Australian casino operator Echo Entertainment is relying on one of its joint venture partners for insights into the mind of the Chinese VIP gambler.

David Chiu (pictured), the Hong Kong billionaire whose Far East Consortium has partnered with Echo and Chow Tai Fook Enterprises on Echo’s in-development $3b Queens Wharf resort casino in Brisbane, has been educating Echo’s senior management on what makes the average Chinese VIP tick.

In an interview with the Brisbane Times, Chiu said he took Echo execs – including CEO Matt Bekier – on a tour of Macau casinos to “meet all our friends” and give Echo a sense of “how Chinese VIPs behave.” The tour didn’t include a stop at Melco Crown Entertainment’s City of Dreams, “because Crown did not want to show us.” Crown Resorts, which is part of the Melco Crown joint venture, is Echo’s biggest domestic rival.

According to Chiu, small details are often more important than the more obvious VIP perks. “High rollers drop $2 million, but they are very concerned about being overcharged for a coffee. For the Chinese it’s just as important they get a shark fin soup in a Chinese restaurant as it is a private jet turning up in Shanghai.” Chiu says Chinese VIPs “are not easy customers, but they are great customers,” mainly because they “lose a lot of money.”