Trump Hotels Running Away From Donald Trump As Fast As They Can. Respectfully, Of Course

They're going for more of a hip, millennial feel.

Trump Hotels are doing a little rebranding, but don't you people believe for a minute it has anything to do with the lousy performance or temperament of the Great Man who generously stamped his name all over every flat surface of the hotels. Not at all, nothing could be farther from the truth! Everyone loves the Trump name, you see, but for new hotels being built by the company, they just want to appeal to people who might otherwise prefer to sleep in the back seat of their town car than set foot in a place named "Trump." Not that they actually said that. In a statement, the CEO of Trump Hotels, Eric Danziger, explained that a new line of hotels being marketed toward wealthy millennials is simply distinguishing itself as something new and exciting:

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[.]

So they're giving the new hotel line the name "Scion," which the press release helpfully explains "means 'descendant of a notable family,'" and is "a multi-faceted lifestyle brand developed in response to the boom in social clubs and the 'we' economy." It's also the name of the car brand that Toyota axed earlier this year because not enough millennials were snapping up those distinctive little sporty cars. Oops.

The new name has absolutely nothing to do with Trump's political problems, although if you want to get right down to it, Trump's brand is in trouble. New York magazine points out that Trump's brand-new Trump International Hotel in Washington DC -- where he held that weirdass infomercial for an hour before closing it with less than 30 seconds explaining that, yes Barack Obama was definitely born in Hawaii, and it's all Hillary Clinton's fault anyone ever thought otherwise -- has been struggling, despite being the hot new luxury hotel in the capital. Or not so hot: earlier in October, during the annual World Bank-IMF meetings, other hotels were sold out, but not only did the Trump International have rooms available, they were even discounting them heavily: a deluxe room normally priced at $805 a night could be had for $445. And that's at the same time the only available rooms at the Ritz-Carlton were going for $1,139 a night. (Yeah, we don't know how anyone could spend that much on a hotel. That's multiple months' rent for our little blogger-hole.)

Nope, the politics aren't a problem, though, apart from maybe things like this:  

CNN Money last week reported that event planners and travel agents are purposefully avoiding the hotel altogether.

“I’m not recommending the Trump property to anyone,” Tara Melvin, the owner of Virginia-based Perfect Planning Events, told CNN. “Just based on his character, and his actions and the things that he said over his political campaign.”

But that is completely unrelated to naming the new line of hotels something that makes you think of a toaster-shaped hipster car, not Trump, no, not at all. No less a luminary than Ivanka Trump, Executive Vice President of Development & Acquisitions for The Trump Organization, explained in the press release: "Our business at Trump Hotels is stronger than ever and we are incredibly excited about the future of Scion, the newest brand in our hotel portfolio," she said. And crossed her fingers while making a wish, probably.

So naming your new hotels after a failed car brand doesn't reek of desperation. They could have done worse. They could have gone with "Trump Junior," and everyone knows he's an idiot too. 

Existing hotels with "Trump" all over them will remain named "Trump," like a tattoo that seemed like a good idea at the time.

[ ThinkProgress / Travel and Leisure / New York ]