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At Trump's big city hotels, business dropped as his political star rose, internal documents show
CHICAGO — Ten years ago, retired electrician Dave Roberts invested $650,000 in Donald Trump. Roberts bought a single room in Trump’s hotel on the Chicago River, then waited for his share of the Trump profit stream.
“Everything he touches turns to gold,” Roberts remembered being told.
But the gold wore off, starting in 2016. Fewer guests checked in. Revenue dropped. Roberts estimated that his property value decreased by half, as the real-estate market was flooded with unsold Trump hotel rooms.
“I don’t even like walking past the building” now, he said. “I can’t even look at it.”
As a private company, the Trump Organization says little about its financial ups and downs. But The Washington Post obtained details from two of President Trump’s landmark properties — his luxury hotels in Chicago and Manhattan — from small-time investors such as Roberts, who get details that the public does not.
Those investors — and internal documents they provided — showed that revenue at both properties dropped noticeably as Trump’s political career took off. The decreases have stirred tensions in the buildings and left many investors worried that the Trump brand may be curdling in the liberal cities where Trump built much of his empire.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/at-trumps-big-city-hotels-business-dropped-as-his-political-star-rose-internal-documents-show/2018/10/03/bd26b1d6-b6d4-11e8-a7b5-adaaa5b2a57f_story.html?tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.3b9f4ff11af1
“Everything he touches turns to gold,” Roberts remembered being told.
But the gold wore off, starting in 2016. Fewer guests checked in. Revenue dropped. Roberts estimated that his property value decreased by half, as the real-estate market was flooded with unsold Trump hotel rooms.
“I don’t even like walking past the building” now, he said. “I can’t even look at it.”
As a private company, the Trump Organization says little about its financial ups and downs. But The Washington Post obtained details from two of President Trump’s landmark properties — his luxury hotels in Chicago and Manhattan — from small-time investors such as Roberts, who get details that the public does not.
Those investors — and internal documents they provided — showed that revenue at both properties dropped noticeably as Trump’s political career took off. The decreases have stirred tensions in the buildings and left many investors worried that the Trump brand may be curdling in the liberal cities where Trump built much of his empire.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/at-trumps-big-city-hotels-business-dropped-as-his-political-star-rose-internal-documents-show/2018/10/03/bd26b1d6-b6d4-11e8-a7b5-adaaa5b2a57f_story.html?tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.3b9f4ff11af1
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