, television and architectural industries, as well as collaborating on complete ride experiences. Responsible for original character design, scriptwriting, 3D space visualization and product merchandising, Inviro brings imagined ideas and concepts to the screen.
MARQI is an international branding studio focused on identifying the energy and identity behind every project. The studio specializes in creating universal stories that make an experience memorable. Naming, branding, storytelling and visual communication provide the catalyst for innovative concepts, unique services, signature products, themed environments and iconic structures.
Steelman Partners believes extraordinary design is timeless. Five global offices join forces to design master plans, casinos, integrated resorts and theme parks throughout the world, with more than 4,000 completed projects in its 33-year history. The firm’s impressive client list includes Genting Group, the Venetian/Las Vegas Sands, MGM, Harrah’s, Swiss Casinos, Sheraton, Hyatt, Plaza/El-Ad, SDJM, Melco, Caesars Entertainment, plus many others.
Steelman Partners is headed by recognized visionary designer Paul Steelman, a native of Atlantic City, New Jersey. He was honored with the 2010 Sarno Lifetime Achievement Award and received the 2006 HOSPY Lifetime Achievement Award. Steelman has been featured in many publications and visual media, including Forbes Magazine “Designing for Dough” and the Oceans 13 DVD (The Opulent Illusion).
For more information, contact Steelman Partners at 702-873-0221, email info@steelmanpartners.com or visit steelmanpartners.com.
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All Hospitality All The Time
During the past 40 years, the Native American-owned firm of Thalden Boyd Emery Architects has become one the best-known casino-hotel architects in America. Empowered with the motto “All Hospitality All The Time,” TBEA has a depth of experience like no other Native American-owned architecture firm. Its passion in architecture and design has led to working with more than 102 tribes and First Nations, building more than 200 casino projects and more than 400 hotels.
TBEA’s portfolio includes working with some of the most recognized companies. Past clients have included Harrah’s, Hilton, Holiday Inns Worldwide, Hyatt, Marriott, Radisson, Donald Trump and Delaware North Companies Inc.
Hotel & Motel Management magazine ranks TBEA a “Top Design” firm in the hospitality industry in the United States. It is a company with extensive experience designing destination resorts, gaming floors, atriums, hotel rooms, entertainment venues, convention space, multi-use space, retail, restaurants and parking garages for tribes in the United States and Canada.
The company, with its highly experienced staff of professionals, consolidates offices in Las Vegas, St. Louis, Tulsa and Phoenix. It combines the Native American background and design expertise of Chief Boyd, chief executive officer and principal, with the creative hotel and casino design expertise of Rich Emery, president and principal, plus the production talents of Nick Schoenfeldt, vice president and principal.
Since 1971, TBEA has been architect for resorts, hotels and casinos and for the hospitality and gaming industries. The firm’s approach of creating “ordinary to extraordinary” is based on developing unique and exciting visions and bringing them to life.
TBEA took the leading edge of the wave of mega-resorts in Las Vegas, designing technical theming drawings for resorts like the Venetian Casino, Hotel & Resort. The firm has built a reputation for delivering projects on time and on budget.
TBEA provides full architectural services including master planning, engineering and interior design.
Thalden Boyd Emery Architects is an active associate member of the American Institute of Architects and an associate member of the National Indian Gaming Association.
To learn more, visit thaldenboydemery.com or contact Linda J. Roe, vice president, business development or Kevin Chapman, manager, commercial business development, at 314-727-7000.
Leisure, Seriously
Leisure design is what YWS Design & Architecture does. It’s all the firm does.
The firm has deep expertise in hospitality, gaming, retail, dining and entertainment environments—in other words, places for people who love leisure and seek memorable experiences wherever they go.
At an integrated resort, successful delivery of that coveted experience relies on a sophisticated blending of each environment and a thoughtful integration of operations with innovative design.
