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Trump has lost more than $100M in two flagship hotels because of his inflammatory speech, claims book

Trump's hotel businesses have suffered under his presidency as both guests and associations wish to avoid being associated with him
PUBLISHED SEP 20, 2020
(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

Free speech doesn't always come free, and few people are feeling the sting of that quite as much as Donald Trump is, as an upcoming book about the state of Trump's businesses during his presidency reports that he's lost $100 million from two of his flagship hotels since he took office. These losses have been tied to remarks that President Trump has made during his political career, leaving several important figures unwilling to be associated with his brand.

A major part of Trump's platform is based on his success as a businessman. Detractors of the President often refer to many of Trump's past financial failures, including his failed casino, Trump University, and declaring bankruptcy. Now, thanks to Dan Alexander's upcoming book 'White House, Inc.: How Donald Trump Turned the Presidency into a Business', there are more examples to add to the list. The senior Forbes editor has written about the success — or lack thereof — of two of Trump's most well-known hotels, Trump National Doral Miami and the Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C., and how they've fared during Trump's presidency.

An adaptation of the book by Dan Alexander, published on the Forbes website, says that the Trump International Hotel was valued by Forbes at $168 million — $2 million less than the mortgage that was used to fix up the hotel in the first place. Add in the $30 million used for renovations, and the hotel appears to be in a total loss. In the meantime, Alexander believes that the Trump National Doral Miami has dropped $70 million in value since 2016. "According to our latest estimates, the golf resort is worth $153 million before accounting for debt. Given that the property has $125 million in mortgages against it, Trump’s interest now stands at an estimated $28 million. At the start of his presidency, it was probably worth about $70 million more," writes Alexander.

The article includes a quote from Trump tax specialist Jessica Vachiratevanurak, who, in a meeting with the directors of finance and development for all of the Trump Organization "mentioned that throughout 2016, because of the political climate, there have been severe ramifications of the things that were said during campaigning, the comments that were made.” One of those ramifications? The Professional Golfers’ Association 2016 announcement that it would be moving the World Golf Championships tournament from Trump's Doral hotel to Mexico. The loss of this prestigous championship tournament was a huge blow to Doral. “Losing that event killed Doral,” says Joel Paige, who managed Doral when it was controlled by other owners before Trump.

Amongst the many moves being made is the removal of Trump's name from the Trump SoHo Hotel. "It was a property that was being regularly frequented by, you know, NBA stars and NFL stars, and now they’re quoted in this article as saying, ‘I’m not going there. I’m not going to support this brand.’ So there have been severe ramifications of the comments that were made throughout the campaigning process and since," Vachiratevanurak has been quoted as saying.

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