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Now that the Fontainebleau has been open for a few months, there seems to be quite a bit on negatively, from the $21 nachos, parking fiasco, lack of tier matching, and several executives moving on. What is your take: problems or just growing pains?
(Editor's Note: This QoD, and tomorrow's, are penned by our business blogger, David McKee.]
Very few Las Vegas megaresorts open without hitches.
That said, some debuts are indicative of deeper problems. For every Circus Circus from the old days and Venetian in modern times that goes from a botched opening to a successful lifespan, there is a New Aladdin whose troubled rollout portends worse to come.
Fontainebleau’s problems are the outgrowth of fundamental and systemic flaws. Even the corporate-friendly Las Vegas Review-Journal has noticed to the point of running a "What Ails Fontainebleau?" story, unusual for that paper’s normal stance.
The news is spreading, too. SFGate.com, the free Bay Area website for the San Francisco Chronicle, headlined a story with, "Troubled new Vegas hotel selling $55,000 Super Bowl afterparty tickets (the party was in the LIV nightclub and tables, depending on location, went for $7,000 to $55,000).
Anyway, for starters and this cannot be overstressed, lead owner Jeffrey Soffer has never owned or operated a hotel-casino. Neither has Koch Industries, Soffer’s principal backer. So far, blame has fallen mainly on Soffer and his supposedly overbearing disposition, not the Kochs. But it’s early yet.
Any long-time Las Vegan must have raised eyebrows when Dec. 13 was announced as the opening day for Fontainebleau. Unless you’re Taylor Swift, the number 13 isn't exactly considered auspicious. Why that date? Was it some recondite luck factor? No, it was Jeffrey Soffer’s birthday and Fontainebleau was shoehorned into the role of a $3.7 billion birthday present.
Not counting a private concert featuring Justin Timberlake, the celebrity turnout for Fontainebleau’s debut was decidedly B-list. And for a resort proclaiming that entertainment was going to be its signature, the showroom lineup was and is decidedly threadbare. Fontainebleau tried to cover this by signing DJ Tiesto to a non-exclusive contract, but desperation showed in the fact that the casino will be sharing him with multiple other Strip properties, including MGM Grand.
Even before Fontainebleau opened, it raised eyebrows with the early and frequent turnover of the top names in the C-suite. By the time Dec. 13 rolled around, it had been through three presidents, two chief marketing officers, and two casino bosses. This unfortunate trend kept right on going. On Dec. 30, the head of gaming operations was termed, his responsibilities illogically reassigned to the director of casino marketing. Casino hold percentages and marketing campaigns are considered, by most, strange bedfellows.
By Jan. 12, a mere month into Fontainebleau’s tenure on the north Strip, another executive purge eliminated the chief operating officer, chief marketing officer, and vice president of revenue management. All submitted resignations. However, such a mass exodus is extremely irregular, hinting at a Soffer-induced shakeup.
Those three were followed on Feb. 4, a Sunday, by President Mark Tricano, demoted to underling status for incoming prez Maurice Wooden; it didn't take long for Tricano to land on his feet as the senior vice president of operations for Station Casinos. His tenure as Fbleau's president lasted a whole seven months.
A former head of Wynn Las Vegas (with which Fontainebleau has had an unfriendly rivalry), Maurice Wooden himself was purged during the Steve Wynn scandal. He then worked for Tilman Fertitta on his Strip project, before jumping that ship to, presumably, steady the Fontainebleau ship and bring in some Wynn-like VIP play.
That’s where things stand in the executive offices now, though more bodies could drop at any minute.
Tomorrow: Looking ahead and into the miscalculations that have brought Fontainebleau to this sorry pass.