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View Full Version : New Trump Hotel Set To Open In Heart Of The Mississippi Delta




Zippyjuan
11-20-2017, 11:54 PM
https://www.npr.org/2017/11/20/564974071/new-trump-hotel-set-to-open-in-heart-of-the-mississippi-delta

A Trump hotel not owned by Trump and won't have Trump in its name yet the immigrant owners are paying him licensing fees? Deal was hooked up at a fundraiser. They then made a large contribution to his campaign.



https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2017/11/17/img_3866_custom-329559173b8343ba03dc680341787cbdf846764d-s400-c85.jpg

Trump hotels are meant to exude a sense of luxury in some of the most exciting and exotic cities worldwide. Now the president's organization is due to open a new hotel — this time in the heart of the blues-soaked Mississippi Delta.

It will be the first in a new line of four-star hotels the Trump organization is creating called Scion. Merriam-Webster dictionary describes "scion" as a descendant of a wealthy, aristocratic, or influential family. Fitting, considering it's Trump's two sons — Eric and Donald Jr. — who are running the president's hotel business while he's in the White House.

The new hotel will be in Cleveland, Miss., a small town of 14,000 in the wide-open cotton fields of the Mississippi Delta. Two interstate highways — lined with diners, auto-body shops and strip malls — dissect the town. One the far west of Cleveland, just before you hit the town limits, you can see the shell of the new hotel in an overgrown field.

There's siding on the building, most windows are in, and a few bare lights hang from the ceilings. But no one is working on the site, as construction has been delayed since July to make changes to its structure and design.

"They want two- or three-story opening when you walk in the lobby area, and I think they had probably built a single-floor level," said Judsen Thigpen, the executive director of Cleveland's chamber of commerce. He said the new hotel will be more upmarket than the handful of budget hotels already in Cleveland.

"Ninety to 100 rooms, a boutique, full-service hotel with a rooftop bar and nice restaurant and all those kind of things," he said. "So we're looking forward to having that one."

But Thigpen said the connection to Trump won't be obvious.

"It's my understanding that the Trump name is not going to be attached to the hotel," he said. "It's not going to be the 'Trump Scion,' it's going to be the 'Scion.'"

The hotel is actually owned by two Indian-American brothers, Dinesh and Suresh Chawla, who already own 17 lower-budget hotels in the region. Earlier this year they reached a franchising agreement with Trump Hotels.

The big question is: Why here? Cleveland is pleasant enough, but hardly has the glamour of cities normally associated with the Trump brand, such as New York and Washington, D.C. Why would the Trumps want to roll out a new line of hotels in a sleepy town that's a good two-hour drive from any medium-sized airport.

"I think because they could," said Jan de Roos, who specializes in hotel contracts and franchises at Cornell's College of Business. "I think the organization was looking for success; they had individuals willing to sign the franchise license agreement."

De Roos added that unveiling the new line of hotels in Cleveland, Miss., could be challenging. Usually four-star hotels are built in cities of at least 100,000 people. And companies don't normally unveil a new line until they have at least 10 other franchises in place. De Roos said what's likely drawing in the Trumps is the Grammy museum about a mile from the new hotel.




Many ethics experts are alarmed the president's organization is entering any new deals while he's in office. Trump placed his business interests in a revocable trust, which means any profits from his hotels will be waiting for him once he leaves office.

Zippyjuan
11-21-2017, 12:01 AM
https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattdrange/2017/07/18/how-business-connections-and-political-ties-helped-launch-trumps-newest-line-of-hotels/#11e6524f6260


How Business Connections And Political Ties Helped Launch Trump's Newest Line Of Hotels

Last August, Mississippi’s governor introduced a local hotel developer to then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at a $1,000-per-plate private fundraiser in Jackson. The developer, Suresh Chawla, had long been a campaign donor to the governor, Phil Bryant.

At the fundraiser, Chawla told Donald Trump and his son, Donald Jr., about his latest project: a boutique hotel in Cleveland, Miss., the home of a new museum devoted to the Grammy Awards. Donald Trump told Chawla to “think grand,” according to Chawla.