Thirteen years ago, YWS was founded in the birthplace of the integrated resort—Las Vegas. The founding partners and executives are pioneers in the industry, having been responsible for resort giants like Bellagio and Mirage.
As Las Vegas has grown, so has YWS. It has expanded globally to add offices in the world’s top leisure destinations: Singapore, Macau and Tulsa, Oklahoma, the home of YWS’ Native American services hub. The company has worked with the biggest names in the business: MGM Resorts International, Crown Resorts, Wynn Resorts, Boyd Gaming and Resorts World. YWS also has partnered with entrepreneurial developers throughout Asia and beyond. Services also include interiors, with the belief that a well-designed project’s extraordinary outside must be in harmony with its remarkable inside.
YWS has grown its team of talent to always ensure fresh and bold ideas. The company is committed to this industry and its future. It is serious about leisure.
The vital piece of the YWS equation comes in the form of the three C’s:
Creativity: YWS’ international design team ensures that the environments it creates are unique, memorable and grounded in consumer insights.
Collaboration: As leisure design experts, YWS knows a lot about creating integrated resorts. It can design casino floors with optimal flow, craft a beautifully integrated podium, and conceive a layout that creates energy and an enduring vibe. What’s needed is the client’s vision. YWS’ job is to align its expertise with that vision.
Certainty: This is where art takes a back seat to science. YWS is very serious about the way projects are delivered. It’s no secret that projects run on money, time and resources—each must be monitored and balanced to deliver a project on schedule, on budget and to the promised design. YWS has made project execution a scientific process. The only looks of surprise should be delighted ones—at the grand opening.
For more information, visit ywsinternational.com.
Celebrating Sahara
The new SLS Las Vegas promises to bring new glitz and glamour to Las Vegas. Its nightclub scene and unique hospitality business are expected to break new ground on the northern end of the Strip. But the SLS is a true reflection of the hotel it replaced, within the same core structure: the Sahara.
It was one of the seminal casinos in Las Vegas—one that they actually named major roads after. The Sahara was the sixth resort to open on the Las Vegas Strip when it debuted in 1952 under the ownership of Milton Prell, replacing Club Bingo, which opened in 1947. It was built by Del Webb, who later bought it from Prell. The Strip’s first high-rise tower was built adjacent to the Sahara in 1959 and a second 24-story tower was added in 1963, the tallest building in Las Vegas at the time.
From the beginning, the Sahara was all about entertainment. In 1956, the first casino lounge on the Strip opened at the Sahara bringing together legendary performers, jazz musician Louis Prima, singer Keely Smith and sax player Sam Butera. Quickly they became the hottest act in Vegas, and guests flocked to the Sahara to see them.
Later, dozens of renowned performers appeared at the Sahara. Just a short list includes such luminaries as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Judy Garland, Marlene Dietrich, Lena Horne, Jack Benny, Tony Bennett, Paul Anka, George Carlin, Liza Minnelli, Johnny Carson, Buddy Hackett, Helen O’Connell, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, Kay Starr, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, Don Rickles, Sonny & Cher and many others. In 1964 the Beatles stayed at the Sahara while performing for two nights at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
In the early 1980s, Del Webb sold out to the Archon Corp., operated by longtime gaming executive Paul Lowden. Archon sold the Sahara three years later to another Las Vegas legend, Bill Bennett, one of the founders of Circus Circus. Bennett added a 27-story tower in 1987, and a new porte cochere and pool area in ’97. He owned the property until his death in 2002.
Toward the end of its life, ownership tried several things, including a roller coaster—Speed, the Ride—which made a trip around several loops in front of the hotel, and later a NASCAR Café, which failed to garner much attention.
When sbe Entertainment CEO and founder Sam Nazarian bought the hotel in 2007, he planned to raze most of it and start from scratch. But the economic recession intervened and made the original buildings of the Sahara something of a rarity: a survivor.
SLS Las Vegas includes many tributes to the Sahara if you look closely enough, including the Congo Room, the hotel’s main ballroom that retained its original name, as well as iconic photographs of the place in its glory days.
