rip off

MAGA supporters are being charged 180% above market value for rooms in Trump’s failing D.C. hotel

Today is a very big day for QAnon conspiracy theorists. Word on the street is Donald Trump will be sworn back in as President of the United States, since March 4 was the original inauguration day for presidents before 1933.

This, of course, is not going to happen. But Capitol police have amped up security just in case anyone from the MAGA militia tries to stage a sequel to what happened on January 6.

While police have been busy focusing on that, Trump’s failing hotel in Washington, D.C. has been busy trying to find a way to squeeze more money out of his most steadfast supporters.

Related: Viral video from inside the lobby of Trump’s namesake D.C. hotel shows a barren and empty landscape

Forbes was the first to report that, shortly after January 6, when the March 4 conspiracy theory first began circulating online, the hotel jacked up the price on a standard room with two queen-sized beds to $1,745 for today.

Earlier this week, the price dropped to $1,331, before dropping again to $745. While that’s $1,000 less than what it was, it’s still 180% above the typical rate of a D.C. hotel this time of year.

Meanwhile, rooms at three other luxury hotels in the same area–Four Seasons, Hay Adams, and St. Regis–remain at their normal rate.

Sooooo why is this?

Well, it’s not uncommon for hotels to increase their prices for things like holiday weekends, large conferences, major sporting events, or other special occasions like, say, an insurrection on the U.S. Capitol.

Forbes reports:

The Trump International has a history of hiking prices around dates that are important to supporters of the former president. Consider that, just last month, on January 5 and 6, the lowest available room rates at Trump International topped $7,500 and $8,000 a night, respectively. That’s more than triple the $2,200 nightly rate the hotel was charging during the inauguration period a few weeks later.

But the hotel’s attempted money grab doesn’t appear to have been very successful since the place is still a ghost town, according to photos being shared on Twitter.

Salon notes:

While Trump continues to financially capitalize on the QAnon conspiracies, there’s no saying what will happen when the Q theorists wake up on March 5 with Joe Biden still holding office as the 46th president of the United States. But fortunately for The Trump International Hotel, QAnon might be back in D.C. again soon in hopes of fulfilling whatever the next conspiracy holds.

According to Trump’s final financial disclosure statement as President, sales at the hotel fell by a whopping 63% in 2020.

In January, the Washington Post reported that the Trump Organization had been shopping the lease on the building for a year, hoping to unload the property to the tune of $500 million, but the real-estate broker wasn’t able to find any interested buyers and quit.

Graham Gremore is the Features Editor and a Staff Writer at Queerty. Follow him on Twitter @grahamgremore.

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