Trump’s Luxury Hotel In New York, Once Hot, Now Is Not

Discount property. (Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi)

First went the professional athletes. Then went the sushi restaurant. Now employees and a fixture of a five-star hotel—turndown service—are the latest to go from a five-star Trump hotel in lower Manhattan.

The 391-room Trump SoHo in lower Manhattan is laying off staff amid a slump in business and asking for less than $400 a night from previous rates of around $700, according to WNYC.

The five-star property, which gets high marks from many guests, is taking its downmarket turn just four months after Donald Trump, whose company runs the hotel, took the US presidency.

Trump opposers such as basketball star LeBron James and even entire NBA teams have refused to stay at Trump-branded properties. WNYC reported a downturn in corporate event bookings at the hotel, which had booked events for companies like Amazon and GE. Celebrities and regular diners have stayed far enough away from hotel sushi restaurant Koi that the eatery last month announced it would close. A server told Grub Street that “the Kardashians stopped coming.”

A hotel spokeswoman told Quartz that “as is common in the hotel industry, and in any business, we continually assess our offerings and services.”

It isn’t entirely clear what is the source of the hotel’s woes. Trump’s new hotel in Washington, just steps from the White House, is humming despite protests about potential conflicts of interest.

But others in Trump’s hometown have shown an aversion to his name. Residents of the Trump Place complex on Manhattan’s West Side petitioned for the president’s name to be removed from the buildings’ façades. And, of course, Trump lost all but Staten Island to Hillary Clinton in voting during the presidential campaign.

A slide in the SoHo hotel’s popularity defies lodging trends in New York City. The number of hotels in the city by the end of 2016 was 631, up nearly 30% from 2011, the year after the Trump SoHo opened, according to data from hotel-analysis firm STR. Occupancy is also up, to 86% last year from 82% in 2011, even as the popularity of home-and-room-sharing platform Airbnb has surged.

Things could get worse for Trump SoHo. In the wake of Trump’s ban on travelers from several majority-Muslim countries, New York’s tourist agency forecast the city’s first decline in foreign visitors since the 2008 financial crisis.

WRITTEN BY Leslie Josephs

Culinary Union Launches National Boycott Of Trump Businesses #BoycottTrump #NeverTrump

LAS VEGAS, Vegas – A #BoycottTrump campaign urging customers to not eat, sleep, or play at many Trump hotels and golf courses comes in the wake of federal officials' denying Trump Hotel Las Vegas' objections to a December 2015 union election, during which the majority of workers at the hotel voted to join the Culinary Union, the largest affiliate of UNITE HERE.

Citing federal law allowing boycotts for the purpose of forcing an employer to honor their duty to bargain, UNITE HERE, the parent union of the Culinary Union which is certified as the bargaining representative of workers at Trump Hotel Las Vegas, has called for a national boycott of businesses Donald J. Trump owns, has invested in, or has partnered with until the Trump Hotel Las Vegas honors its legal duty to bargain with the union.

Union members recently picketed at Trump National Golf Course Los Angeles, announcing the boycott from inside the clubhouse restaurant, and union locals have planned further boycott events for September 29 in Waikiki and San Francisco, and October 1 and 18 in Chicago. More actions are expected to follow in Virginia, New York and Florida.

"Enough is enough," said UNITE HERE President D. Taylor. "While Donald Trump waged an indefensible anti-worker and anti-immigrant presidential campaign, the workers at his Las Vegas hotel fought for dignity and respect in their workplace. They voted to unionize, they won, and now the law says Trump must negotiate."

Prior to the boycott call, thousands of union members and supporters have demonstrated outside Trump Hotel Las Vegas. "Donald Trump's a disrespectful hypocrite, and we stand in solidarity with the workers at Trump Hotel Las Vegas," said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. "His unwillingness to bargain with the hard-working people who make his hotel successful is shameful. It tells you all you need to know about his feelings toward all working people."

"At the hotel in the morning we chant 'No Contract, No Peace! No Contract, No Peace!" said Eleuteria Blanco, a guestroom attendant at the Trump Hotel Las Vegas. Over 57,000 union workers in Las Vegas have fair wages, job security, and good health benefits—in stark contrast to workers at Trump Hotel Las Vegas who pay up to $260 per month for their health insurance, and are paid approximately $3.00 less per hour in comparison to union workers on the Strip. "We're not second class workers," Blanco added.

Trump Hotel Las Vegas management waged a hostile anti-union campaign. Hotel management hired anti-union labor consultants, paying them more than half a million dollars. Alleged offenses against management include suspensions of employees for union activities, as well as threats and interrogations against union supporters.

"After a disgraceful anti-union campaign against their own workers, the hotel still refuses to negotiate with their employees," said Geoconda Arguello-Kline, Secretary-Treasurer for the Culinary Union. "We call on allies and workers to stand in solidarity in a national boycott until Donald Trump, the 'Great Negotiator,' comes to the table."

In Canada, workers at the Trump International Hotel Toronto ratified their first contract seven months after voting to join UNITE HERE.

Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165, Nevada affiliates of UNITE HERE, represent over 57,000 workers in Las Vegas and Reno, including at most of casino resorts on the Las Vegas Strip and in Downtown Las Vegas. UNITE HERE represents 270,000 workers in gaming, hotel, and food service industries in North America.

The Culinary Union is Nevada's largest immigrant organization with over 57,000 members – a diverse membership that is approximately 55% women and 56% Latino. Members -who work as guest room attendants, bartenders, cocktail and food servers, porters, bellmen, cooks, and kitchen workers- come from 167 countries and speak over 40 different languages. The Culinary Union has been fighting for fair wages, job security, and good health benefits for working men and women in Nevada for over 80 years.

The Culinary Union is encouraging Nevada locals, political candidates, and tourists to avoid staying at/or patronizing hotels under an active labor dispute such as Station Casinos, Palms Casino Resort, and the Trump Hotel Las Vegas.