US president’s hotels to expand amid calls to divest business
Head of Trump’s hotelmanagement company outlines hopes for an expansion across the US
Only days after Donald Trump took the oath of office, the head of his hotelmanagement company outlined hopes for an ambitious expansion across the US, raising new questions about potential conflicts between his business and the presidency.
Trump Hotels chief executive officer Eric Danziger suggested the company’s broad US ambitions while saying it shelved plans for expansion in China, where the president’s comments have already led to rocky diplomatic relations.
“There are 26 major metropolitan areas in the US, and we’re in five,” Danziger said after a panel discussion Tuesday at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit in Los Angeles. “I don’t see any reason that we couldn’t be in all of them eventually.”
Meanwhile, new membership fees at Trump’s Mar-A-Lago club have doubled to $200,000 (Dh734,600), Bernd Lembcke, its managing director, said in a Wednesday email, first reported by CNBC.
Most ethics experts, including the agency that monitors such matters in the federal government, have said Trump should divest his holdings entirely. The expansion could spark further controversy. Democratic lawmakers have also called on Trump to divest his businesses to avoid conflicts of interest, and he has refused to do so.
Management
Instead of divesting, Trump has turned over management of his company, the Trump Organisation, to his two elder sons and pledged no new foreign deals during his term. He has financial ties to $3.6 billion of assets in about 20 countries and more than $600 million of debt. Jennifer Rodstrom, a spokeswoman for Trump Hotels, didn’t immediately respond to a call and email seeking comment.
Trump Organisation officials will ask a Washington attorney and a veteran executive in President Trump’s businesses to help ensure separation between the White House and the family business, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Besides the four-month-old Washington hotel, there are two properties in New York, one in Chicago, one in Las Vegas, and the Trump National Doral golf resort in Miami. A new luxury hotel in Vancouver is set to have its grand opening next month.