Fontainebleau Las Vegas Sheds Fourth Exec in a Month

Posted on: January 23, 2024, 10:10h. 

Last updated on: January 24, 2024, 08:43h.

Todd Shriber @etfgodfather Read More
Expertise: Financial, Gaming Business, Mergers and Acquisitions.

Fontainebleau Las Vegas has been open for roughly a month, and it’s already making an ominous habit of losing high-ranking executives.

Fontainebleau Las Vegas Strip casino resort Koch
Fontainebleau Las Vegas. The venue lost another executive on Tuesday, its fourth departure in a month. (Image: Las Vegas Review-Journal)

The new Strip venue confirmed Tuesday that Vice President of Revenue Management Angie Dobney is no longer with the resort. She becomes the fourth high-level staffer to depart Fontainebleau since it opened, and the third to leave just this month.

The UNLV graduate’s LinkedIn profile confirms that her last day with Fontainebleau Las Vegas was sometime this month. She joined the property in June 2022. Dobney is also the founder of Rise Up Revenue Optimization, which is listed on LinkedIn as her current role, which she’s held since April 2020.

“Strategic consulting for hospitality and gaming customers. Business assessment services. Hotel opening services. Outsourcing revenue management, strategic marketing, distribution, and call center operations” is how Rise Up is described on the professional networking site.

Fontainebleau Las Vegas Attrition

Before joining Fontainebleau Las Vegas, Dobney held various technology-related roles at companies servicing the gaming industry and at casino operators. Her LinkedIn profile indicates she worked for Station Casinos for 19 months and the old Hard Rock Las Vegas for more than six years.

Calling attention to potential operational issues at the new Strip integrated resorts, Dobney joined now former Chief Operating Officer (COO) Colleen Birch and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Shane Smith in leaving the venue this month.

Before the departures of Birch and Smith, VP of Casino Operations Michael Clifford called it quits on December 30. Dobney was the longest-serving Fountainebleu staffer of that quartet, though that’s not saying much because of the other three. Birch was the longest-tenured at about 14 months.

The departures of all four have been confirmed. But none of the executives have publicly commented why they left the casino hotel.

Struggles Underscore Competition

The $3.7 billion Fontainebleau is the newest addition to the Las Vegas Strip, and its executive upheaval underscores the intensity of competition in the U.S. gaming hub. While the property is in its infancy and the jury is still out on its long-term success, it thus far has struggled to attract the high-end clientele owners were hoping for.

That’s essential because the venue’s hotel rooms typically run around $250 per night at the low end. Its restaurants, which have received rave reviews, are pricy, and table game minimums start at $25 a hand.

Some visitors have commented that Fontainebleau appears to be attempting to attract avid bettors but isn’t doing enough because pay tables on slots are low, and rewards and comps for play are supposedly skimpy.