Trump businesses hit hard by presidency, figures show

‘Once you’ve lost the brand value it’s hard to get it back’

The backlash over the withdrawal of US troops from Syria and the resignation of Jim Mattis has given Donald Trump a tricky few days.

But the president’s business empire has been forced to endure a difficult couple of years thanks to his time in the White House, according to a new analysis.

From golf fees and licensing deals to prices for Trump condominiums, many of the metrics used to gauge his financial health since the presidency began are down.

The policies so beloved by his base appear to have turned off a group just as dear to him – the wealthy who fuel his many businesses.

“He can be very polarising. The brand has been diminished,” said Jeff Lotman, CEO of licensing firm Global Icons told the Associated Press. New York brand consultant Robert Passikoff put it more bluntly: “The Trump brand has lost its mojo.”

An AP analysis of sales data from brokerage CityRealty shows prices per square foot have fallen in nine of the 11 Trump-branded buildings in Manhattan in the first 10 months this year after dropping last year, too.

Since Mr Trump has taken office, prices have fallen nine per cent on average and are now down to levels not seen in five years. In that time, Manhattan condos overall have risen 29 per cent.

CityRealty consultant Zach Gutierrez says Trump buildings are suffering partly because they look dated next to all the new luxury buildings that have gone up in recent years. But he adds that it does not help that some apartment hunters won’t even consider a Trump building now.

“His politics are definitely alienating people,” said Mr Gutierrez.

Ivanka Trump’s business has been hit by the political backlash, too. The president’s daughter shut down her company making dresses, shoes, handbags and other accessories in July amid boycotts against her brand and after retailers such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom decided to drop her line, the latter specifically citing weak sales.

Her company said at the time that business was strong and that the shutdown was triggered by Ms Trump’s desire to focus more on her work as a White House advisor.

Eric Trump has been similarly positive about his father’s 17 golf resorts around the world, claiming earlier this year that the clubs are doing “spectacularly.”

Yet the few public numbers available suggest otherwise. Financial reports released by the British and Irish governments in October show two Scottish resorts and one in Ireland lost millions last year, the fourth year of losses in a row.

Revenue at his public course in the Bronx, New York fell nine per cent in the first six months of this year, on top of a seven per cent drop last year. Revenue from his Doral golf resort in Miami, which generates the bulk of the Trump empire’s golf revenue, is estimated by Forbes magazine to have plunged 26 per cent last year.

The president plays golf at Turnberry, Scotland in July, 2018 (AP)

Another business facing trouble: Mr Trump’s “condo-hotel” business, in which people looking for income buy hotel rooms in Trump hotels and hand them over to his company to rent out to guests.

“When I bought, it had to do with the Trump name. It was a respected name,” says Terry Gould, who sold two condos in his Trump Vegas tower last year out of frustration with what he says was the puny income from them. “I don’t know what the market sees in it now.”

Texas tech executive Gary Barrett to finally give up hope of ever turning a profit on an apartment he bought as an investment in a Trump tower in Las Vegas. “People with enough cash to buy these units seem to be shying away from the Trump name,” said Mr Barrett, calling it “the Trump effect.”

The Washington Post said private documents it has seen show income to condo-hotel owners at a New York property dropped 14 per cent from 2015 to 2017. The newspaper reported a similar drop at a Trump hotel in Chicago.

Earlier this year, a luxury hotel in Panama City that used to bear the Trump name under a licensing deal was formally rebranded as a JW Marriott and the management used a crowbar to strip Trump’s name off the building.

The brand name was also stripped from the Trump Place residential building in New York City in October after the tenants voted to remove it.

Remains of the name Trump Place after New York tenants voted to strip it (REUTERS)

From the beginning there were signs that mixing politics and business were backfiring. It started when Mr Trump announced his candidacy in 2015, calling some Mexican immigrants crossing the border illegally “rapists,” and then snowballed the next year after a Access Hollywood tape appeared of him apparently boasting about grabbing women by the genitals.

Macy’s and Univision severed ties with his brand, mattress maker Serta stopped licensing his name, NASCAR and the PGA booked events that used to be held at his Doral resort in Miami elsewhere, and the TV network that aired The Apprentice – NBC – ended its relationship with him.

It has not been all bad news. Mr Trump’s businesses still hauled in at least $453m (£359m) in revenue last year, according to the president’s financial disclosure.

His Washington hotel, which took in $40m (£32m) of that, is doing a brisk business with Republican officials, lobbyists and business groups.

Then there is all the untapped opportunity abroad after the presidency. An AP review of trademarks around the world shows the president has received approval for dozens of trademarks in China and other countries to set up new businesses and license products.

Larry Chiagouris, a marketing professor at Pace University, thinks Mr Trump will move fast to make money off those trademarks after he leaves office, particularly in emerging markets.

“He’ll go to work and put product underneath them and his business will be worth a lot more,” said Mr Chiagouris.

Others are less optimistic. Mr Passikoff has been surveying consumer attitudes towards Mr Trump for decades.

The consultant said his data showed the personal brand was so popular at one point that the tycoon could get people to pay 30 per cent more than they would for rival brands on hotel rooms, steak and other goods and services.

He said: “Once you’ve lost the brand value it’s hard to get it back.”

Additional reporting by Associated Press