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Trump International Hotel Washington DC stands in Washington, D.C., U.S.
President Donald Trump’s Washington hotel turned an unexpected profit in the first four months of the year, helped by charging higher rates than initially planned, according to reports in The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.
The Trump International Hotel had a “nearly $2 million” profit in that period and recorded $18 million in revenue, the Journal said. The hotel initially budgeted for a $2.1 million loss, according to both newspapers.
The Journal cited unredacted financial records temporarily posted Thursday by the General Services Administration, which oversees the Trump Organization’s lease for the hotel.
In the months after Trump became president, the hotel charged about 60 percent more for rooms than it had initially budgeted, the Journal reported. Guests have paid “an average of $652.98 a night” to stay at the hotel, which “probably makes it the most expensive hotel in the city,” the Post added.
The president did not sell his stake in the hotel or other properties, raising concerns that he could profit off the presidency. Ethics experts have seen the hotel as a prime example of the problems Trump’s business empire generates while he serves as president.
Trump denies that it poses any conflict of interest issues.
The Post recently published an expansive report about how the hotel has changed Washington’s “culture of influence.”
Read the full Journal report here.
