Ex-members of Trump National Doral have been waiting to inch forward on the refund list at the Doral golf course and resort — and they may have to wait decades more.
To move up on the list by one spot, four new members need to join the golf club, and the list is more than 265 people long, according to the Miami Herald. The deposits range from $10,500 to $19,000.
The Trump Organization bought the 800-acre golf resort out of bankruptcy in 2012. At the time, now-President Trump agreed to honor the membership and refund waiting list. At that point, there were nearly 500 active members and roughly 200 on the waiting list.
Since the president was elected and took office, Trump National Doral has suffered, blaming its losses on hurricanes and the Zika virus. Some members have left, the saying the club became too political or that they no longer wanted to support the president, the Herald reported.
Few members have joined between December 2017 and January 2019. One member said that he moved up by two spots, which means only eight members had joined, according to the Herald.
In an attempt to reduce the property’s tax bill, Tax consultant Jessica Vachiratevanurak told a Miami-Dade County official that the property is “severely underperforming” compared to other resorts in the area.
In 2018, Trump reported that the resort and golf club made 34 percent less than two years prior, down to $76 million.
One member told the Herald that after he met with the director of membership operations in December 2018, the wait for a refund would have been about 12 years. That means that those who left after the 2016 election could be waiting about 85 years to get their deposits back. [Miami Herald] – Katherine Kallergis