Tough Decisions
It has become commonly recognized by developers and restaurateurs that customers are seeking more than just great food when they sit down for a meal in a nice restaurant. They want an experience. What this exactly means is a question that has only recently become the subject of study by thought leaders within the hospitality industry.
As we examine the key components of a dining experience, design emerges again and again as a critically important piece of the puzzle. Executives refer to the importance of design within the context of congruency, the bridge between the story they want to tell and the brand identity they want to reinforce. Managers refer to design’s impact on staff efficiency and their ability to turn more tables each night. Customers, particularly within an integrated resort, will often shop the look of a restaurant before thinking about viewing a menu.
Increasingly, design is becoming credited as one of the most important, and least studied, attributes in why consumers choose one restaurant over another. From an increasingly visual universe of online and social media reviews, where consumers share commentary and imagery, a restaurant’s design is moving from background to foreground in its influence within the overall experiential palate.
Academic researchers are recognizing the importance of design, particularly in creating desired ambiances within fine dining restaurants. More and more, it is becoming accepted that physical environments create emotional responses in individuals, which in turn elicit a desire to further explore or completely avoid. This concept is further elaborated upon via the postulation of “servicescapes” that emphasize the critical importance of providing attractive environments for inducing customer satisfaction and loyalty over time.
Accordingly, a positive response to a “servicescape” is expected to result in positive beliefs and feelings toward the establishment, its people and its offerings.
Media covering the industry is also taking notice, as evidenced when Elite Traveler revealed its World’s Top 100 Restaurants of 2014. The list’s 16 new entrants, voted on by readers of the luxury lifestyle publication, lauded the association with a famous architect and designer as much as a posh location, exotic cuisine or celebrity chef affiliation.
Consumers feel more empowered than ever to evaluate what in the past may have been viewed as the unsung ingredients of a dining experience. Emboldened by a sense of expertise that popular television shows such as Chopped, Beat Bobby Flay and Restaurant Startup have given them, the general public has a raised antenna to every aspect of the restaurant experience today. Their expectations are high. And they’re not afraid to let the world know—through Yelp, Instagram and Twitter—when they have been disappointed.
Because of this, we must study consumers like never before and put our learnings to work at the onset of our development process.
Why Study Guest Psyche?
In the hospitality industry, deep thought about the psychological and emotional drivers of choice on consumer decision-making is quite rare. Hoteliers and restaurateurs have historically developed properties as much for their own egos as they have for a perceived, or hoped-for, demand.
With consumer spending in restaurants up dramatically and consistently over the past four decades, competition has also greatly increased. That reality has placed incredible pressure on developers to conceive new concepts, quickly, which will both differentiate and resonate with a fickle public. From the heights of economic prosperity to the depths of financial depression, the hospitality industry—as a whole—has been slow to embrace a researched approach to development.
In global destination markets like Las Vegas, a “build it and they will come” approach dominated the first two thirds of the town’s “cowboy-to-gangster-to-MBA” progression.
Perhaps another rationale for steering clear of a science-based path toward understanding behavior has to do with a longstanding misconception of what “research” is and how it should be applied toward understanding customer psyches. Justification for this internal bias may be that “market research” is viewed as a sign of executive weakness or that there is a fear of delaying tight schedules or derailing projects entirely if consumers don’t respond “the way we want” to our ideas, sketches and animations.
Steve Jobs: Research Foe?
Many executives around the world would nod their heads in agreement if they happened to come across the Steve Jobs quote, “Customers don’t know what they want until we’ve shown them,” or a quote Jobs apparently liked from Henry Ford, “If I’d asked customers what they wanted, they would have told me, ‘a faster horse!’”
Jobs is absolutely correct in his statement, as is Ford; but neither makes a convincing case for not conducting market research. Rather, both highlight the misperception many have as to what consumer research is—namely, asking people directly what they want.
