The Trump Hotel Vancouver to Close Permanently, Leaving Them Hotel-Less in Canada
Main Photo: The Trump Vancouver, as was
Date: September 2020
Location: Vancouver, Canada
Name: Trump Hotel Vancouver
No of Keys: 147
Owner: TA Global Berhad, a Malaysian property company
Buyer: Could be You! The Trump Hotel Vancouver has just closed permanently, meaning that there are no longer any Trump properties in Canada.
The Vancouver Sun is reporting that the Trump Hotel Vancouver is ceasing operations permanently. The pandemic is given as the reason for the hotel shutting down, though presumably there’s a bit more to it.
The 147-room Trump Hotel Vancouver was opened in February 2017 and is owned by TA Global Berhad, a Malaysian property company. As is the case with many things bearing the Trump name, this was simply a licensing deal with Trump, and the Trump family didn’t have a major stake in the hotel.
TA Global Berhad has two Canadian subsidiaries that leased and ran the Trump Hotel Vancouver, and they’re insolvent due to the pandemic. One of the company’s bankruptcy filings shows assets of $1.104 million and debts of $4.795 million.
Unsurprisingly, the Trump licensing deal may not have been the best business decision, in retrospect. Lindsay Meredith, a Simon Fraser University marketing professor emeritus, said that the owners of the hotel probably “wish to hell” they hadn’t licensed rights to the Trump name.
“They’re probably looking at it as a convenient way to dump a deal they made. The Trump brand historically looked to be relatively stable, but it’s become ever-mercurial and a bloody lightning rod.”
I imagine the hotel won’t just sit empty forever, so it’ll be interesting to see if this is purchased and emerges as another brand. Could we see a Park Hyatt or St. Regis Vancouver, maybe?
This isn’t the first Canadian property to lose Trump branding. The Trump Hotel Toronto opened in 2012, and hadn’t been doing well financially. The property was sold off by the developers due to bankruptcy, and the property ended up being sold for less than the cost of debt in the project. The hotel ended up being converted into a St. Regis.
THPT Comment: Trump has not been lucky with his foray into hotels…Panama, Atlantic City, New York, Istanbul, Toronto have all ended in tears.
First Seen: One mile at a time
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