TRUMP HOTEL ROOM PRICES SPIKED 13X LAST WEEKEND. WE FINALLY KNOW WHY. By Linnaea Honl-Stuenkel and Lauren White December 18, 2019 In November, we noticed a mysterious spike in the price of available rooms at Trump’s DC hotel for a Saturday night in December. The minimum cost was 13 times the average, but we couldn’t identify a reason for the spike, until photos surfaced of the Trump Victory Committee’s winter retreat at Trump’s Hotel on that exact night, which appears to have sold out much of the venue. While the least expensive room for a one-night stay at the hotel was around $500 on surrounding days, the cheapest room on December 14 was a whopping $6,719. With access to Trump, Pence, and other top officials, and a bonus invitation to the White House holiday party for donors, we no longer have to wonder why. On November 7th, CREW flagged a massive spike in the cost of a room on December 14, suggesting that every less expensive room in the hotel was sold out, leaving only pricey suites. Presumably, rooms were taken up by donors to Trump Victory Committee, a joint fundraising committee of the Republican National Committee and the Trump campaign. The exorbitant cost is even more evidence that hosting fundraisers at the Trump International Hotel is one of the best ways to sell out the notoriously empty venue, sending donor money right into Trump’s pocket. Lucky donors who managed to snag a room were also invited to the White House’s holiday open house, meaning that the cost of a room at Trump’s DC Hotel and donations towards his reelection included exclusive political access for the buyer. For those seeking access to the president and top members of his Cabinet, the Trump Victory Committee fundraiser did not disappoint. According to 1100 Pennsylvania, President Trump, Vice President Pence and Interior Secretary David Bernhardt were scheduled to attend Trump Victory’s retreat. Vice President Pence, who is one of the most frequent visitors to Trump properties, was a special guest for lunch. Pence’s lunch alone appears to have attracted 650 guests, according to a social media post that appears to have been from the event, well over the Trump Hotel’s 263 rooms. Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway, who is one of the top visitors to Trump properties among executive branch officials, also participated in a “Women for Trump Panel.” Finally, Trump and Secretary Bernhardt were slated to be special guests at the “Jingle and Mingle Cocktail Reception and Winter Retreat Gala.” There’s no question that political spending like the Trump Victory Committee fundraiser has helped make Trump’s DC Hotel one of the few bright spots in his financial portfolio, despite it’s high vacancy rate. CREW has tracked 72 political events held at Trump properties during the Trump presidency, 40 of which have been held at his DC hotel. Trump Victory has been a particularly loyal customer for the DC hotel, hosting fundraisers in June 2017, September 2018, May 2019, and June 2019. The Center for Responsive Politics found that all the political spending at the hotel is paying off, totalling nearly $20 million since the 2016 election cycle. Rate spikes like this have happened before at Trump’s DC hotel, on the Fourth of July and during a Senate Republican retreat in November; but at thirteen times the average rate, The Trump Victory retreat drove an unprecedented jump. Running for president typically involves raising vast sums of money for the campaign, but to be personally making millions off of a reelection effort is both unprecedented, and wildly corrupt. President Trump has repeatedly claimed that the presidency has cost him business. The repeated rate jumps at his hotel surrounding political events suggest that, at least for his DC property, this couldn’t be further from the truth. https://www.citizensforethics.org/trump-hotel-rates-spiked-13x-last-weekend/
Funny how Obama's is wrong but you guys are Ok with Trump using his hotel at ultra high market rates to line his pockets. Every Pres has done these deals to benefit themselves after office term is up and it is dirty. Trump took it to a new level and profits while in office. Like Halliburton getting all the Iraqi contracts... It is all wrong and apologists are just hypocrites. True hypocrisy.
Yeah.. no. But the facebook "Conservatives getting angry at things they make up themselves" is full of that. When you are totally and completely going down, use that opportunity to just fucking go for it with your grasping, done for a sheep as a lamb.
That seemed like a lot, so I decided to investigate myself. Average hotel occupancy rate in DC is 77.6%. Average room price at that hotel is $304 per night. There are 263 rooms at that hotel. Now lets do some math. 263 x $304 x.776 = $62,042 per night. Multiply by 365 days and that equals $22,645,000 per year x 3 years = about $68 million. This is what he would make off that hotel if he never became president. Keep in mind, politicians would still be staying there had he lost as they always have stayed there. So the real question is, what is the difference between what he would've made on the hotel if he wasn't president vs now. Is that money within a reasonable margin? Also keep in mind, The trump organization has 500 businesses. I'm sure Trump doesn't set the daily hotel rates. The manager of the hotel does and it's his job to charge what he can get.
Obama needs to sell about 30-35 million books at an average of $20 a pop to justify a $65 million advance. That's basically 50% of the people that voted for him have to buy it or 10% of the entire population of the United States. People like Obama, but I just don't think THAT many people like him enough to buy his book.
It was $65 million for both Barack and Michelle's books. Both books combined have sold 17 million copies. Publisher makes about $5 to $10 a book sold minimum. So that means the publisher made from $85,000,000 to $170,000,000 gross on this deal. You can take out a calculator and figure out their net after advances...seems like a pretty lucrative deal and the books are still selling so that number can only rise.
It does seem to me that this whole cashing in after being president spectacle is unseemly and offensive. We should want people to run for president out of a sense of service, not to buy a mansion or two. I don't really blame Obama. Who is going to turn down hundreds of millions in easy money. As a country however, we can do better. Set ex-presidents up for life with some sort of lucrative retirement package, but ban them from participating in politics or earning outside money. It's also become clear that we need much stronger conflict of interest rules for all government employees, from DOJ attorneys or FBI agents up to Senators and Presidents. No more of this business of letting foreign governments hire their family members.