Thursday, May 29, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Hilton Hotels Corp. officials confirmed Wednesday that Lee Skelley, who once managed its flagship property in Las Vegas, will leave at the end of the month.
"He's leaving," Hilton's communications vice president Kathy Shepard said, refusing to characterize Skelley's departure as either a resignation or firing.
Skelley, 53, also had no comment on his status. The gaming-industry veteran, who started in the business 30 years ago as a valet parking attendant, said he had no plans except to sell his house in Lee's Summit.
The shake-up comes in the midst of a $2.5 million remodeling and expansion project that will add a 72-seat steakhouse and 300-seat buffet-style dining room to the Flamingo.
The new amenities, expected to open in July, are aimed at attracting more players to the struggling casino, which opened seven months ago.
Ms. Shepard said the management change would be effective Sunday. Ron Thacker, the Flamingo's director of casino operations, will become acting general manager until a permanent replacement is named.
Ms. Shepard would not discuss the Flamingo's sub-par performance to date in Kansas City's crowded riverboat marketplace or whether that and the company's tattered image prior to its opening was linked to Skelley's departure.
The opening of the casino was delayed by questions regarding Hilton's financial dealings with the former chairman of the Kansas City Port Authority.
Since opening last fall, the Flamingo has struggled to gain a foothold among Kansas City area gamblers. Last month it got only a 9.5 percent market share of casino revenues, despite operating 12.5 percent of the metro area's slot machines and table games.
Industry executives agree that food and other nongaming amenities are part of a successful marketing equation.
In an interview a few weeks ago Skelley said he misjudged the Kansas City market's dining preferences.
Since the other local casinoas offered all-you-can-eat buffet tables, Skelley said the Flamingo decided to offer something different, but found its abbreviated buffet table and fast-food outlets didn't work.
"I thought providing an alternative would give us an edge," Skelley said. "It actually put us behind. The people in Kansas City want a buffet, and we're going to have to give them one."
Marc Grossman, another Hilton vice president, recently described Kansas City as "a tough, competitive market that probably has more (casino) product than the market can absorb at this point....In that kind of a market, you've got to differentiate yourselves."
But he said the company would not overinvest here to keep pace with the competition, like Station Casino Kansas City, which offers a dozen restaurants, several pubs, live entertainment, and will open an 18-screen movie theater in July.
"We're going to make what we believe are prudent investments," Grossman said.
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