To actually understand what consumers want is an egoless exercise in immersion, venturing as deep as possible into what it’s like to be them—at home, at work and at play.
This approach, done correctly, yields valuable insights that misguided methodologies would have missed or, at best, misconstrued. These insights, in turn, spark actionable ideas—in the minds of artists and executives—that are rooted in something viable.
Within this capacity, Jobs was an exceptional “researcher” of human behavior. In this context, his brilliance was that he understood, before the opportunity developed, that everyday people wanted to use computers, yet the frustration in their complexity was an overwhelming barrier for the non-technically inclined. His focus on a “lite” version of a computer, that was simple and stylish, was a direct result of insights gleaned from observing consumer experiences with what was in the marketplace.
No one could have told Jobs to make an iPod, iPhone or an iPad either—but by stepping into his customer’s shoes and understanding their emotional and psychological desires, Jobs was able to anticipate mass-market trends, because they were rooted in behavior he could validate with not only his deep imagination but also with his sharp eyes and ears.
The link is not only ironic, it is also perceptible. Court records from a recent lawsuit between Apple and Samsung have resulted in much previously confidential information becoming public record. Among the findings: Apple’s investment in market research and its vast user experience teams are likely unparalleled. Jobs didn’t waste time asking consumers directly: “What do you want us to make?” But you can be sure Apple is obsessed with understanding human behavior and that the company uses consumer insights to help drive innovation.
Embracing Consumer Insights
For the restaurant industry, there has never been greater potential. Economic prosperity and discretionary spending have largely recovered from 2008-2009 recession levels. According to the National Restaurant Association, A
mericans today make nearly half of their food purchases away from home. In 1955 it was 25 percent. In the United States, restaurant sales are expected to reach $683 billion in 2014, a $100 billion increase from just four years ago.
The pressure to increase operational efficiencies and turn as many tables per day as possible, without sacrificing customer service, also puts the spotlight on design as a critically important component for a restaurant’s success. As such, understanding the psyche of a hospitality patron has never been more critically important for a business owner.
The Bottom Line
Whether planning a new casino or expanding an existing one, one of the most important questions an owner can ask is: “Which amenities are the best choices for my casino?” And while the answer is not always obvious, finding the right response can be crucial to your success, especially in today’s highly competitive gaming environment.
Perhaps the best answer to the non-gaming amenities question is another question: Which will bring the most income to the casino per dollar invested? All amenities added to a casino property will be of some value, but determining those that provide the most value will have significant impact on your bottom line.
Of course, finding the right mix of non-gaming amenities will depend on the particular property, its unique market area, and the competition. But, clearly, building those that produce the highest financial return makes a good deal of sense. You may be surprised to learn that two of the standout financial performers will be found nowhere near the casino floor: hotel rooms and parking garages. Here’s how these amenities can benefit your casino business:
• A parking garage can turn the worst casino day into a great casino day. Regardless of the casino’s location, there will be days when guests just don’t want to park on a surface lot or walk any distance. Maybe it’s snowing, or raining. Maybe it’s just too hot outside. The fact is, any inclement day has the power to keep your guests in the comfort of their homes and away from the casino floor.
Even on nice days, when the casino is busy, some guests may not visit because they don’t relish driving around looking for a spot—and then walking a mile to the casino entrance. But, you say, I can solve those problems by offering valet parking, right? Well, yes and no. Many people are touchy about leaving their cars with strangers, especially teenagers, even if the service is free. But give those same people a sheltered parking space, close to the casino door, and they’ll be more inclined to visit whenever the mood strikes them.
• Hotel rooms add to casino profits in much the same way. It seems obvious that adding a couple hundred hotel rooms would improve gaming revenue. But most owners don’t know that the hotel’s actual financial results exceed most forecasts. First, GMs report that a hotel operation on-property enhances the casino’s image as an entertainment destination—even for those guests not planning to spend the night. And, more important to the casino owner, the hotel will attract guests who don’t live within easy driving distance of the property. And let’s not forget one of the fundamental “truths” about the casino/hotel combination: one night’s stay means two days play.
