For those who've not visited Michigan's largest city lately, be prepared to put aside the preconceptions and expect a surprise or two. The city's moribund downtown, long a place to avoid rather than visit, is reawakening with shops, restaurants, hotels, a waterfront entertainment district, and an increasingly busy convention center. Perhaps the biggest surprise, though, is how commercial gaming is helping feed the renewal.
In the past year Detroit has debuted a pair of major casino resortsthe MGM Grand Detroit and MotorCity Casino Hotelbringing with them thousands of new jobs and punctuating the city's growth from an overwhelmingly manufacturing-based economy to a more service-oriented path. For many in this economically challenged city, it's a change that's both welcome and long overdue.
A Win-Win Opportunity
The move to broaden Detroit's casinos into Vegas-styled resort destinations has been brewing for some time. According to the American Gaming Association, Detroit ranks fifth in the U.S. casino markets, with a healthy $1.335 billion in revenues for 2007. Both MGM Grand and MotorCity opened their doors during the late 1990s but did so in temporary quarters and minus guest rooms and major meeting space.
Downtown's resurgence notwithstanding, Detroit can still use any economic boost that comes its way. Detroit's unemployment rate was 8.5 percent in May, caused primarily by sagging car sales. Against that backdrop, the opening of the hotel resorts only re-emphasizes the area's need for a more diverse economy. By adding hotel rooms, meetings space, and Vegas-style amenities (e.g., posh spas, fine dining) to their existing facilities, the casino operators are also signaling their intent not only to stick around but to immerse themselves in both Detroit's fledgling service economy and community life in the process.
"This was an opportunity for us and the city," says John Hutar, MGM Grand Detroit's vice president of hotel operations, who adds that the company fielded over 27,000 prospects for roughly 3,000 jobs at the 400-room resort. "It was just staggering the amount of interest we had," says Hutar, who laments not having had more positions he could fill. "In the talent pool available to us the people are genuine and warm at heart. Many of them grew up locally in families that worked in the auto industrysomeone with Chrysler would marry into a GM or a Ford family. Many thought they'd secured jobs for life and unfortunately that wasn't the case."
That sentiment is shared by Juliette Okotieeboh, the MGM Grand's senior vice president of community affairs and administration. "I grew up in this town and know the role of manufacturingit was good employment for many years," she says. "But I'm really heartened when I look at where we're going. We have jobs here that can easily turn into career paths."
At MotorCity, business woman and philanthropist Marian Ilitch is spending $300 million to transform her temporary gambling facility (housed in Detroit's landmark Wonder Bread Building) into a 400-room resort. "This used to be a city with a sense of entitlement; it's now a city with a sense of service," says MotorCity vice president of hotel operations and Detroit native Randall Villareal. "Along with that attitude change we've had an infrastructure changeit's a totally different city from five years ago."
Creating a New Mindset
That said, Detroit's casino operators still face something of a challenge with their new employees, as many hires have never worked anywhere but on an assembly line. "They've worked primarily in non-hospitality jobs before, so the question is, how do you get them motivated to compete?" says MGM Grand's Hutar. "If they've never cleaned a guest room or waited a table we can teach them to do that. What we're more interested in is, are they caring and how do we get a service culture in perpetuity?"
Empowering employees is one way, according to MotorCity's Villareal. "They're not necessarily used to being in a job where they need to make decisions," he says. "They're no longer just pressing a button, but engaging with clients and solving issues, so we try to give them the confidence to do that through training and day-to-day activities."
Incentivizing workers can also instill confidence, and both casino resorts have reward programs in place aimed at bringing out the best in customer service. MGM Grand Detroit's Shining Star Awards recognize staffers who consistently demonstrate the company's core values of "pride, respect, integrity, diversity, and excellence"PRIDE, per the resort's official acronymin their respective roles. Winners, nominated by fellow employees, receive an enviable corporate pat-on-the-back as well: $500 checks, fine dining gift certificates, a congratulatory luncheon, and a month of preferred parking.
