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Donald Trump

Cape Town — Room rates across President Donald Trump’s global hotel empire have seen a decrease of  63 percent since he moved into the White House.

According to The Telegraph, new research by FairFX, an international currency provider, indicates average room rates have plummeted by about 63 percent at all except one of his 13 hotels.

Trump Las Vegas has been hit the worst with the average cost of a two-night stay in a standard double room decreasing from about $843 (about R11 thousand at R13,92/$) back in January to just $314 (about R4 thousand at R13,92/$) to reserve a room for January 2018.

The average rate at Trump’s Washington hotel, where rates in January 2017 were the highest out of any Trump property at nearly $1 650 (about R22k at R13,92/$), dropped by more than half, to around $792 (about R10k at R13,92/$).

The only property to see an increase was the Trump Doonbeg, the president’s golf resort in Ireland, where rates rose by 7 percent from $442 (about R6k at R13,92/$) to $472 (close to R7k at R13,92/$).

“While big events, like the inauguration in Washington, will usually cause prices to rise in that city for a particular weekend, the decreases in other places suggest that it doesn’t necessarily pay to be president,” Ian Strafford-Taylor, FairFX CEO told The Telegraph.

FairFX noted that other factors, like a general decrease in tourism to the US, could also have resulted in the rate drop.

With some much negativity surrounding Trump since becoming president, the question at hand is, does all of this decreasing come with any surprises? — AFP