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Is Trump International Hotel in trouble? 'Empty' lobby sparks questions on future of ex-POTUS' 'crown jewel'

Soon, it will have to endure another blow as Tiffany & Co shifts from its temporary location at Trump Tower in Manhattan to its 5th Ave store's renovation, taking $7 million in annual rent with it

Former President Donald Trump left Washington, DC on the morning of January 20. He did not even attend President Joe Biden’s inauguration ceremony. Since then a lot has changed — the Republican faced an impeachment trial, his neighbors at Mar-a-Lago did not want him to stay there permanently with the club's wealthy members canceling their memberships. And now, as of Monday, February 22, CNN’s Brian Todd reported that Trump's hotel is also not doing well financially.

"It wasn't that long ago the Trump International Hotel was buzzing, but tonight there are serious questions about its future. With Donald Trump out of office, there now seems to be little to attract guests to his gilded hotel,” Todd said in a report. According to CNN, the luxury hotel was earlier Washington, DC's Old Post Office building, which was transformed for business purposes. It has been taken on lease from the General Services Administration.

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Todd continued in the report, “Despite its ornate lobby, the Trump International Hotel, like other high-end locations, has been ravaged by Covid-19. On a recent weekend evening, a CNN employee who shot this video saw decent crowds in the lounge and at the steakhouse, but few people staying in the hotel."

He added, "The next day during a weekend brunch period, our employee observed the lobby area was lifeless. Scenes consistent with the view from the editor of a newsletter who has kept close track of Trump hotels."

“During our recent visit, a staffer noted it's normal to have a slowdown at this time of year, but also said because of everything going on, it had a different time. A different time from the days just before Donald Trump was elected president, the Trump International opened, touted as a crown jewel in his real estate empire,” he added.

It has been said that in the recent past, the Trump Organization as a whole has suffered a lot. Soon, it will have to endure another blow as Tiffany & Co. shifts from its temporary location at Trump Tower in Manhattan to its 5th Ave store's renovation, taking $7 million in annual rent with it.

Twitter was also buzzing after Todd’s report on the hotel as a user tweeted, “Emoluments dude. That hotel was a money funnel for corrupt foreign governments and businesses to pay off Trump and buy influence in the White House.  He's out of office, so now it's empty.”

Another wrote, “Time to move Trump Hotel and golf course to Israel where trump can get free land from Palestine.” A person added: “They all haven’t learned of Trump and his chest beating. I would’ve thought that the implosion of the Trump Hotel & Casino Hotel in Atlantic City is the epitome of a lot of words and nothing else.. nada.. zilch #Losers #GOPBetrayedAmerica #GOPDomesticTerrorists.”

“Ah yes i guess b before trump anyone who crossed the borders illegally got a nice hotel and a happy trip back over the border......” a user note while another one added, “The Trump DC Hotel is doubling their room rates for March 4th, the day the #QIdiots think Donald Trump will return to power. If anything we’re going to wake up these morons to the fact that it was always a grift, you’d think this would be it. #QAnons.”