Thousands of U.S. hotels have volunteered to help local authorities house doctors, nurses and other medical personnel at reduced rates — or even free — during the covid-19 pandemic.
President Trump’s White House has praised these efforts. But so far, none of Trump’s own hotels are known to be participating.
In five U.S. cities where President Trump’s company operates large hotels — New York, Chicago, Miami, Washington and Honolulu — local authorities said the Trump hotel was not involved in their efforts to provide low-cost or no-cost rooms to those fighting the novel coronavirus.
“They did not volunteer, and we did not ask them,” said Frank Rollason, the head of emergency management for the fire department in Miami-Dade County, Fla. That county is home to Trump’s Doral resort.
Rollason said the county has rented out two hotels, and is negotiating with five more, to pay them $35 per room per night to house both first responders and homeless people during the pandemic. Rollason said some hotels have also offered to donate rooms, but Doral was not among them.
Trump’s company, which the president still owns, did not respond to questions this week. It is possible that the company has offered hotel rooms to medical personnel in private transactions, without involving local officials.
The Trump Organization has no legal obligation to house medical personnel during the pandemic. If it did, it would be taking on an extra financial burden — filling its hotels with low-paying or nonpaying guests — at a time when it is already facing a huge drop-off in revenue. In all five cities, only a small fraction of local hotels are participating in these programs.
But, by staying out of these programs, Trump’s company could be missing a chance to lead by example, embodying the sort of sacrifice Trump has praised in others.
“Thank you to hotels around the country for providing healthcare workers and first responders a place to stay while they’re on the front lines of the pandemic,” the White House’s Twitter account wrote on April 5.
That tweet exemplified the contrast between Trump’s words and the Trump Organization’s actions. In the tweet, the White House linked to a story about Hawaii’s program — dubbed “Hotels for Heroes” — which has put up medical personnel in 33 hotels around the state.
There is a Trump hotel in Hawaii, which another company owns and pays Trump’s company to operate. The Trump hotel is not part of the program, said Marisa Yamane, a spokeswoman for the Hawaii Tourism Authority. The hotel’s owner did not respond to a request for comment.
The Trump hotel in Hawaii is closed, having voluntarily shut down last month — after travel limits slowed tourism to a trickle, but before the Hotels for Heroes program began. The Trump hotel told the state it had “temporarily furloughed” 226 employees.
It is possible that Trump’s company is abstaining from these programs because it is concerned about violating the Constitution’s emoluments clauses, which prohibit presidents from taking payments directly from states.
But Trump has argued in legal filings that the clauses are meant to ban bribes, not business transactions. And his companies have previously charged state governments: In 2017, for instance, then-Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) spent $22,000 in state money at the Trump International Hotel in Washington. Also, Trump’s company could get around the clauses by giving away rooms free — as some other hotels have done.The Trump hotel in Hawaii is closed, having voluntarily shut down last month — after travel limits slowed tourism to a trickle, but before the Hotels for Heroes program began. The Trump hotel told the state it had “temporarily furloughed” 226 employees.
It is possible that Trump’s company is abstaining from these programs because it is concerned about violating the Constitution’s emoluments clauses, which prohibit presidents from taking payments directly from states.
But Trump has argued in legal filings that the clauses are meant to ban bribes, not business transactions. And his companies have previously charged state governments: In 2017, for instance, then-Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) spent $22,000 in state money at the Trump International Hotel in Washington. Also, Trump’s company could get around the clauses by giving away rooms free — as some other hotels have done.The Trump hotel in Hawaii is closed, having voluntarily shut down last month — after travel limits slowed tourism to a trickle, but before the Hotels for Heroes program began. The Trump hotel told the state it had “temporarily furloughed” 226 employees.
It is possible that Trump’s company is abstaining from these programs because it is concerned about violating the Constitution’s emoluments clauses, which prohibit presidents from taking payments directly from states.
But Trump has argued in legal filings that the clauses are meant to ban bribes, not business transactions. And his companies have previously charged state governments: In 2017, for instance, then-Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) spent $22,000 in state money at the Trump International Hotel in Washington. Also, Trump’s company could get around the clauses by giving away rooms free — as some other hotels have done.
Source: The Washington post
