Plan B Forum

What’s in a Name? When It’s ‘Trump Place,’ It’s a Revolt

At three large rental buildings emblazoned with gold letters spelling out T-R-U-M-P P-L-A-C-E on the Upper West Side, the lobby rain mats embossed with the same name are being replaced, tenants say. The new versions, they have been told, will proclaim the buildings’ addresses, 140, 160 or 180 Riverside Boulevard.

At the same buildings, they say, the doormen and concierges have been measured for new uniforms that will no longer carry the Trump name.

And 300 people, most of them tenants, have signed an online petition titled “Dump the TRUMP Name” in less than 10 days. [I heard on the news it's now up to 400 residents]

Marjorie Jacobs, a retired teacher who lives at 180 Riverside Boulevard, is one of them. “It’s embarrassing to tell people where you live,” Ms. Jacobs said. “His name does not need to be on the front of the building.”

The newfound aversion to Mr. Trump’s name is not limited to the three buildings. Residents of 220 Riverside Boulevard, a condominium in the same neighborhood also emblazoned with Trump Place, have circulated their own petition for removal of the name, though it is unclear that it has had any effect.

Last month, Trump Hotels announced that its new line of hotels aimed at millennials would not carry the name, but would instead be called Scion. In Vancouver, Canada, the mayor has asked the developer of the Trump International Hotel, which is scheduled to open next year, to change the hotel’s name. And in Washington, the newly opened Trump International Hotel has had trouble filling its 263 rooms, according to a report in New York magazine.

Eric Danziger, the chief executive of Trump Hotels, did not respond to a request for comment.

In January 2016, a survey from BAV Consulting showed that the value of Trump’s brand was “collapsing” in the eyes of people making over $100,000 per year. In May 2016, a survey conducted by media and research firm Skift found that 57% of those surveyed were less likely to stay in one of Trump’s hotels because of his presidential run.

In August, Foursquare found that foot traffic to Trump properties had decreased since he announced his presidential bid in June 2015, especially in Democratic-leaning states. An August report from travel website Hipmunk showed that bookings at Trump hotels on the site were down 59% in the first half of 2016 as compared to the first half of 2015.

A week after the Washington Post released the Access Hollywood tape of Trump making lewd comments about women, New York Magazine reported that Trump’s new Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. had to reduce its rates during peak season. A New York Times story on Monday described how some customers actively choosing to avoid patronizing anything with the Trump brand as a form of protest in the wake of Trump’s comments about women, minorities and immigrants.