General manager and CEO leaving Las Vegas Hilton

Rodolfo Prieto is leaving the Las Vegas Hilton after 5 years as the property’s top executive.

Prieto’s pending departure was hinted at with the Sept. 14 announcement that David Monahan had been hired as chief operating officer with expectations that he would take over Prieto’s positions as general manager and chief executive officer.

Prieto, who spent nearly 40 years in the hotel and casino industries, joined the property in February 2004 while the it was in the final stages of being sold to Los Angeles-based real estate firm Colony Capital.

The 53-year-old Monahan has served as a senior vice president of Colony Capital since 1995, where he has overseen the firm’s hotel investment portfolio.

Changes have also happened inside the property’s board room with the Oct. 6 departure of Jonathan Langer as director. Langer helped guide Whitehall Street Real Estate Funds’ 40 percent acquisition of the property in late 2006.

He is still a director of American Casino & Entertainment Properties, which owns the Stratosphere, both Arizona Charlie’s and the Aquarius in Laughlin.

The 2,956-room Las Vegas Hilton has been hit hard by the downturn in convention and casino business in Las Vegas.

The property posted a net loss of $10.6 million in the second quarter and a revenue decline of 40 percent.

The property has a $250 million loan with the Goldman Sachs Mortgage Co. that matures in June 2011.