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Trump Entertainment Resorts: Roll With It

Cover Story
Written by Jill Rose
Saturday, 01 November 2008
Keeping up with industry trends—not to mention economic cycles—is no easy task, but Mark Juliano and his team at Trump Entertainment Resorts have no problem staying on top of this game. Their secret formula, says Juliano, is data. Thanks to a successful IT implementation, which Juliano headed up after being named CEO in 2007, the executive team is able to closely track the ROI on its campaigns and programs, as well as hotel-room yield. “We can track all of the data as it relates to individual programs for our Trump One customers, so after we feel we’ve properly introduced a program, if customers are not reacting to it, we modify or eliminate it,” said Juliano, referring to the Atlantic City-based company’s highly successful customer loyalty program. “We know exactly who the customers are, what they are responding to, and what our ROI is.” Likewise, the company’s yield management system can easily forecast room demand. “If yielding is down, we can take steps to keep our occupancy levels where we like them to be,” Juliano explained. Like most hotel/casino organizations, Trump Entertainment Resorts (a public company whose majority shareholder and chairman is Donald Trump) must balance complimentary rooms for high-quality gaming customers with cash-paying customers. In fact, keeping that balance is a main focus for Juliano and his team as they work to transition from one-day gambling guests to those that plan a longer vacation in Atlantic City. This strategy, which Juliano was involved in when he started with the company as COO in 2005, includes room and casino-floor renovations, a 780-room hotel tower, new restaurants, a beefed-up online presence, and partnerships with other hotel chains and travel sites. Eat, drink, and… As gambling continues to evolve into a mainstream form of entertainment, casinos must change along with it. To that end, the latest floor renovation at both Atlantic City Trump casinos, Trump Taj Mahal and Trump Plaza Hotel, includes a variety of entertainment aspects. (The company is in the process of selling its third Atlantic City property, Trump Marino Hotel Casino, to Coastal Development.) “We are introducing lounges with live entertainment on all of our casino floors,” said Juliano. “We have also focused a lot of the restaurant offerings close to the casino floor so that they become one experience. People can eat, have a drink, be entertained, and gamble all at the same time.” Although the money spent on all of the recent renovations was considerable and coincided with the dip in the economy, Juliano is less concerned than most. “We’ve seen cycles like these before, and although the climate is not good for any business right now, we are fortunate to have the liquidity and the wherewithal to get through it.” One positive aspect of today’s economy is a looser employment pool, helping ease the pain of front-line-employee turnover. Other than making sure the company pays these employees well, there is not much that can be done to increase retention. But Juliano and his team have a strong program in place to capture quality employees and make sure they see the opportunities for advancement. “We have a lot of training programs, both for front-line employees before they start and throughout their tenure with us,” he said. “The ones we identify as being what we call keepers are sent through training to prepare them for a supervisory or management position.” Once employees reach that level, they are eligible for bonus incentives and the company stock plan. “Particularly for young people, you have to show them a career path and the multitude of opportunities available to them,” Juliano explained, adding that casinos, open around the clock, are particularly well suited to hire and retain Gen Yers, for whom a traditional nine-to-five job is often not attractive. “It’s always a challenge to find good people, but the opportunity for us is when we find good people, we find ways to keep them,” Juliano said. “We show them there’s a great future, whether it’s with our company or in hospitality in general.” Fierce competition Recently, Juliano’s main marketing focus has been online. In addition to partnering with sites like Expedia and TravelClick for ads and promotions, the company revamped its entire Web site to make it more user friendly. “Customers are very interested in hassle-free avenues for them to book their reservations,” said Juliano. In addition to room reservations, customers can now order a spa package, upgrade to a different room type, and make dinner reservations. Juliano said in addition to adding value for customers, the new site helps as the company works to position itself as the market leader in Atlantic City. This will aid in the company’s effort to pull in longer-stay guests as opposed to slot customers, for which there is fierce competition from two new casinos in nearby Pennsylvania. Expansion will also come from partnerships the company is forming with traditional hotel chains such as Hilton, Hyatt, and Sheraton. Similar to the way airlines accept points from other airlines, the deals now in progress will allow Trump One customers to get a preference on room type or exchange Trump points for room or amenity discounts. One reason Juliano has been able to focus on expansion, he said, is the experienced team running the Atlantic City properties on a daily basis. In addition to a group from the original Trump organization in Atlantic City, some that have been with the company for more than 20 years, Juliano has been able to attract a number of top quality people from other companies. “The management team here is really the greatest resource we have. It’s the thing that makes my job that much easier,” he said. “Anyone that gets up every day and wants to go to work, that’s the kind of employee you’re interested in. I spend a lot of time here, and if I didn’t have that passion, it would be a lot less accessible for me and would be more of an effort. I look forward to coming to work every day.”

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