Two weeks later, Chawla donated $50,000, roughly half to Trump’s campaign and half to the Republican National Committee. By March -- two months into Trump’s presidency -- Chawla and his brother were on the 26th floor of Trump Tower for contract negotiations. By June, the Trumps and Chawlas had a handshake agreement for not one but four Trump-branded hotels in Mississippi, signing the deal 10 minutes before a public announcement.

President Trump, who still owns his businesses, stands to financially benefit from the hotel partnerships while in office. Trump has put management of his businesses in a trust controlled by his sons. But, as ProPublica has reported, he can take money from it at any time.

When Trump pledged in January to separate himself from his businesses, he promised that his business would “not reference or otherwise be tied” to the presidency.

The Mississippi deal includes a four-star hotel called Scion at West End and three other, more affordable hotels. Those hotels are the first of a new brand the Trump family has announced that’s targeted to Trump’s political base: the patriotically themed American IDEA.

A promotional video for the new Trump American IDEA Hotel brand that aired at the announcement event describes it as a mid-scale chain -- “flea market chic,” Trump Hotels CEO Eric Danziger says -- and “rooted in local culture and history and powered by gracious hospitality.” The video was mostly snippets of stock footage, including an apple pie being placed on a table, fans rooting on a sports team at a bar, and an American flag wafting in the breeze, along with the new American IDEA brand logo: a light bulb.

As part of its Scion hotel project, the Chawlas have been approved to receive public financing in the form of a tax-abatement program from the Mississippi Development Authority, which provides money for new projects through sales tax revenue. They will pay no local property taxes for seven years. Dinesh Chawla said the tax break, which was approved by the local city and county governments in January, is available to any project that meets the necessary criteria, adding, “We got no special consideration.”

That tax break could be worth millions but won’t be finalized until the property is assessed later this year.

The deals are some of the first tangible examples of how the Trumps are turning their newfound political capital into business. “What’s new here is that an elected official, in this case the president, stands to personally benefit from a business brokered by political connections while still serving in office,” said Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis who specializes in government ethics.

The Trump Organization has said it is moving ahead on 39 different deals for hotels around the country. But the company hasn’t said where the hotels will be or who the Trumps will be partnering with.

Raginfridus
11-21-2017, 12:16 AM
Cleveland is pleasant enough, but hardly has the glamor of cities normally associated with the Trump brand, such as New York and Washington, D.C. Why would the Trumps want to roll out a new line of hotels in a sleepy town that's a good two-hour drive from any medium-sized airport.Cleveland isn't sleepy.


Many ethics experts are alarmed the president's organization is entering any new deals while he's in office.So his business is supposed to flat line and just belly-up while he's in office? Bullshit.

Zippyjuan
11-21-2017, 12:26 AM
Cleveland isn't sleepy.

So his business is supposed to flat line and just belly-up while he's in office? Bull$#@!.

That is Cleveland Mississippi- not Cleveland Ohio. Population 12,000.

To avoid possible conflicts, Presidents usually put their assets into blind trusts while in office. Trump's trust is run by his kids so not much distance between the President and his business dealings.

Raginfridus
11-21-2017, 08:29 AM
That is Cleveland Mississippi- not Cleveland Ohio. Population 12,000.I see.


To avoid possible conflicts, Presidents usually put their assets into blind trusts while in office. Trump's trust is run by his kids so not much distance between the President and his business dealings.Our most recent presidents haven't had adult children while in office. GHWB was an exception, maybe Reagan but he was a career politician. My point is that they didn't have the option to leave their business to the kids in the first place, because they either didn't have children of discerning age or they had no business.

donnay
11-21-2017, 09:16 AM
I am surprised the media took so long with a story like this. :rolleyes:

Let's just forget the Clinton's pay to play schemes. The Bush Family connections to oil and defense contractors...

Zippyjuan
02-15-2019, 05:52 PM
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-organization-scraps-plans-for-hotel-chains-blaming-politics/


Trump Organization scraps plans for hotel chains, blaming politics

President Donald Trump's company is ditching plans for two new hotel chains announced two years ago, casting blame in part on a hostile political environment.

