Fontainebleau Las Vegas Loses Two More Execs, Three Now Gone in Weeks
Posted on: January 16, 2024, 06:58h.
Last updated on: January 24, 2024, 11:23h.
It’s only been a month since Fontainebleau Las Vegas opened its doors, but the Strip casino resort has already lost three marquee executives.
Various media outlets reported that Chief Operating Officer (COO) Colleen Birch and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Shane Smith left the newly minted Sin City hotel last week. Their departures follow that of Vice President of Casino Operations Michael Clifford on December 30.
Birch and Smith voluntarily resigned their posts. It was Birch’s second stint with Fountainbleau following a short stay as revenue management director in 2008.
Ground was initially broken on the venue in February 2007. However, the global financial crisis stymied efforts to complete the project. Financier Carl Icahn bought the unfinished building in 2010, which sat dormant for seven years. Ichan quadrupled his $150 million investment when he sold the structure to property developer?Steven Witkoff, and an investment firm called New Valley for $600 million in 2017.
Executive Upheaval Adds to Checkered History
The aforementioned executive trio weren’t at Fontainebleau Las Vegas very long. Clifford started at the posh venue in February 2023, following time at Resorts World Las Vegas, Wynn Palace in Macau, and various roles with MGM Resorts International.
Birch joined Fontainebleau in November 2022 following a 13-year run with Cosmopolitan. She left that Strip property soon after Blackstone sold its operating rights to MGM.
Smith’s LinkedIn profile indicates he was with Fontainebleau for about a year.
Some industry observers and Las Vegas insiders believe it’s a bad look for the newly minted integrated resort that three high-ranking executives departed in less than a month.
That tumult comes as the $3.7 billion resort has reportedly struggled to attract high-end bettors. While there’s no denying Fontainebleau’s pizzazz and its enviable collection of tony restaurants, the Sin City rumor mill suggests the property’s gaming floor is often sparsely occupied. The casino, housed in the city’s tallest building, has 1,300 machines and 128 table games.
Fontainebleau Saga Continues
Fontainebleau Las Vegas is a partnership between the Koch brothers and Florida real estate developer Jeffrey Soffer. He owns the Fontainebleau Miami Beach and hopes to make the Las Vegas venue a credible sibling to its iconic Miami counterpart.
One of the issues that could confound Fontainebleau Las Vegas is its location on the north end of the Strip, an area in which some casino hotels have struggled to gain traction.
Additionally, that part of the Strip was already penetrated by luxury venues before Fontainebleau’s debut, with Wynn and Encore dominating that scene. Newcomers that opened before Fontainebleau have struggled in efforts to pilfer market share from the Wynn properties.
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Last Comments ( 6 )
I visited there once. The food is overpriced and the gaming floor is just ok. Nothing there is enticing enough for me to return unless I am passing by and that won't happen due to its location. Circus Circus across the street slots pays better too.
I hope the Koch brothers suffer massive losses.
The casino's gaming machines have low returns. As a local of Las Vegas, I can't sustain a long play with $200 coin-in compared to off-strip casinos (i.e., S Point, Silverton, Orleans). I will unlikely return.
whos suprised
They're trying to attract gamblers by being plush but in fact what they should do is have a 24-hour buffet and free drinks for the horse gamblers and not be so tight with the sports gamblers on giveaways because that's where the money is , it will take a while for the machines no matter what they do but again if they give away buffets by gathering points on the machines that attracts gamblers
I am familiar with the Fountainbleu in Miami back in the 60s. This fountain blue is absolutely beautiful inside and out. I sure pray that it makes it. It hasn’t been advertised on TV enough for people to even know it’s open.