Tag: Trump Hotels

Trump hotels have been dropped by a major luxury travel agency network

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Virtuoso will no longer list the properties on its website

Virtuoso, a global network of luxury travel agencies, no longer considers Trump Hotels a preferred partner.

The Texas-based company, which includes 20,000 luxury travel advisers, said the change was effective March 8; it applies to the six Trump hotels that were considered partners.

“Trump Hotels are no longer part of the Virtuoso network,” spokeswoman Misty Belles said in a statement. “We consider many variables when reviewing both existing and new network participation. Out of respect for all involved parties, and as a general policy, we do not share comments regarding our non-renewal and exit decisions.” Continue reading.

The White House praised hotels for housing doctors. Cities say Trump’s hotels aren’t participating.

Washington Post logoThousands of U.S. hotels have volunteered to help local authorities house doctors, nurses and other medical personnel at reduced rates — or even free — during the covid-19 pandemic.

President Trump’s White House has praised these efforts. But so far, none of Trump’s own hotels are known to be participating.

In five U.S. cities where President Trump’s company operates large hotels — New York, Chicago, Miami, Washington and Honolulu — local authorities said the Trump hotel was not involved in their efforts to provide low-cost or no-cost rooms to those fighting the novel coronavirus. Continue reading.

Yes, Trump hotels do appear to qualify for the coronavirus bailout

AlterNet logoLast month’s $2 trillion bailout bill barred President Donald Trump, his family or other officials from benefiting from one of the law’s giant loan programs. But as reporters noticed, there was no such language included for other elements of the bailout. Some provisions of the bailout are particularly beneficial to businesses like Trump’s.

There is no evidence that any provisions in the bailout were written specifically to benefit the president. It’s also not known whether the Trumps will seek such aid. We asked the Trump Organization and White House about whether the company plans to apply for bailout loans. They did not respond.

The president has said it’s not clear to him even how his company could benefit. Continue reading.

‘Raw bribery’: House Dems investigating foreign governments’ mysterious no-show bookings at Trump’s hotels

AlterNet logoHouse investigators are looking into allegations that groups, including at least one foreign government, paid for rooms at President Donald Trump’s hotels but never actually stayed there.

That probe is part of the House Oversight Committee’s broader investigation into whether Trump broke the law by accepting money from U.S. or foreign governments at his properties, reported Politico.

The committee learned that a trade association and a foreign government booked a large number of rooms but used only a few of them, according to a person familiar with the allegation.

View the complete October 2 article by Travis Gettys from Raw Story on the AlterNet website here.

Fox News Personalities Enriched Trump By Appearances At Hotels

At least 17 Fox News personalities have helped enrich Donald Trump by speaking at events at his properties since he announced his presidential run in 2015. They have headlined pro-Trump gatherings; have held book parties; and have keynoted industry events. Additionally, numerous Fox News figures have visited Trump properties for social occasions, including golf and dinner outings with the president.

>During his presidency, Trump has frequently merged his presidential and business interests, creating unprecedented conflicts of interest and constitutional issues. As The New York Times recently reported, “Since Mr. Trump became president, there have been thousands of visits to his properties, not only by Mr. Trump himself, but by foreign leaders, lobbyists, Republican candidates, members of Congress, cabinet members and others with ties to the president. At least 90 members of Congress, 250 Trump administration officials and more than 110 foreign officials have been spotted at Trump properties since 2017, according to social media posts and counts by various watchdog groups.” Continue reading “Fox News Personalities Enriched Trump By Appearances At Hotels”

Government Agencies Using Trump Hotels, Despite Official Ethics Advice

A bombshell report dropped late Thursday from the Washington Postshowing just how much money Trump has pocketed from taxpayers by encouraging government agencies to use his properties for official government events — a practice his own ethics officials know is wrong but have been powerless to stop.

Trump earned at least $1.6 million from both the federal government and Republican campaigns which have used his properties. And the Post cautioned that the actual number is likely much, much higher, given that the numbers they crunched were only from the first half of 2017 when Trump first took office. Since then, Trump, GOP lawmakers, and administration officials have made many more stops at his properties.

In fact, GOP fundraisers admit that’s why they hold fundraisers at Trump hotels — it increases the chances Trump might show up.

View the complete June 21 article by Emily Singer on the National Memo website here.

Judges seem skeptical Trump is illegally profiting from his D.C. hotel

RICHMOND — A federal appeals court seemed skeptical Tuesday that President Trump is illegally profiting from foreign and state government visitors at his luxury hotel in downtown Washington or that his financial gain comes at the expense of local competitors.

The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit was reviewing a novel case brought by the attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia involving anti-corruption provisions in the emoluments clauses of the U.S. Constitution.

The once-obscure clauses were designed to prevent undue influence on government officials but have never been applied in court to a sitting president.

View the complete March 19 article by Ann E. Marimow and Jonathan O’Connell on The Washington Post website here.

State Department spent more than $15,000 for rooms at new Trump hotel in Vancouver

The following article by Amy Brittain was posted on the Washington Post website July 12, 2017:

Donald Trump Jr., middle, and Joo Kim Tiah, chief executive of the Holborn Group, left, attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Vancouver on Feb. 28. Photo by Rafal Gerszak for The Washington Post

The State Department spent more than $15,000 to book 19 rooms at the new Trump hotel in Vancouver when members of President Trump’s family headlined the grand opening of the tower in late February.

The hotel bookings — which were released to The Washington Post under a Freedom of Information Act request — reflect the first evidence of State Department expenditures at a Trump-branded property since President Trump took office in January.

The department redacted many of the details on the invoice from the U.S. Consulate General in Vancouver and declined to provide additional information about the nature of the State Department’s presence at the hotel. Although the Secret Service is responsible for protecting the president’s family, the State Department provides assistance with security and logistics for international trips. Continue reading “State Department spent more than $15,000 for rooms at new Trump hotel in Vancouver”

Trump Hotels has had its eye on China — but the door hasn’t opened

The following article by Simon Denyer and Jonathan O’Connell was published on the Washington Post website December 26, 2016:

President-elect Donald Trump speaks in Hershey, Pa., during his “thank you” tour. (Don Emmert/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images)

BEIJING — Donald Trump calls China an “enemy” of the United States, a threat and an international pariah whose modus operandi is to lie, cheat and steal — but for at least eight years his hotel chain has been trying to do business here.

Although negotiations have yet to bear fruit, Trump Hotels has made confident predictions this year about opening 20 or 30 luxury hotels in China. It is an ambition that would involve the company in direct negotiations with a Communist Party that the president-elect professes to fundamentally distrust.

On Dec. 12, Trump tweeted that he would do “no new deals” during his time in the White House. It is not clear what that means for Trump Hotels as a company, and both the Trump Organization and the Trump transition team declined to comment for this article.

If Trump Hotels goes ahead with its efforts to expand to China, or even if it only lays plans to do so after his term in office, it could hugely complicate one of the most important foreign policy relationships Trump will have to negotiate during his presidency. And the suspicion that Trump as president might be trying to badger China or butter it up to promote his business there risks coloring perceptions of his every move in regard to Beijing — even those that are completely aboveboard. Continue reading “Trump Hotels has had its eye on China — but the door hasn’t opened”