So which non-gaming amenities are the most profitable for the casino? Let’s consider the numbers: A parking garage represents a one-time cost to the owner of about $14,000 per space—but in most cases it will increase casino floor revenue by $10,000 per space year-on-year (you can assume $19-$38 per day per slot, on average). That’s a whopping ROI of 70 percent.
And hotel rooms? Here, too, the ROI will fall somewhere between 35 percent and 70 percent, depending on the property. If you examine typical returns on other “traditional” casino amenities—movie theaters, conference spaces, banquet centers—you’ll see they all fall well below that 35 percent hotel-room threshold (see chart).
Bringing up the rear of non-gaming performers list? High-end restaurants, concert venues and golf courses. Quite a few casino owners have come to realize that these kinds of “attractions,” when profitable, have ROIs in the low single digits—and in all too many cases operate at a loss.
For this reason alone, these kinds of casino amenities should be considered very carefully before the cost of building them is added to a new casino’s development budget.
Ancillary Facilities – Gaming Return on Investment
Facility Gaming Revenue Project Cost (Average) Annual Gaming ROI
Parking Garage
$10,400 per space per year ($19-$38/day) $14,000/space 74%
RV Park
Assume 50% Occupancy (35% to 70% is typical) $25,000/pad 72%
$100 per occupied pad/day = $18,000 per pad/yr
Movie Theaters
200 Guests per seat per year $6,500/seat 45%
Hotel Rooms
Assume 75% occupancy (65% to 85% is typical) $130,000/room 37%
$180 per occupied room night = $49,000 per room/yr
Conference/Convention/Banquet Center
Assume 37% occupancy (25%-45% is typical) $6,500/seat 35%
= 132 attendees per seat/yr
At 17 per attendee = $2,300 per seat/yr
Entertainment (Concert) Center
Average use is 1 event per week filled to capacity $7,000/seat 7%
= 50 people per seat/yr
$10 per person = $500 per seat/yr
Golf (18 Holes)
27,000 rounds per yr (20,000 to 35,000 rounds typical) $14,000/space 4%
$20 per golfer ($10 to $30 is typical)
= $550,000 per course/yr
1. No consideration has been given for land cost. Project cost includes construction, FF&E,
architects and engineers fees.
2. No income for the facility operations is included. It is assumed that the facility runs at
break-even.
3. Gaming revenues and project costs are averages; obviously, they will vary from case to case.
4. It is assumed here that additional net gaming revenue goes straight to the bottom line. It should
be recognized that at some point there would be added costs associated with the additional play.
5. Gaming income has been gathered from a variety of sources, put primarily from Klas Robinson.
6. Project cost estimates provided by Thalden Boyd Emery Architects and The Cumming Group.
Destination Design Experts
Bergman Walls & Associates was founded in 1994 by Joel Bergman, who for the prior 16 years was the chief architect for Steve Wynn and responsible for the design of his projects including the world-famous Mirage in Las Vegas. Since then, the firm has been at the forefront of destination hospitality design, with a portfolio featuring hotels and resorts, mixed-use and high-rise residential, restaurants and entertainment venues of the highest caliber.
In 2011, Joel’s two sons, Leonard and George, also design architects, assumed the mantle of leadership of the firm and consequently embarked on key initiatives to bolster support for the company’s core competencies. Specifically, they invested heavily to reposition the firm, enhance and expand the architecture and interior design staff, improve infrastructure and technology and focus on innovation and the processes needed for elevating significantly the firm’s design product.
At the same time, BWA continues to apply its hospitality-specific knowledge of sustainability and eco-friendly design, together with special understanding of operations and the technical services associated with integrated resort planning.
