Amid declining bookings, new Trump hotel brand drops his name
Though sales at Donald Trump‘s Manhattan residential buildings are still selling at a premium, national real estate and business at his hotels are different stories. Politico reports that the Trump Organization–the umbrella under which all his self-branded ventures fall, from his clothing line to golf courses–has dubbed its newly launched hotel line Scion, clearly void of his moniker, but meaning “descendant of a notable family.” Trump Hotels CEO Eric Danziger said in a press release, “We wanted a name that would be a nod to the Trump family and to the tremendous success it has had with its businesses, including Trump Hotels, while allowing for a clear distinction between our luxury and lifestyle brands.” Though this may be true, it may also have something to do with the fact that, according to travel company Hipmunk, hotel bookings at Trump properties were down 58 percent in the first half of the year.
Scion hotels are looking at super-trendy SoHo House as a model and want to cater to the social club crowd and “we” economy. And as Slate explains, trying to compete with hip, millennial-friendly hotels like the W or the Ace may be why the company decided to drop the Trump name. “In swing states, only one in five Americans under 35 supports Trump for president, according to a September poll.”
The company also might be looking at an overall trend across Trump brands. Foursquare reports that business at his branded hotels, casinos and golf courses in the U.S. has dropped 17 percent from June 2015 (when he announced his presidency) to the end of September, and this number grows to 21 percent among women. Of course, conflicting reports say that the month-old Trump International in Washington D.C. is booming and the aforementioned data is skewed, but nevertheless Scion represents a new page in the Trump book that comes after a string of controversies.
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