Casino Solutions

Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, FL Case Study

In late 2007 AVPM installed its valet operating system at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida replacing the previous computerized system. The operator at Seminole Hard Rock Casino is Seminole Exchange. The 12-story Mediterranean-style tower has 481 spacious guest rooms including 86 suites with panoramic views, a casino with over 2,300 square foot of slots & games, an outdoor shopping center with restaurants and night clubs, and numerous amounts of parking in three separate garages and lots, multiple receiving & delivery areas for valet parking and serving thousands of cars every day.

CHALLENGES:

• Increase in business
• Increase in traffic flow
• Wait time
• Lost keys
• Excessive payroll time and attendance
• Revenue Control
• VIP recognition
• Players card integration
• Validation tracking
• Employee performance tracking
• Monitoring
• Reporting

 A major difficulty at the site was accommodating the increased traffic flow created by added gaming opportunities. Valet customers would sometimes wait up to 30 minutes to receive their car which was a major concern. In the past, cars lined up for a mile or more waiting to be checked in.

The hotel and casino needed a valet operation that would provide better service, fewer lost keys, decreased manpower, increased revenue and a return on the investment. 

 
SOLUTIONS:

Increase in Business
Not long after gaming laws in Florida were altered, the location faced an approximately 300 percent increase in business. AVPM has provided benefits to the hotel and casino valet operation including better service, fewer lost keys, decreased manpower, increased revenue and a return on the investment in just three months.

 
Increase in Traffic Flow
Since the business increased, multiple receiving, delivery and parking areas & garages added to accommodate the high volume of customers. The system keeps track of all vehicles, keys and customers.

Automated Valet also implemented a traffic flow pattern that could accommodate heavy traffic with just three lanes. The 3rd lane was built so it could be used as an entry and an exit. Valet can change the direction of the 3rd lane at any time. Because of Automated Valets design changes, now the line moves quickly and smoothly even with a high volume of traffic. 

 
Wait Time
The time to process cars is minimized by the use of wireless scanning technology Bluetooth Scanners. These Handheld units collect information about the make, model and condition of each car almost instantaneously by decoding VIN numbers.

Customer service is improved and the average wait time is down to 4.5 minutes after replacing the previous computerized system. The system operation board monitors the location of each car keeping the wait time down. 

Several Self Serve Request Kiosks with PCI PA-DSS credit card acceptance installed so customers can make payments and request their vehicles. The selfservice solution equipped with NCR Computer, stand (optional), scanner, printer, and optional magstripe reader for credit card payments, room key and players cards integration.

Lost Keys
Keys are almost never lost, employee processes are monitored and the operation board records timely data for every car received, every car parked, and every key in hand. Monitoring of all keys allows them to know where they are at all times. In the event that a key is misplaced, the manager knows immediately with the AVPM Lost Key Warning. Traffic is up enormously, but mishaps are down remarkably. 

Excessive Payroll Time and Attendance
Computer terminals were increased from two to seven; however, no significant additional employees were required to accommodate the increase in demand because of the efficiency of the system. 

At the hotel and casino site, payroll has gone down by 40 percent, in part because the system monitors employees using biometric technology and also because the operation is run more efficiently resulting in a lower labor costs. Employees clock in and out using their fingerprints. Payroll is also down because the entire operation is running correctly and efficiently.

 
Revenue Control
Garage Access Control with Video Processing was added to the garage and damage control imaging, including 360 degree scanning of the vehicles. The information is encoded into the customers tickets folio. Seminole Exchange, the operator reports that the previous computerized camera system captured only 10% of the claims. Automated Valet captures 99 out of 100 claims.

 The scanning of vehicles is completed within less than a second. Claims are down because of the damage control imaging at  each entry. Employees are also identified by their faces and are able to pass through the gates quickly since they  dont have to identify themselves with ID badges.  

VIP Recognition
Wireless handheld technology that is applied at three receiving areas at the hotel and casino site provides wireless, error-free receiving of customers cars. The handheld scanners transfer information to the sites computer network. Within milliseconds the scanning technology records all information pertinent to the car such as ticket number, and decodes VIN number for make, model info and can use the VIN recognition to identify repeat customers and VIPs. Not only that, VIPs are automatically identified when they request their vehicles from the valet and their cars are delivered with priority. 

Player's Card Integration
Of all the problems resolved by the Automated Valet's technology, the increase in revenue control was most vital. With the new system, departing valet customers present their room card or, for gaming patrons, a players card, which is swiped on the system to give the valet staff information about discounts and validations, and provides tracking information so the customer can be billed through their room account or pay cash. In the past, the site lost revenue every day for various reasons. Some patrons were hotel guests and others simply day guests or casino patrons, so validation had become extremely chaotic, with employees making guesses about customers credits and discounts. AVPM gives valet operators the ability to track and post valet parking fees day and night. For the hotel guests, the system downloads valet fees, reports the information to the hotel database and valet charges are applied directly to their bills along with room charges and other amenities. Day-use gaming customers and visitors pay at the valet desk. If payment has not been made, the dispatch office does not release the vehicle and/or the exit kiosk does not open the gate for drivers.   

Validation Tracking

Validation Tracking System provides 100% revenue control for Seminole Exchange. All validations are scrambled letters and numbers. They cannot be re-used or duplicated and they can be assigned with an expiration date or voided in case they are lost. 

Employee Performance Tracking
For each transaction employees have to scan their ID badge and ticket or use their finger prints, or face identification. This process takes less than a millisecond but allows management to get accurate reports. AVPM gives them hourly, daily, monthly and yearly reports. These reports are never deleted so management is able to get reports even 20-30 years later.  

Monitoring
AVPM Enterprise was also implemented at Seminole Hard Rock Casino. With this feature, Seminole Exchange can remotely monitor the site and also see what is going on at the location in real time from anywhere in the world. Real time reports are also available from remote locations using our Enterprise Software Solution.

AVPM Operation Board, the electronic monitoring system was implemented. Seminole Exchange can view the information on-site or off-site. They can now keep track of all employees, keys, cars, and garage. Every time a new transaction occurs, it gets recorded with a time stamp and different color and is displayed on the operation board. 

Reporting
Productivity has increased at the site since the installation. Keys, cars, employees, customers and cash flow are all monitored and more than 90 reports can be prepared to analyze the data collected. Employee performances are tracked, as well as validations and master accounts, ticket inventory, revenue, and payroll.

The previous computerized system did not allow them to pull reports any time of the day because the system would freeze; with AVPM they can pull reports anytime. They dont even have to be at the location, they can pull the reports from anywhere in the world without affecting the operation at all. 

RESULTS:

The hotel and casino site at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino has demonstrated a marked increase in the efficiency of its operation since the AVPMs valet management system was installed. The hotel and casinos technical department no longer toils day and night in an effort to keep its valet system operating AVPM provides 24-hours-day, 7-days-a-week technical support and, the self healing process that does not require any man hours. Training time has been short because the AVPM system is intuitive and easy to learn. Payroll itself has been integrated with a payroll service reducing hours for the hotel and casinos accounting department.

With the new features in place, the valet operation is capable of parking hundreds of cars per hour. Thousands of hours of manpower are saved because the system is 99.9% percent uptime since the first installation day without any mission critical issue. Since AVPM installed it has functioned without pause. That reliability, along with increased revenue and decreased payroll allowed the return on the investment within the first few months of operation.