Atlantic City trumps Las Vegas for customer satisfaction and value

Categories: Casinos
As published in:  Hotel & Motel Management
Date: April 7 2008
Author: Jonathan Barsky, Lenny Nash

With only 11 casinos — and only one of them built in the past 15 years to the luxury standards of the Strip — Atlantic City is far from Las Vegas by any definition. In fact by most measures Las Vegas completely out-sizes Atlantic City (number of guest rooms, square feet of convention and exhibit space, restaurants, spas, shopping, golf courses, etc.). But according to the latest Market Metrix Hospitality Index results, some things are changing. Atlantic City is now challenging Las Vegas in fundamental measures including guest satisfaction and certain emotional experiences.

Compared to the Las Vegas Strip, Atlantic City guests are more satisfied with their hotel and casino experience and, in turn, are more likely to recommend Atlantic City hotels and casinos to others. For example, Atlantic City guests are impressed with Harrah’s service and employee attitudes and love Borgata’s celebrity-chef-run restaurants.

Atlantic City hotels and casinos also get higher marks for pampering their guests. Here are some comments about why guests feel pampered:

• I use a casino host and he takes very good care of me and my needs.

• The quality of their goods is excellent. I stayed in the suite which offers a huge bathroom, ceiling to floor windows and an unusually comfortable bed. There is a special dining room for 'high rollers' that is great.

• Lots of Comfortable Pillows and a complimentary Fruit Basket.

• Upgraded room upon check in

• A birthday cake, wine and cheese, fruit plate delivered to my suite was unexpected, but a great surprise!

• The soap in the bathroom was all natural (organic) made with special products. Also, the shower was huge and had a bench and water temperature monitor.

Atlantic City has an advantage in its pursuit of Las Vegas size success. It used to be a popular destination, a summer resort for the wealthy, before Las Vegas was founded. But in the 1960s, due to a lack of re-investment in new hospitality facilities and infrastructure, Atlantic City suffered a precipitous decline. And for years Atlantic City was criticized for being a smaller, frumpier sibling engaged in endless games of catch-up.

But the opening of The Borgata in 2003 marked a new chapter for Atlantic City. The Borgata’s success, coupled with New Jersey’s low tax rate, is paving the way for a wave of multibillion-dollar resorts. And while the Market Metrix results show that customers are generally pleased with the new Atlantic City hotels and casinos, there is, of course, The Boardwalk, the ocean and the beach… Look out, here comes Atlantic City’s transformation.

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Jonathan Barsky and Lenny Nash are principles with Market Metrix LLC (MarketMetrix.com), a firm that provides multi-channel survey, analysis and service improvement tools and benchmarking data for the hospitality industry. For more information, call (800) 239-7515.