Rio Las Vegas
The Rio is a hotel and casino near the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States. It is owned and operated by Dreamscape Companies LLC. It includes a casino and 2,520 suites. It features a Brazilian theme based on Rio Carnival.
The Rio opened on January 15, 1990, with a casino and 424 suites. It was the first all-suite hotel in the Las Vegas Valley. It was owned by Anthony Marnell and built by Marnell Corrao Associates. The property struggled during its first two years because of its off-Strip location, but it would eventually thrive. The Rio's success prompted a number of hotel expansions in the 1990s. The hotel includes the three-wing Ipanema Tower, which stands at 20 stories. A 1997 renovation added Masquerade Village, a two-story retail and restaurant complex which also featured the Masquerade Show in the Sky. The 41-story Masquerade Tower was added as well.
In 1999, Marnell sold the Rio to Harrah's Entertainment for $766 million. The property suffered financially after the sale, in part because of new competition. It would lose its popularity in the years to follow, as Harrah's would eventually turn its focus to other Las Vegas properties that it owned. From 2005 to 2021, the Rio was the host site for the World Series of Poker. Portions of the hotel were closed in 2007 for county inspections, after it was discovered that renovations had been done a few years earlier without permitting. Numerous repairs had to be made after the inspections revealed flaws and fire safety hazards.
Harrah's was renamed Caesars Entertainment in 2010. The Rio was sold to Dreamscape owner and New York investor Eric Birnbaum in 2019, at a cost of $516 million. Caesars continued to operate the casino through a lease agreement extending to October 2023, after which Dreamscape took over. A two-phase renovation began in August 2023, and will update the entire property. Marnell was hired as architect for the renovation project, due to his prior experience with the resort.
The Rio has hosted numerous entertainers, including Danny Gans and Prince. Magicians Penn & Teller have entertained at the resort since 2001, and the male revue Chippendales ran from 2002 to 2024.
History
Marnell ownership (1990–99)
The Rio was originally owned by Anthony Marnell, the chairman of MarCor. The company purchased the vacant property in 1988, at a cost of $11 million. At the end of the year, it announced plans to build the Rio, which would be Las Vegas' first all-suite hotel-casino. MarCor broke ground on the $80 million project on February 9, 1989. The groundbreaking ceremony included a 15-foot by 30-foot sand sculpture replica of the 21-story hotel. The resort was designed and built by Marnell Corrao Associates.The Rio opened on January 15, 1990. It featured a Brazilian theme based on Rio Carnival, and Brazilian musician Sérgio Mendes performed at the resort a few weeks later. The property included a casino, with 900 slot machines and 42 table games. It also had 424 suites, five restaurants, five bars, and a pool with a waterfall. It employed 1,500 workers, including cocktail waitresses known as Ipanema Girls. The resort's target demographic would consist primarily of local residents and motorists from southern California. Resort officials believed that the property's location, just west of Interstate 15 and the Las Vegas Strip, would be appealing to tourists.
The Rio was the first casino opened by MarCor, which had largely focused on business parks and shopping centers. Marnell took over operations at the Rio 10 months after its opening, as he had found the early results dissatisfying. The resort struggled during its first two years, due to its location away from the Strip. By 1992, MarCor had sold all of its other properties to focus solely on the Rio.
Expansions
The hotel was soon successful, prompting a 437-unit addition, which broke ground on January 4, 1993. A $25 million expansion was announced later that year which would include more casino space. The new hotel tower opened during Labor Day weekend, bringing the room count to 861. The casino expansion opened at the end of 1993. A few months later, the resort announced a $75 million addition which would further expand the casino, and would increase the hotel with 549 rooms, for a total of 1,410. A dance and supper club, known as Club Rio, was opened in 1994, and was subsequently turned into a showroom.The Rio had a $250,000 laser system for nighttime displays. The system had to be adjusted in 1994, to avoid temporarily blinding commercial pilots. In 1995, Zagat named the Rio number one in the categories of Best Overall, Best Dining, Best Rooms and Best Service. A $20 million expansion began that year, adding 144 suites, more meeting room space, and a new health club and salon facility. The original hotel structure and its extensions make up the Ipanema Tower, which consists of three wings, built out in a "Y" shape.
A $187 million expansion was underway in 1996, including six new restaurants and the addition of a 41-story tower with 1,000 rooms. The new tower brought the room count to 2,563, ranking the Rio among the world's largest hotels. The tower rises 383 feet.
In February 1997, the Rio unveiled its indoor Masquerade Village, a Mardi Gras-themed attraction at the base of the new tower that included retail, restaurants, and a wine cellar. The retail space consisted of 21 stores, spread across two floors and occupying a total of. At the time, Marnell held a 25-percent interest in the resort and was its largest shareholder.
Another expansion began at the end of 1997, adding more convention and retail space, and increasing the size of the resort's spa, among other areas. The project, expected for completion in 1999, would also add a valet parking garage, and the Palazzo Suites for high rollers. The nine suites are located in a separate building located on the Rio property.