At MotorCity, the Simply the Best program recognizes four monthly associates with $500 checks and an Associate of the Year and four runners-up with $20,000 and $5,000, respectively. The program, per vice president of public relations and community affairs Jacci Woods, goes to the core of MotorCity's philosophy on customer and community service. "We honor them for going beyond normal duty," explains Woods.
To that end, Cynthia Banasinski serves as a prime example of how native Detroiters can successfully switch from a manufacturing career into the service arena. With her children grown and gone, she created a second career for herself nine years ago as a food court cashier at MotorCity. "I decided it was my time," says Banasinski, whose first careersurprisebegan back in the 1970s at Chrysler. "In the auto industry we were in the back of the house and not dealing with a person face-to-face," she says, as opposed to dealing with customers up close and personal at MotorCity. Clearly the change of environment agrees with Banasinski, who won the 2004 Simply the Best award and is a finalist for this year's honors. "She brings the same happy, cooperative, and outgoing disposition to this company every day," says Woods.
Changing Perceptions
While still relatively new (less than a year) on Detroit's hospitality scene, the trickle-down effect of the efforts of the casino resorts is attracting the attention of meeting planners and attendees. "We have some conventions booked in the city that were not able to come here before because they could not get enough inventory to fill their room block," says the MGM Grand's Hutar, citing, without irony, the United Auto Workers in particular. "Their room block wouldn't fit before, but in 2010 they're having their convention here," he says.
Alexa Swindell, manager of event marketing at MTU Detroit Diesel, has already booked a pair of 300-to-400 person events at the MGM Grand this year, bringing with them attendees from around North America. "They've really cleaned the city up, literallythere's less crime and trash and it's actually a desirable place to go," she says. And there are more visitors who, upon departing, leave their preconceived notions of Detroit behind as well. "We had one guy from South Carolina, whose colleagues told him to keep his head down, don't make eye contact with anyone, and don't go out at night," says Swindell. "Afterward, he said this was one of the best trips he's ever had."
PLAYERS CLUB
Detroit isn't the only destination that is being redefined by a big gaming development. Here are three others of note.
Lumiere Place. This $507 million complex, developed by Pinnacle Entertainment in downtown St. Louis, opened at the end of 2007. The property is adjacent to the city's famed Gateway Arch as well as the America's Center convention center, the 66,000-seat Edward Jones Dome, and the MetroLink light rail system.
To highlight the opening ceremony, Pinnacle Entertainment Chairman and CEO Daniel R. Lee and St. Louis Mayor Francis G. Slay threw an eight-foot light switch and lit the massive light box surrounding Lumiere's 24-story tower, illuminating the historic riverfront with more than 42,000 feet of LEDs.
CityCenter. It's not like the Strip needs something grand to revitalize the city, but if you're going to build in Vegas you have to build big. This is an unprecedented urban metropolis on 76 acres between the Bellagio and Monte Carlo resorts on the Las Vegas Strip. The project, which is the result of a partnership between MGM MIRAGE and Dubai World, has a price tag of more than $8 billion.
The development will feature a 4,000-room hotel/casino; the chic Vdara Condo Hotel, a non-gaming, non-smoking boutique hotel; approximately 2,650 luxury residences; and The Crystals, a 500,000-square-foot retail and entertainment district.
Charting a new course for responsible growth in Las Vegas, CityCenter is pursuing the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for Vdara and the entire development. As planned, the 18-million-square-foot, multi-use project will become one of the world's largest environmentally sustainable urban communities.
Casino Arizona Resort & Spa. Opening early 2010, the 497-room property will bring a big-time resort gaming experience to the Arizona desert. Guests will be able to enjoy a rejuvenating spa, eight world-class restaurants, 10 entertainment lounges, and more than 100,000 square feet of meeting and conference space. Other notable amenities at the resort of interest to groups include a themed pool and cabana areas, and championship golf. The gaming venue will include 998 slot machines, more than 50 blackjack tables, 50 poker tables, fast action keno, and OTB.
Originally published Aug. 1, 2008
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