Trump hotels fire staff due to coronavirus outbreak

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Reeling from the global fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, Donald Trump’s family business has cut back hotel operations, closed some golf courses and restaurants and shed dozens of workers — all while pushing to keep other properties open and promote them on social media.

In recent days, the Trump Organisation cut staff from hotels in New York and Washington, halted new reservations at a hotel overlooking the Las Vegas Strip and closed golf courses in Los Angeles and the Miami area, according to people with knowledge of the matter. It also closed the Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, which normally would be at a peak right now, with regular seasonal visits by Mr Trump himself.

The cutbacks, expected to continue in coming days, were a last resort, a company executive said, as the priority had been keeping thousands of employees and contract workers on the job. The company has a portfolio of more than a dozen golf clubs and at least partially owns or operates five-star hotels in Chicago, Hawaii, Las Vegas, New York, Vancouver and Washington, as well as Ireland and Scotland.

For those properties that remain open, the company has continued promotional campaigns on social media and through direct email.

On Friday morning, Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point, a public course in New York City, invited guests on Twitter to play a round: “Looking to get some #freshair? The golf course is a great place to relieve stress and exercise social distancing #openingday.”

So far, the company has avoided the widespread shutdowns some larger hotel chains have taken on, such as the Hilton Worldwide Holdings, which is closing the bulk of its properties in major cities.

Chip Rogers, president and chief executive of the American Hotel & Lodging Association, a trade group, said this was the more common approach right now in the industry.

The president’s Mar-a-Lago club was the site of events earlier that included several people who have since been confirmed to have coronavirus, including two Brazilian officials who accompanied president Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil to a dinner with Donald Trump at the resort on 7 March.

Now, the club has closed, at least temporarily.

Not far away, at the golf resort in Doral, another of Mr Trump’s highest-profile properties, the company was still accepting new reservations Friday, though it had shut down its courses and restaurants. Still, according to a hotel employee, the family pool remained open.

The New York Times