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 Casino Executives Still Out-Earn Hotel
Colleagues As Gap Widens Further

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By Keith Kefgen, August 2004

It appears that the gap between casino and hotel pay continues to widen for senior executives. We recently updated the HCE Hospitality Compensation Exchange© survey and found that on average, casino executives received cash compensation that was nearly double that of hotel executives. We compared the positions of general manager, head of human resources, head of sales and marketing and head of food and beverage. The comparison included hotels with more than six hundred rooms and casinos operating in the United States. Below is a graphical look at the analysis.

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Lodging
Base Salary 
 Minimum 
25th Percentile 
50th Percentile 
75th Percentile 
Maximum 
General Manager  $60,013.31  $133,057.39  $151,593.63  $179,817.53  $437,737.11
Dir. Sales & Marketing  $27,639.97  $86,698.68  $104,879.92  $119,552.33  $265,225.00
Dir. Food & Beverage  $46,197.05  $75,407.99  $90,024.39  $97,903.07  $140,000.00
Dir. Human Resources  $50,027.10  $65,035.23  $75,040.65  $86,500.00  $139,256.00
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Bonus 
 Minimum 
25th Percentile 
50th Percentile 
75th Percentile 
Maximum 
General Manager  $0.00  $12,506.77  $37,208.25  $51,839.90  $218,868.56
Dir. Sales & Marketing  $0.00  $0.00  $12,576.19  $27,627.00  $86,922.08
Dir. Food & Beverage  $0.00  $0.00  $3,766.00  $11,992.08  $48,776.42
Dir. Human Resources  $0.00  $0.00  $4,006.00  $11,479.00  $35,964.51
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Gaming
Base Salary 
 Minimum 
25th Percentile 
50th Percentile 
75th Percentile 
Maximum 
General Manager  $180,081.41  $297,224.13  $353,031.60   $486,940.13  $827,502.00
Dir. Sales & Marketing  $94,953.33  $122,714.03  $163,514.40  $178,782.87  $281,138.50
Dir. Food & Beverage  $60,867.52  $84,497.57  $110,864.05   $154,955.46  $180,353.00
Dir. Human Resources  $77,660.11  $107,810.66  $137,917.00   $163,787.05  $275,104.13
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Bonus
 Minimum 
25th Percentile 
50th Percentile 
75th Percentile 
Maximum 
General Manager  $0.00  $38,847.00  $79,164.90  $130,811.52  $325,307.59
Dir. Sales & Marketing  $0.00  $0.00  $15,084.13  $32,702.88  $86,060.21 
Dir. Food & Beverage  $0.00  $0.00  $4,215.00  $9,106.77  $30,600.00 
Dir. Human Resources  $0.00  $0.00  $5,116.00   $13,101.77  $27,539.27
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The median base salary for a casino general manager was $353,031 as compared to $151,593 for a hotel general manager. The median bonus pay was also more than doubled at $79,164 for casino GMs and $37,208 for hotel GMs. On a percentage basis, the median bonus for a hotel GM was 24.5%, while the casino GM had a median percentage of 22.4%. It pays to have a larger base salary as most bonus plans are constructed in relation to base pay. At each of the percentile breaks, casino GMs doubled hotel compensation.

The doubling trend continued in the human resources discipline. Casino HR heads earned a median salary of $137,917 compared to $75,040 at hotels, a difference of more than 82%. Bonus pay was much closer as the median bonus was $5,116 at casinos and $4,006 at hotels. Again, hotels paid more on a percentage basis but less in real dollars.

Sales and marketing executives working in a casino had a median base salary of $137,917 as compared to $104,879. Although the gap widen over the past two years, the difference was 30% rather than double. Bonus pay was also quite similar, with casino marketing executives earning a median bonus of $15,084 and hotel executives earning $12,576. Bonus pay was consistently similar throughout the percentiles.

Food and beverage executives had the smallest disparity among the executives we analyzed. The median base compensation for a casino F&B executive was $110,864, while hotel F&B executives earned $90,024. The gap closed further to a 22.5% differential between the two groups. The median bonus check for both F&B executive groups was around $4,000.

It is clear that casino companies pay more on average than hotel companies. We also realize that most casinos are significantly larger than 600+ room hotels. In many ways casinos are multiple businesses under one roof (casino, hotel, restaurant and retail). Compensation is reflective of those differences. The question is, �can hotel executives make the transition to similar roles in casinos�? We think that casinos are relying more and more on revenues from their hotel and restaurant departments and that the time is ripe for hotel executives to consider making the move.

Keith Kefgen is President of HVS Executive Search, the leading executive search firm specializing in the lodging, gaming, and restaurant industries.


 
Contact:

Keith Kefgen
Executive Search, Restaurant Management
HVS International
372 Willis Avenue
Mineola, NY, 11501
Phone:  +1 516 248-8828 ext. 220
[email protected]
 

Also See: Compensation Trends in Trying Times / Keith Kefgen / June 2003


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