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Tom Donoghuewww.donoghuephotography.com
Thomas McCartney shown in January welcoming Miss USA Pageant contestants to Planet Hollywood.
Published Monday, Nov. 30, 2009 | 8:32 p.m.
Updated Monday, Nov. 30, 2009 | 11:59 p.m.
Thomas McCartney, shown during his days at the Luxor, where he worked for hotel President Felix Rappaport before moving on to Planet Hollywood in January.
Thomas McCartney’s reign as president of Planet Hollywood has ended before his planet could make a full rotation around the sun, just two months shy of a year.
McCartney is moving on to Tropicana, employees of Planet Hollywood and Tropicana were informed tonight. A news release is planned for tomorrow morning making the news official.
McCartney is set to start Dec. 15 at Tropicana under the new ownership of Alex Yemenidjian, who took over the venerable hotel on the Strip and Tropicana Avenue in July.
McCartney’s move coincides with reports that Harrah’s Entertainment is moving to acquire Planet Hollywood, which is currently operated by Robert Earl, who hired McCartney away from the Luxor in January to replace Michael Mecca.
Known for his sharp wit and zeal for rebranding hotel-casinos, McCartney has spent 25 years in the resort industry, the past 12 in Las Vegas with MGM Mirage, first at New York-New York with Felix Rappaport, and later at the Luxor, where he again teamed with Rappaport to forge a large-scale renovation of that hotel. Prior to moving to Las Vegas, McCartney was with Caesars Palace in Atlantic City.
Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at twitter.com/JohnnyKats.
is he any relation to paul mccartney
Now That should tell you VOLUMES about Harrahs Pending takeover ot PH. The chiefs are bailing at just the thought of the neighborhood being taken over buy Low class Harrahs.. I wonder how long it will be before they class it down. Putting self serve photo booths on the casino floors, Making blackjack 6/5 payout, Getting rid of all upper shelf beers and liquers... Oh wait I here that O'Sheas might even move beer pong to the PLANET...Shame, I always thought you were supposed to trade up , not trade down.. Good luck to the PH employees if Harrahs buys you.. Get ready for the buzz dances, and goofy games before shift...
I love all the haters. Good lord, the PH is a sinking ship and it's great if Harrah's takes it over, at least it would stay afloat. Do you really think it would be good for the Strip if one of the prime hotels in the heart of the Strip closed their doors?
As far as their dealers go, maybe if they had a personality and kept players at the tables, they wouldn't be bought out. All the buzz dances and games might be goofy, but I don't see any Harrah's properties going under, do you Chauffeur?
Hmmmm Funny you say that...........Keep an eye on the papers about Harrahs casinos in the next coming months..It may surprise you.....
Harrahs is surviving on not paying its debts but then buys Planet Hollywood debt so it can take it over. Hey Harrahs, buy my debt too. With my underwater home mortgage and bills just to keep my family alive, I'll do some of those goofy Buzz Session Dances too.
Vegas is over! and Harrahs (alnong with MGM) is the pied piper leading it into oblivion!
Skemp31 is right, Harrahs will at least keep this property open and some day it will thrive again. Harrahs business model has not failed them yet and with all the properties they own they will be able to offer their loyal customers another place to stay and play!! Good luck to Harrahs as well as MGM and their new offering City Center. This town needs something to look forward into the future. For all the negative people that post on this site, please leave this town asap, you and your _hitty attitude are not what this town was built on!!!!
denver21 : You are living in denial. It's OVER! the sooner you realize this, the sooner you will get over your hostility to those of us who are trying to shine light on these idiot CEO's and owners who have destroyed Vegas!
i had the displeasure of working at a harrahs acquired casino.hands down,they were the worst casino company ive ever worked for after 33 yrs in the business.
they are the evil empire and run their casinos'like a bunch of freaking nazi's.
btw,those little song and dance buzz session meetings before the beginning of our shifts were actually off-the-clock meetings that harrahs demanded we attend daily.
as we are hourly employees they are illegal unless they want to pay overtime.to this day i dont think they're doing it.
maybe the labor commissioner should be informed of this practice.if they already havnt been.
planet hollywood employees,get ready for lay-offs,take aways and capricious firings.harrahs cares nothing about their rank and file employees.only their stockholders,or bondholders or whatever they're calling them these days.
As a Tropicana employee since the '70s, we have been thru it all. New management/ownership SUCKS!!! Employee morale has never been lower! We have the new "rave" sessions @ the beginning of each shift (on the clock) which are useless! We all know how to do our our jobs. Alex has told his management team to "write up" as many employees that you can, with the express purpose of getting rid of all long term employees. What a ridiculous situation to be in! Columbia Sussex was awful, but Onex might be worse. They spend money fixing up the place, but treat the employees like crap. Just wanna get rid of us & bring their own people (with no experience) to do our well done jobs!
Miss Hawaii is very nice ;-)
Mr. Robert Earl and his partners did a GREAT job of correcting external and internal obsolescence at the new Aladdin, a property which was developed with core economic obsolescence from the start, voilating many rules of proven casino history and basic real estate principles.
They created an sight lines and pedestrian paths inside and out with visual impact and common sense, as the Aladdin historically has been located on a LV sidewalk where a few extra steps was just too far to walk for the average pedestrian.
Mr. Mecca, Mr. Morradino, and Mr. McCartney all did a strong job working with ownership to fix problems.
They brought in the Miss America Pageant, the Miss Hooters International Pageant, and more recently the Miss USA Pageant, all bringing buzz, exposure and beauty across a wide swath of markets abroad.
The property began a series of Movie Premieres, with red carpets and viewings, more bizz and buzz, what Las Vegas is supposed to be about!
McCartney is going to work at the Tropicana because he knows the quality of the person and executive he will work with in Alex Yemenidian, someone who will apply business fundamentals that work in Las Vegas to create value and new and better opportunities for employees and executives.
Mr. McCartney has worked with Mr. Rappaport at NYNY and Luxor, and Mr. Rappaport's skills as a Hotel President take second place to NO ONE in Las Vegas.
Nice smile and stems Miss Georgia! ;)
Congratulations to Harrah's for getting rid of a loser like SinCityChauffeur. Hope he enjoys his job at the AM/PM.
He's not related to Paul McCartney, but his wife's name is Paula.
TropWorker, your attitude is the problem. If you KNEW how to do your job, maybe the Trop would be where it is now. If you can't take suggestions about how to change your job performance and your attitude, perhaps you should be out on the street. Perhaps Alex Y knows a little more about how a hotel runs that you do? No, impossible!
I wish you were right, Denver21. But Harrahs is why a lot of people I know quit coming to Vegas. It wasn't their finances. It was the gaming/comp/drinks/rooms experience all together. People started getting treated better at small casinos in their own backyards.