BWA has completed highly successful projects across North America, including work with several Native American communities. North American offices include Las Vegas, Minneapolis and Seattle. In 2009 the firm expanded globally when it opened an office in Vietnam to serve Southeast Asia. More recently, BWA opened a Macau location to serve China and the region. All offices are staffed by a group of highly experienced and diverse professionals in an atmosphere of innovation and creativity.
While BWA is delighted with its progress to expand and increase its presence nationally and in Asia, more important is its understanding and sensitivity to the nuances of culture, language and geography, as well as brand and the expectations and wants of consumers.
For more information, visit bwaltd.com.
Much More Than Uniforms
Cintas Corporation has been bringing the right image to casinos all across North America for more than 80 years. Cintas’ suite of Gaming Solutions helps bring casino brands to life and enrich any casino’s guest experience by ensuring all of the details are addressed.
From the casino floor to the back door, Cintas’ specialized solutions save casinos time and money with the simplicity of a consolidated service partner.
As a leader in the uniform industry for nearly 50 years, the tenure among the Cintas design team is unmatched, with 115-plus years of image apparel industry experience. Located in Las Vegas, Cintas Gaming Design Studio focuses on designing unique image apparel programs that complement any casino brand vision or brand message through high-end, highly functional uniforms.
While comfort, functionality and durability remain important aspects of any uniform program, many clients are placing additional emphasis on retail-inspired, on-trend apparel, which has positioned Cintas as a design powerhouse with a team of elite designers.
Cintas is much more than uniforms. The company’s specialized Gaming Solutions programs help improve guest satisfaction and ensure a clean, safe and impressive indoor and outdoor environment for any casino. As a result, Cintas’ Gaming Solutions include branded floor mats and deep cleaning of tile, carpet and air conditioning units, in addition to safety programs such as first aid cabinets, training and even AEDs.
For more information about Cintas Corporation, visit cintas.com/gaming or call 1-800-864-3676.
Align the Cherries
You’re all in. You’re invested heavily. And you’re committed to working it everyday. Now elevate your restaurant and bring guests back more often. To achieve that goal, begin with the end in mind and create special experiences that people love.
Each restaurant should be another reason why guests come back. Pull the right levers and pull away from your the competition… with one critical caveat. Just like hitting a progressive jackpot, you need complete payline alignment. One cherry on the wrong row is like having a zero multiplier in the equation, and you get nothing.
For example, a beautifully designed space with great food, but with a messy bathroom, may just kill all that work and disrupt the entire formula for success. Below are three key focus areas to design and line up. Done right, you’ll create a lollapalooza with fantastic emergent effects.
Optimal Design
You’ve got a great space, solid marketing and a unique product offering. Guests are lined up out the door. But can you deliver in a way that delights your customers 100 percent of the time?
You’ve done so many things right. Now it’s about operational excellence and throughput focus. Visit Earl of Sandwich at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. I know this one pretty well. It’s a machine. Running 24 hours. Service and ticket times are critical to handle those ever-growing long lines of hungry guests.
Now you’ve got to be continuously assessing. Can your equipment handle the long lines? Are there contingency plans in place? Is your design and flow smart and getting smarter to handle the increasing demand? Can your employees not only handle but also continually improve? Think like a manufacturer. Look for the bottleneck and figure out how to relieve the pressure points.
Superstar Service
When was the last time you felt fantastic? Now, close your eyes and imagine being at Spago. You’ve just been greeted wonderfully and gracefully served the most delicious food.
Then, from the kitchen, the chef comes out. It’s Wolfgang Puck himself. He comes to your table and with a smile introduces himself. To you! Now open your eyes. And make reservations at one of his restaurants.
This well-orchestrated team effort happens regularly. It’s an experience to cherish and talk about. Having the right concept is important. But having superstar service is the equivalent of having an expert driver for a Ferrari. If you get the service and culture right you’re going to win. And sales can double in the same concept and space. As leaders, it’s our job to unite the team and drive morale. The best way to do that? Take good care of your employees, and in turn they’ll take good care of your guests. The best server is a happy, stable one. Treat your employees better than your competition. People who feel great about themselves and where they work are happy. They’re energized, and excited to serve others.
