Trump Organization properties losing $1M a day to pandemic

The president’s company depends heavily on tourism and large events

President Donald Trump with sons Eric and Donald Jr., and an aerial view of Trump Doral (Credit: Paul Morigi/WireImage, DANIEL SLIM/AFP via Getty Images)
President Donald Trump with sons Eric and Donald Jr., and an aerial view of Trump Doral (Credit: Paul Morigi/WireImage, DANIEL SLIM/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump Organization properties are missing out on more than $1 million in revenue each day as the coronavirus pandemic hammers the hospitality sector, the company’s primary source of income.

Several Trump-owned properties have been forced to close and around 500 employees have been laid off or furloughed, according to the Wall Street Journal. The company has shut properties in Las Vegas and Florida, including Mar-a-Lago and the Trump National Doral Miami.

Those that remain open are getting just a fraction of their usual business. One employee told the newspaper that one day last month, the 263-room Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., had just 11 guests.

The outbreak has put on hold negotiations to sell the long-term lease on the hotel, which opened just before Trump won the 2016 presidential election. The company was in talks with two potential buyers to sell the lease for as much as $350 million.

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The Doral and Mar-a-Lago closed last week after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered hospitality properties shuttered to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus. This week he followed that with a 30-day stay-at-home order.

The Doral gets most of its business from golf tournaments and conventions and subsequent hotel business. It alone could be losing as much as $200,000 per day to the pandemic, according to the Journal.

National golf course trade groups, including some that Trump-owned properties are members of, have lobbied government officials to allow courses to stay open or provide economic relief while they are closed. But Trump properties were barred from receiving direct support from the $2 trillion stimulus package that the president signed last week. [WSJ] — Dennis Lynch