The Rio was one of the fastest-growing resort properties in Las Vegas. Its clientele was split between locals and tourists, and the property began offering beach parties and targeting a younger clientele and international high rollers. In 1998, readers of Travel + Leisure named the Rio as the world's number one hotel value.
Harrah's/Caesars ownership (1999–2019)
In August 1998, Harrah's Entertainment agreed to purchase the Rio from Marnell. The sale was finalized five months later, at a cost of $766 million. Harrah's considered the Rio to be among its top resorts. Later in 1999, Harrah's and Rio began operating the short-lived National Airlines service. New villas were built for high rollers, and the casino's private baccarat area was redesigned. The resort also increased its convention center space from to.In 2000, the National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint against the Rio, suspecting it of firing or harassing employees who sought unionization with the Culinary Workers Union. Later that year, the union filed a lawsuit against the Rio, seeking to represent its 3,000 employees. The Rio was unionized in January 2001, after a majority of employees voiced their support.
Undeveloped acreage near the Rio was a significant reason for Harrah's purchase, and the company considered using the site for additional hotel rooms. However, profits were hurt in 2000 due to table game losses. The departure of entertainer Danny Gans was another factor for the property's poor performance, along with competition from new resorts, including the Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, the Venetian, Paris, and the Aladdin. The Rio laid off nearly 200 employees as a cost-saving measure.
The property saw financial improvement in 2001, and Harrah's announced that it was in the early stages of planning for a new hotel tower at the Rio. However, the property's revenue declined again later in the year, which Harrah's blamed on table game losses. The Rio's younger clientele had since moved on to newer resorts, and the property partnered with the men's magazine Maxim in an effort to recapture the demographic. Through the partnership, the Rio would be advertised in the magazine, and parties – known as Maxim Lounge – would be held at the Rio. Cash flow subsequently improved, and Harrah's submitted plans to the county in 2002, for a new hotel and casino on the undeveloped acreage. Marnell had previously planned to build another resort on the same property.
In December 2003, Harrah's announced a partnership with Voyager Entertainment to build what would have been the world's tallest observation wheel, rising 600 feet. It would be part of an $86 million complex that would include three floors of retail, restaurants, and a nightclub. The project would be built on the Rio parking lot's southeast side. Construction was scheduled to begin within three months, with the opening in July 2005. Another hotel tower was also a possibility, although there were no immediate plans to build one. Despite a lack of financing, Voyager stated that it would have no issues in raising the necessary funds. Negotiations between Voyager and Harrah's eventually derailed, and the project was canceled in April 2004.
In May 2004, the Rio began preliminary operations of a power plant which would ultimately provide 40 percent of the property's power. A month later, construction began on a $39 million expansion of the Rio Pavilion Convention Center. It was built north of the resort's existing facilities, and was opened in 2005.
The Rio became the host casino for the World Series of Poker in 2005, boosting the resort's popularity. The Rio's importance to Harrah's was diminished after the company purchased Caesars Entertainment in 2005, thereby acquiring several resorts on the Las Vegas Strip. In 2005, the Rio's cocktail servers were fitted with RFID tracking tags in their uniforms, allowing management to determine how long customers were waiting to be served.
Renovation project
Various hotel renovations took place from 2004 to 2006, in the Ipanema Tower. In October 2007, a number of hotel rooms in the tower were closed for county inspections, after a two-month investigation by the Las Vegas Review-Journal found that the remodeling had taken place without permits and inspections. The county had briefly looked into the renovation work, but quickly dismissed concerns about the lack of permits, until the news investigation prompted a reopening of the case. At one point prior to the case's reopening, a building inspection supervisor claimed to have examined 37 rooms throughout the tower, finding no major issues. It was later discovered that the supervisor had only been at the Rio for 38 minutes.The renovations had occurred on floors 3 through 19, and there were concerns about whether the renovated floors were up to fire safety standards. The entire 19th floor was gutted, except for the walls of the central hallway. Harrah's initially dismissed concerns about the renovations, stating that they were cosmetic and did not require permits. Of the tower's 1,448 rooms, 12 were closed for inspections. Within a few days, the closure extended to 140 rooms across the 18th and 19th floors. Concrete slabs in between the two floors were lacking fire sealant following the renovations, and such repairs were eventually undertaken on 360 rooms in an entire wing of the Ipanema Tower that dated to the property's opening in 1990. Various other problems were discovered as well, including the unauthorized installation of ceiling lights and electrical outlets. Post-tension cables were also damaged in some rooms during the remodeling.
The county inspection expanded to other floors in December 2007, after additional fire safety hazards were found. These included unsealed holes which would allow the infiltration of smoke in the event of a fire. More than 1,000 rooms were inspected, and 50 were closed for a lengthy period of time. Harrah's received four criminal misdemeanor citations for the unauthorized renovations.