Las Vegas service level way down
Nov 30th, 2001, 06:11 AM
#1
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Las Vegas service level way down
Las Vegas hotel occupancy levels are almost back to normal but the number of people working at the hotels/eating places and casinos is still way down. Now a maid cleans twice as many rooms in a eight hour shift. The maid does the best she can but the rooms are left dirty because of the pressure to service the additional rooms. Instead of having 4 busboys at a eating establishment there is now only two and the tables are not cleaned as fast as before. Instead of a staff of 40 cleaning up a casino hotel, now there is 25 and the place is not as clean as before and things look torn and tattered. Yes, the casino industry thinks they can get by with less workers as occupancy comes back to normal but we the customers are noticing quality levels are going down hill.
Nov 30th, 2001, 07:04 AM
#3
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I would surmise that the casinos took a big hit during the 3-5 weeks after 9/11, and they're trying to recoup the losses by understaffing for awhile, with the goal of getting back to full staff once the losses have been offset by reduced wage expenses.
Nov 30th, 2001, 07:19 AM
#5
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MJ, you're correct.
The casino and hotel operations are run separately. Used to be that the hotels were just 'loss leaders' for the casinos/resort as a whole. Not any more. The cost of the new hotels and the increasing popularity of LV have let ownwers know that the hotels can be profitable (or nearly so) on their own.
So while the casinos will always be relied upon to carry most of the profitability load, hotel operations managers are under more pressure to contribute to profits than in years past.
In the current environment, the fastest way to increase profits is to cut wage expenses (by reducing staff).
Will there be some disgruntled hotel guests? You bet.
But it's a short term maneuver to try to 'balance the books'.
I'm not saying it's the wisest strategy overall.
The casino and hotel operations are run separately. Used to be that the hotels were just 'loss leaders' for the casinos/resort as a whole. Not any more. The cost of the new hotels and the increasing popularity of LV have let ownwers know that the hotels can be profitable (or nearly so) on their own.
So while the casinos will always be relied upon to carry most of the profitability load, hotel operations managers are under more pressure to contribute to profits than in years past.
In the current environment, the fastest way to increase profits is to cut wage expenses (by reducing staff).
Will there be some disgruntled hotel guests? You bet.
But it's a short term maneuver to try to 'balance the books'.
I'm not saying it's the wisest strategy overall.
