John H Miller
AIA
Director, WHITE WALLS
John H Miller
established WHITE WALLS, early in 2018, after more than 30 years in the
hotel design and construction industry. He sees an opportunity to
provide significant benefits to the owner/developers of luxury hotel and resort properties, through the provision of critical advice on the creation process.
Miller views
successful luxury hotel development as a blend of Art and Science, the
Beautiful and the Practical. Appreciation for that symbiotic
relationship first developed at the University of Pennsylvania through
his dual degree program of Architecture and Engineering. His passion for
hotels began while working in New York for BBG / Architects and he took
his first trip to Europe. His early years working in architectural
practice gave him a sense of the Designer’s perspective.
In 1987 Miller
moved to Hong Kong, and joined a local hotel owner / developer, and
quickly gained an appreciation for the Owner’s perspective. Since then
he has traveled to, and worked in, more than 30 countries, while working
for 3 top luxury hotel companies.
This included more
than 20 years with The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited, owners of
The Peninsula Hotels. In his time there, Miller worked on all of the
properties currently in their portfolio, some involving everything from
Site Analysis to Opening. It was valuable experience working for an
Owner with the highest expectations of design and quality, and achieving
the Operator’s objectives while still respecting the Owner’s priorities
of schedule and budget.
Miller went on to work at MGM Hospitality, a hotel management company subsidiary of a
significant hotel/casino owner, in the Hong Kong regional Asia-Pacific
office. This provided insights into the challenges of the Operator
trying to achieve luxury hotel quality with a variety of Owners. This led
to joining another world-class luxury hotel Operator, Four Seasons.
Based in their head office in Toronto, Miller scaled his skills up to
a global effort, managing a team of 25 professionals, with a pipeline
of more than 50 projects around the world.
In addition to the
technical experience of all of these projects, the years around the
world have given Miller insights into successfully working in many
different business cultures. He brings this emotional quotient, along
with his experience and expertise to the special high-value advisory
services of WHITE WALLS, for the greatest benefit of Hotel Owners.