A team of thoughtful and committed people can accomplish remarkable results. Now it’s your job to design a system to create that. You’ve already taken on all the risk and made all the capital investment in the space. Now ignite it with a team of highly motivated A-players.
Word of Mouth
Great space. Great food. Great service. Check, check, check. Now it is about making a name for yourself through advertising. But not through expensive billboards or magazine ads. The best form of advertising is word of mouth, and it’s free.
Let’s take an off-the-Strip example to really highlight this point. Skinny Fats restaurant, located in a warehouse area, took over a failed generic cafeteria restaurant. The menu is delicious, comprised of both healthy and more decadent offerings. The design is very gritty and authentic. In fact, the walls are covered with two-by-fours that the owner and his team cut themselves. Guests really seem to love the food and experience. And they love talking to others about how much they crave the food—so much so that Skinny Fats was selected to handle food and beverage for the 2014 Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas. Exposure to over 100,000 people!
Can you imagine the word of mouth required to be selected for the event, and all the social media and shared stories after EDC? The answer can be found at their new second location, which opened to long lines before the sign was even installed.
They have turned their leads into gold through great service, an authentic approach and diehard fans spreading the word. You can too. Look at the poor-performing sectors in your casino with fresh eyes. What Would Skinny Fats Do? Do it right and give your customers another reason to visit and tell their friends.
By focusing on optimal service, superstar service and word of mouth, you may just find yourself with the makings of a landmark. Now it is your turn to line up the cherries and win big.
Loving the Lobby
Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City sought to modify some of its nightlife attractions and offer guests a more subdued option to its high-energy nightclubs. SOSH Architects, the Atlantic City-based architecture and interior design firm, was brought in to create a new lounge and lobby bar adjacent to Harrah’s guest check-in and VIP registration areas.
“SOSH was tasked to create a traditional whiskey bar with a twist of the unexpected, to capitalize on the synergy of this location and to help welcome guests while they check into the property,” says Michael Mangini, the firm’s director of interior design. “This location is the epicenter of everything that is about to happen with the guest experience.”
The high-profile lobby bar seats 12 with an additional 2,000 square feet of lounge area. It opened in November. The team created a traditional space with library-like detailing, while incorporating a modern twist in lighting and artwork. The overall space creates a relaxing, comfortable environment, while incorporating impact pieces designed to spark conversation between patrons.
Some of the highlights?
“Interior detailing using library-like millwork throughout while incorporating a modern approach to lighting 500 bottles of rare and unique whiskeys from around the world,” says Mangini.
“The whiskey is both front-lit and back-illuminated to create an atmosphere of intimacy utilizing acrylic ghosted panels behind the liquor bottles. This juxtaposition is again interpreted using traditional furnishing but upholstered in an unconventional way.
“Some of the artwork subject matter uses x-ray images of common architectural and personal objects to help emphasize that they are familiar and yet unique and unexpected. It is seeing something common, but in a new light to spark conversation and dialogue.”
Other features include 40 faux tortoise shells of various shapes and sizes adorning the walls, and velvet drapery surrounding traditional millwork detailing of the walls.
“A few key elements were custom-designed to help relate both to the traditional architectural detailing and also the modern era in a post-industrial manner,” Mangini says.
“The use of custom copper metal panels riveted to the bar die wall and a custom-designed black iron foot rest that was inspired from a single railway track is raised and bolted to the Baltic gray marble floor tile, which is laid in a herringbone pattern.
“A solid four-inch-thick Peruvian walnut bar top was designed to evoke the warm feeling of a whiskey bar from long ago. Some of the more contemporary detailing was used, such as a modern approach to display the amber alcohol of the bottles. There are three custom-designed glass display boxes suspended overhead at the entrance into the bar.
“This design element celebrates the whiskey bar by proudly displaying its offerings and also acts as a casino identifier inviting the visitor into the space.”
