Trump Hotels Will Avoid the Trump Name With New Lifestyle Brand

Trump Hotels held an event in New York City last night to to say the company is planning to launch a brand-new, as-yet un-named lifestyle hotel brand that is a “response to the to the massive growth of the technology-centric ‘we’-economy.'”

What’s the “we-economy?” A synonym for sharing economy, perhaps? We aren’t so sure, but what we do know is that the exact name for the new brand has yet to be announced, but whatever name it does eventually bear, it won’t be that of Trump. Further details about the new brand remain scarce, including when the new brand will actually launch or when or where the first development will be.

Eric Danziger, CEO of Trump Hotels said, “We want to reserve the name Trump only for luxury and never want to confuse customers or owners of the difference in a 4- and 5-star property.”

In a press statement, the company said the brand would possess “a personality that is genuine, engaged and agile, the brand will target travelers who want to connect with others in energized social spaces.”

Translation: It’ll be geared toward younger, Millennial travelers. And rather than compete with the five-star luxury category that Trump Hotels plays in, this new brand will be more focused on lifestyle and the upper upscale market as opposed to traditional luxury.

Trump Hotels has gotten some press recently in relation to its association with presidential candidate and Republican nominee Donald Trump. A survey conducted by Skift last month found that name association to be a troublesome one for his hotel business. Out of 1,554 responses, 56.9% of respondents said they were less likely to stay in a Trump Hotel because of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. On the other hand, 23.4% were more likely, and 19.7% weren’t aware Trump was in the hotel business. The numbers also showed that females were less likely to stay in a Trump Hotel.

Those most likely to stay in a Trump property were the oldest and least wealthy respondents.

A recent report released by metasearch/booking engine Hipmunk on May 24 also recently said that the share of bookings for Trump Hotels on Hipmunk for the first period of 2016 were down 59.3% from the same period in 2015. Trump Hotels CEO Eric Danziger has said there is no validity to the Hipmunk report.

Donald Trump’s lawyers have also said that Trump’s penchant for off-the-cuff remarks throughout his presidential campaign has not had any negative impact on his hotel business and that, in fact, it has boosted it. His lawyers noted this in recent court filings related to Trump’s lawsuit against celebrity chef Jose Andres. Trump is suing Andres for $10 million for backing out of a deal to open restaurants in Trump’s redevelopment of the Old Post Office Pavilion building in Washington, D.C. Chef Andres said he would not do business with Trump following Trump’s comments that Mexico was sending criminals and “rapists” to the U.S.