Rio CEO wants to make the resort-casino ‘an icon reborn’

Rio operators Dreamscape Cos. named Miller president and CEO in May, following the resignation of Trevor Scherrer due to health concerns. Miller is a gaming industry veteran whose career highlights include transitioning the $550 million rebrand of Monte Carlo to Park MGM, completed in 2018, for MGM Resorts International.

The Review-Journal recently sat down with Miller inside the new cocktail spot Lapa Lounge at the center of the casino floor. The property’s $350 million transformation was well underway – portions of the adjacent gaming floor was blocked off, with gamblers reveling at table games on one side of the center lounge and new carpet and lighting installations occurring on the other.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Review-Journal: What brought you to Rio?

Miller: I’m born and raised here in Las Vegas. I love this city and everything it’s about – it’s such an exciting place to be from but also to welcome the world to. I spent almost 30 years with MGM Resorts. I started at The Mirage as a pit clerk, that’s a position that doesn’t even really exist anymore. I fell in love with the industry and the excitement of what was going on. I then spent 28 years through that company doing almost every job in the business, got a chance to do Monte Carlo and take that to Park MGM. And then after leaving that company, I’ve had the really great opportunity and the privilege to come over here and take advantage of reinventing the Rio into what we call an icon reborn.

What was your outside perspective on what Dreamscape wanted to do with this property before you started this role?

This property is a special place. I watched it come out of the ground. It was the first property that really felt like it did both things. It sat with the locals market and it sat with the Las Vegas Strip. It was special watching it, there was a sleek glass exterior and it was cool from that vantage point. It grew into this fun place to be (with) nightclubs, this amazing buffet. It was a special place, and then it kind of got forgotten about. It wasn’t the spot that it was and it needed an owner, someone who cared about it, to go, ‘Hey, it could be that place again.’ That’s a vision of Dreamscape, to bring this back and make it relevant in what I think is the greatest city in the world.

What lessons from the Park MGM transition are you putting into this role?

It’s never about changing out carpet and restaurants. All throughout Vegas, you do capital reinvestment, new walls or paint. That’s not what makes a property. It’s the people that make the property. I think that’s the most important lesson in my past. At Rio, we’re asking, do you have the right individuals on the property and around you to be able to make that change? Are you engaged with guests? Are you making sure you have a genuine service level that resonates one-to-one?

What I love about Rio is sometimes it’s tough on the Strip. It’s a big city, sometimes it’s expensive. Rio has an approachability and where you can feel welcome there. That genuine component of, ‘I got great service, and I didn’t feel like I had to pay to be there. It just felt right.’ I think that’s what’s special about Rio.

What kind of guidance do you give to your teams about how to work through the transition?

There’s some patience and understanding for sure. It’s not easy when there’s construction noise and jackhammering through a casino. You might be very transactional, where you have to check them in or serve them a drink, but know what everyone’s going through during the transition, specifically to guests – it’s basically imparting some empathy. I think everyone understands that change like this is progress for the good, and we see that. The lesson to them is just be real with the guests. Everyone’s going through it and everything is short lived.

Give us a status update on the transition.

I have a lot of friends in this town who have been here forever. Everyone goes, ‘Your lights look great.’ I go, ‘wait until you see the inside too.’ It was one thing to have the outside look new and exciting, now we had to deliver on the inside. That’s the point we’re at now.

The (Canteen Food Hall) opened earlier this year – six great outlets there that are fantastic and really approachable. We’ve worked through the main pool – five acres of pool out there that have new cabanas, new decking, new chairs, all new pool components. We did 1,500 of the rooms – that was done before (Miller’s start date) – and then new for us is really the casino floor. It’s all the main public space, which is a lot of square footage. It’s all new carpet, all new pillars, all new lighting, and wall vinyl to make the property feel brand new.

We’ll finish the casino remodel in the next eight weeks and that’s really the first phase of the property transformation. Then we operate and we start doing a master plan for the Masquerade Village and the rooms over there. There’s opportunities for several restaurants and retail, kind of a mixed-use space. They really believe that space could be a lot more, so we’re in the process of master planning it right now but no news yet.

How’s the Hyatt partnership going?

We’re excited that they’re here. This is the first destination resort for Hyatt in Nevada, so we love it. It’s their largest in their portfolio of all the Hyatt brands. From a scale perspective, the size of our convention product and all our rooms, they’re a great partner. It continues to get better every month.

On the new player’s club, Rio Rewards, how many new accounts have you signed up?

I won’t cover how many more accounts but I will tell you this. The rewards program has been a big driver for us in the casino business, from prior ownership to now. That’s where we’ve seen a tremendous amount of growth. We’ve got a lot of new games on our floor. We’re building this new casino floor. We know gaming is important to our guests, so the club is important. It’s mostly locals.

I’ve seen the billboards around town. Do you plan to keep the Rio Rewards marketing campaign going?

Ah, yes – “we did the math. You get more.” We continue to refine that program in the sense of offering new specials and new components, whether it’s giveaways and other things that are important to the local guest. But it’s not always about just the offer. It’s about the place where they are. So an offer coupled with a brand new casino and a good environment. I think we’ve got a double punch component of getting that guest in here and them wanting to be here.

Contact McKenna Ross at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on X.