Company
The City of Dreams, Macau (Part of the Melco-Crown Entertainment Group)
Business Challenge
To provide the resort with the regions first ever integrated credit card processing solution from Servebase and to integrate with a number of new applications
Country
Special Administrative Region (SAR,) MACAU, China
Business Solution
The American gaming industry has poured more than £30bn into Macau over the past five years and it now tops Vegas as the gambling capital of the world. The City of Dreams casino resort resides on the Cotai strip in Macau and is a US$2.4 billion investment for owners, Melco-Crown Entertainment.
Servebase were tasked with providing the City of Dreams resort with the region’s first ever integrated credit card processing solution that would be able to interface to many different applications from Hotel front desks, food & beverage outlets and ticketing software packages. Servebase tackled the challenge by developing super fast IP links into the client’s card acquiring partners Bank of China. Because PC-EFT is developed entirely using Microsoft development tools and works in conjunction with Microsoft SQL database engine, the work was able to be completed in just 6 weeks, in time for the Grand Opening.
The security of Cardholder Data was of the up most importance to the operators of the site, so because Servebase already operate a Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) certified Data Centre of their own in the UK, they were able to offer the client a Key Management module as part of the solution. This meant that the keys used for data encryption can be changed when ever required and contributed to the PCI-DSS certification awarded to the project. Security was further enhanced by the implementation of IPSec which was easily introduced across the Microsoft platforms over which the cardholder data is transmitted.
Results
All card payments from the 2 Hotels and 16 Restaurants and bars are consolidated in the single installation of PC-EFT, greatly easing the accounting and reporting effort such a client would have if they were to have employed the traditional old fashioned bank terminal model, which would have meant them reconciling over 200 separate points of sale. Reporting information from the PC-EFT database can be easily accessed from many positions around the site (such as within the accounts offices and management centres) and if the standard PC-EFT reports are not detailed enough, there is an Export Facility from where data can read in to other products such as Microsoft Excel and manipulated to produce fully customisable analysis of card data.
With many foreign visitors to the casinos and other attractions within the City of Dreams, PC-EFT is also able to facilitate a currency conversion service (commonly referred to as Dynamic Currency Conversion or ‘DCC’) which allows the guests to choose to settle their bills in their home currency, meaning they know exactly what they are paying at the point of sale rather than finding out much later when their card statement arrives. This premium service then generates additional income for the owners.
Chris O’Dell, Servebase Director for the Asia Pac region commented: “Our PC-EFT solution has once again proved to be perfect for the fast paced hospitality and retail environment where reliability and speed are paramount for customer satisfaction. This success has meant that The Melco Entertainment Group envisages using the PC-EFT solutions throughout their businesses in Macau.”
Key Benefits
- Cost Effective
- Secure
- Charge Customers in their own local currency
- Centralised reporting function
- Efficient transaction reconciliation
- Fast transaction authorisation
