If you haven’t been to Grand Casino Mille Lacs and Grand Casino Hinckley in Minnesota recently, now is a great time for a return visit. Both offer vibrant gaming experiences, upscale accommodations, delectable dining options, awesome amenities, world-class entertainment, luxurious spas great golf and more. So when we heard about a recent multi-million dollar renovation to enhance the guest rooms and other property amenities, we had to get the scoop on what’s new, what’s the same and why players will love it. We caught up with Guest Experience Director, Ryan O’Brien, who shares some insight on how he ensures great player experiences and looks forward to welcoming guests.
Listen to the interview:
G. Douglas Dreisbach: There is not another industry in the world where customer hospitality is as important as it is in the casino industry. How long have you been in the business and what has changed over the years? And what has stayed the same?
Ryan O’Brien: I’ve been in the gaming industry going on 25 years and would say that what has stayed the same over the generations of gaming is the fun and excitement that comes from playing the slot machines and table games, as well as other games like Keno and bingo. I’ve noticed some really cool technological trends and as the machines get cooler and bigger with more sounds and sights, the excitement that people get when they’re playing those machines is the same, and I love seeing that.
Ryan O’Brien – Guest Experience Director at Grand Casino Mille Lacs and Hinckley
GDD: When it comes to the latest and greatest games in the casino, do guests have input? If they say they played or saw a game somewhere, and really want it there at the property, do you try to provide it if there is demand?
RO: We actually do get that a lot, when a guest says, “I’ve seen this at a different property. I saw this on an advertisement. I saw this somewhere.” Usually, we have it here on property, and it’s just a matter of finding it for them.
GDD: What are some of your day-to-day roles and responsibilities as the guest experience director?
RO: My role is to make sure that any time a guest has feedback about our property it’s my job to take that information and feedback and apply it to a strategy or just share it with the team, and try to make it happen for them.
GDD: What gets you excited to get up and go to work every day? What do you love about what you do?
RO: I love that this industry really focuses on making our guests the first priority, and the associates are a close second. Working for the Grand Casino’s brand, the associates are our teammates. They are the ones we work with every day and who we walk around with. But, on a busy night, we’re out there together making it happen for these guests.
It is also the same thing on the other end with the guests. We are providing experiences for the guests, really understanding and getting to know the people that come in and enjoy the experiences here at Grand Casino. That’s what really gets me up. It’s the people and the interactions. It’s the activity, the meeting people, throwing a knuckle bump or the high-five or celebrating somebody when they’re winning. That’s motivation for me.
GDD: So, the two properties, the Hinckley property and the Mille Lacs property, both just recently underwent several renovations. For folks who haven’t been there since the renovations, can you give us a bit of an overview about what’s new some of the differences and similarities between the properties?
RO: At the Mille Lacs property, we offer a little bit more on the exterior portion. We have the lake. We have hunting. We have golf. We have fishing. We have all of those cool family-oriented outdoor amenities and activities. At Grand Casino Mille Lacs, it is more of a hub for everything where guests can find a great place to eat, enjoy the casino and then stay in a great room. At the Hinckley property, we’re right on 35, so we’re right in the middle of a main transit between Minneapolis and Duluth and it’s a really convenient spot for people to meet up. It’s a little bit more of a lively atmosphere with live entertainment on the weekends and things like that.
When it comes to the hotel renovations, upgrading that product was something we have been wanting to do for a while. Guests were talking about it, and when we delivered, I think we did a phenomenal job, and guests agreed. We have highlights and hints of our culture incorporated into the lobby and the hotel room designs, and that’s something that the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe really takes pride in. Sharing our culture and sharing our story with the communities and the people that come and visit us.
GDD: Regarding the renovations, what are some of the highlights and what was the main motivation for the upgrades?
RO: Well, it’s kind of like the bones are the same, but the rooms are all different, all brand-new. It was pretty much a gut and rebuild from the single rooms to the suites. We now have three different presidential suites we can offer for groups and entertainment and really an overall upgraded experience.
The main motivation was that it was time. Within the last five years, we the casino floor, so there were some upgraded areas of the floor. The hotel was the most recent one and the general area spaces such as the hotel lobby and the front desk areas, seating areas, and the hotel project itself. In the end, our guests are really at the heart of these renovations. Their feedback and their crave for what they want to see and what they want their experience to be when they’re in a casino is what we want to hear, and we listen, and we try to deliver as much as we can.
But when it comes to the motivation behind the property renovation, we owe a lot of credit to our frontline teams, hospitality, guest services, clearly development. They have their fingers on the pulse of what our guests are really looking for, so their insights were super important for us to understand what we needed to deliver to the guests for the hotel product.
And there is always ongoing feedback that guests give us through surveys or just regular dialogue. They might say “We want to come up here, and we want our experience in the hotel to be just as nice and as accommodating as the casino floor,” and boom. That’s why we did it and our goal was to create something that reflects and delivers on that, incorporating this desire for the modern, inviting spaces while ensuring every detail reflects on our commitment to hospitality and delivering that upgraded experience here on property.
GDD: Can you touch on how the heritage and culture was represented and celebrated throughout the property? I read that there were some local artists sanctioned to do several different paintings and cultural things around the property?
RO: Yeah, we had a great group of local artists and Canadian artists that contributed to the design. As we were developing the process of working with our construction architects and taking that art, that history and that feeling that comes from the contemporary art from the tribes and from these tribal individuals, and really designing, not only the rooms around those pieces, but those pieces around those rooms. I think the collaboration between designers and artists was phenomenal. I think as you walk the spaces, as you walk the floor, it’s not an overabundance of, “Here, I’m going to hit you with this art. Now I’m hitting you with this piece, and I’m hitting you with this piece.” The overall designs, the aesthetics and the layout of all of that are really well combined to create a phenomenal experience. As you walk into the lobby, you will get a lot of great feelings with the looks and the colors, it just all fits together.
GDD: Thank you for taking a few minutes today, is there anything else you’d like to add for our listeners and readers?
RO: Thank you for having me. I would like to add that the one thing we try to promote and deliver on at Grand Casino is the guest experience. We’re not just gaming machines. We’re not just table games. We’re not just a hotel. As we move forward in business, and as we move forward as a property and as a brand, the one thing that we want to be exceptional at is delivering service when you’re here and providing you with that upgraded experience at every step of your journey as you come here. We curate. We do everything we can, not only for our top-tier players, but the players that want to just come here and visit once in a while, or maybe even on a pass-by. We pride ourselves in being a “come-as-you-are company” and we want people from all walks of life to be here. We don’t cater to just one group of individuals. We cater to every individual and we want to make sure that each person that walks through these doors is not only impressed by what they see but feels warm like they just walked into their home every time they walk through the doors here at either Grand Casino property.
For reservations and information, visit GrandCasinoMN.com
