Casinos pose a special challenge for maintenance professionals. Between the glitz, lights and standard amenities such as pools, spa's, business centers etc. hotel facility management has a daunting task. In an industry where image is based upon bigger, brighter and the ability to socialize, facility management is not about meeting production goals but rather image portrayal to the public.
Take for example the new Encore Hotel Las Vegas, on top of normal hotel functions like operating pools, spas, business centers, and housekeeping, the Encore has some unusal maintenance tasks. This includes making sure over 9 miles of neon are operating and millions of lights. In fact the logo sign on the hotel has 4,632 light bulbs, 3,300 feet of neon, and 1,380,864 LED lights. With such an enormous inventory asset tracking is critical but this in not the only problem. Here are some other issues casino maintenance management has.
The Top Ten Casino Maintenance Challenges Are:
- High volume of lights produces excessive heats often taxing substandard chillers. This is sort of like trying to air condition a house with open doors and windows. Eventually the A/C stops due to overheating, overuse or lack of maintenance.
- Inventory of lights and constant inspections to make sure the glitz and brightness are there. The WOW factor must always be maintained.
- Energy efficiency. Energy costs are constantly rising due to the addition of electronics like electronic display panels at gaming tables. Compounding the effect is cleaning crews that historically turn on all the power in morning even though much of it is not needed. When is the last time you visited a casino and the lights were off?
- Emergency repairs for plumbing, power or gas as well as any other problem.
- The use of staff for trivial maintenance for janitorial issues such as changing toilet roles as a result of crossover management. The significantly impact the ability to perform regular scheduled preventive maintenance and inspections.
- HVAC and furniture maintenance as a result of smoking. The amount of maintenance depends on the smoking policy of the casino as well as State or local law. HVAC maintenance is highly dependent on the established policy. Furniture repair is a result of odors and/or burns.
- Boiler maintenance and inspection. Boilers in many casinos are found on the roofs. This can be particularly dangerous in the desert heat of places like Las Vegas.
- Vendor management of the hundreds of contractors involved in daily or contractual maintenance of the premises.
- Safety, liability and compliance. This area covers all preventive maintenance, inspections and work order history of items that could result in liability issues. Everything from door jams to broken railings to pool maintenance is included.
- Educating management and staff on the importance of planned maintenance activities and energy conservation. As mentioned in item 5, there is is substantial dotted line responsibility in a casino and glitz usually wins over common sense.
Possible Solutions
Most of the challenges listed above can be properly addressed by an Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) system. An EAM will help organize assets, provide a database of vendor contracts and help manage maintenance to ensure the necessary maintenance is being performed to achieve energy and work order efficiencies. Unfortunately, educating management and staff on energy consumption as well as the value of preventive maintenance will only happen when they are confronted with the stark realities of rising costs or a tie-in to their compensation package.
To learn more about the capabilities of EAM systems and the ways they can help manage assets from purchase to retirement visit Mintek or leave a comment on this article.
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