The Trump Organization said Thursday that it will no longer try to open hotels under its Scion and American Idea brands catering to budget and mid-priced travelers, a departure from its focus on luxury hotels. The announcement comes as the company has posted losses at a few of its golf properties and brand experts say it has lost some of its appeal.

When the plans were announced in 2017, they raised ethics concerns because of the company's strategy to convince local real estate developers and investors to pay for the properties. Ethics experts said such a structure could raise the possibility that some investors would use the properties as ways to gain favor with the Trump administration. In a statement, Mr. Trump's son, Eric Trump, blamed the political environment.

"We live in a climate where everything will be used against us, whether by the fake news or by Democrats who are only interested in presidential harassment and wasting everyone's time, barraging us with nonsense letters," the president's son, Eric Trump, said in an emailed statement. "We already have the greatest properties in the world and if we have to slow down our growth for the time being, we are happy to do it."

The rollout began with promises of fast success. The company said in March 2017 that nearly two dozen developers had already signed letters of intent to open mid-priced Scion hotels, and was enthusiastic about the future prospects.

"It's full steam ahead," said Eric Danziger, who oversees the hotel business for the family. "It's in our DNA."

One deal in Mississippi

But the avalanche of deals never materialized, as was the case for its budget-priced American Idea, which was launched a few months later at a party at the Trump Tower in New York.

The only developer willing to strike a deal was Chawla Hotels of Mississippi. It planned to open as many as four hotels in the state — but now that is off, too. On Facebook, businessman Dinesh Chawla wrote that the Trump Organization deal had ended.

"We never had political discussions," Chawla wrote. He added, "We were together for two years, but I learned so much from them. I'm sorry that they are not with us anymore legally, but we are partners of a different sort--spiritually on this project."

He added that the "breakup" wasn't talked about in "any negative tone."

"In today's politically charged environment," hotel consultant Lee Hunter told The Associated Press recently, "everyone is cautious."

The company is also struggling with some self-imposed restraints on expanding its business.

When Trump became president, he handed day-to-day control of the company to Eric and his other adult son, Donald Jr. He also agreed his company would not pursue new deals abroad and that domestic deals would be vetted by a lawyer hired to make sure they posed no conflicts with Trump's presidency.

"We walked away from billions of dollars' worth of deals and ceased virtually all expansion," said Eric Trump in his statement. "We continue to make tremendous sacrifices and understand the bigger picture more than anyone — our father has the most important and powerful job in the world."

Mar-a-Lago cancellations

The Trump Organization did not dismiss the possibility that it could revive the new brands someday, perhaps when Trump leaves the presidency.

The end of the rollout follows bad news for the company in other areas.

Charities have canceled events at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, his Scottish clubs lose millions of dollars each year and several buildings have stripped the Trump names off their facades.

The Trump Organization owns or has licensed its name to 17 golf clubs and more than two dozen hotels and residential buildings around the world.

The Trump Organization has also drawn scrutiny in federal probes into Russian interference in the 2016 election and Michael Cohen's campaign finance violations. More recently, it is facing blowback from Democrats in Congress for firing long-time workers at several of its U.S. golf clubs for being in the country illegally, raising doubts about its hiring practices amid the president's vow to crack down on such workers and build a wall to keep more from coming in.

The company has said it had no choice but to fire workers once it discovered they were in the country illegally.

NorthCarolinaLiberty
02-15-2019, 06:26 PM
When the plans were announced in 2017, they raised ethics concerns...

***

"We walked away from billions of dollars' worth of deals and ceased virtually all expansion," said Eric Trump...

***

Charities have canceled events at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, his Scottish clubs lose millions of dollars each year and several buildings have stripped the Trump names off their facades.

***

...domestic deals would be vetted by a lawyer hired to make sure they posed no conflicts with Trump's presidency.





So, the gist of this article is that Dump & Sons propose business deals that are nixed by lawyers because of potential conflicts. They lose money in the process.

My question is why RPF's most negged rep member of all-time (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/memberlist.php?order=asc&sort=reputation&pp=30) posted this. ZippyJuan?