Trump Hotels’ first-quarter
bookings fell 59% from a year earlier, according to travel search engine Hipmunk, but the company headed by Republican presidential candidate Donald
Trump says those numbers don't paint a complete or accurate picture.
Trump Hotels during
the first quarter accounted for 0.7% of Hipmunk’s hotel bookings in the cities
where Trump hotels are located, down from 1.7% a year earlier, according to
Hipmunk figures that were previously reported on the site Priceonomics. Hipmunk
confirmed the accuracy of the figures.
Specifically, bookings at
the Trump SoHo New York and Trump International Hotel Las Vegas were down more than
70%, while Trump International Hotels Chicago bookings fell 31%, according to
Hipmunk.
Trump Hotels, in a statement sent
to Travel Weekly on Friday, said, “We are very pleased with the
performance of Trump Hotels, and with the business we receive from our direct
brand channels as well as from the larger, significant third party distribution
channels with which we partner. The use of
percentages that come from minute numbers, such as those cited, are inconsequential
and do not provide a complete or accurate representation of performance.”
Last month, Forbes reported that
many high-end travelers intend to stay away from the
company’s properties. Citing consultant Penn Schoen Berland’s survey of 500
U.S. residents who earn at least $200,000 a year, Forbes said 45% of those
polled indicated that they would make it a point not to visit either a Trump
hotel or golf course during the next four years.