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Trump hotel called ‘s***hole’ and given hundreds of one-star reviews on Yelp

The hotel has been reduced from four stars to two in a matter of days

Helen Coffey
Thursday 18 January 2018 13:49 GMT
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Trump International Hotel has been massacred in recent Yelp reviews
Trump International Hotel has been massacred in recent Yelp reviews (Getty Images)

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The Trump International Hotel in Washington DC has been given hundreds of one-star reviews describing it as a “s***hole” over the last few days.

A week ago, the five-star hotel had four (out of a total of five) stars on Yelp based on customer feedback. This has now been reduced to two stars after almost 800 new reviews were uploaded between 11 and 15 January, according to New Knowledge, a company that tracks misinformation online.

The influx of reviews follows reports that President Trump referred to certain places, namely Haiti and Africa, as “s***hole countries”. The comment was allegedly made during a private meeting, and prompted condemnation from both the UN and African Union; politicians from both main US parties described it as racist.

The president has since denied making the remarks, saying in response to the allegations: “I’m not a racist. I’m the least racist person you have ever interviewed.”

However, Democrat Senator Richard Durbin, who attended the meeting, said Mr Trump had used the term.

Many of the reviews left on Yelp poke fun at various Trump-isms. Michael T from West Hollywood wrote: “My morning newspaper was heavily edited, most of the articles had been cut out. Fake news!”

Jackson B from Atlanta, meanwhile, said: “Wow! This place is a real s***hole. There’s [sic] Russians everywhere, the concierge grabbed my p*ssy, and some loud-mouthed senile orange s***gibbon crashed our wedding photos.”

Trump referred to Haitians and Africans as coming from ‘s***hole countries’

Similar comments were also left on Yelp pages for Trump hotels in Chicago and Hawaii, as well as on the Mar-a-Lago entry.

Yelp has since suspended reviews on the hotel while it investigates the veracity of the recent feedback. It says on the Trump International Hotel page: “This business recently made waves in the news, which often means that people come to this page to post their views on the news.

“While we don’t take a stand one way or the other when it comes to these news events, we do work to remove both positive and negative posts that appear to be motivated more by the news coverage itself than the reviewer’s personal consumer experience with the business.

“As a result, your posts to this page may be removed as part of our cleanup process beginning Wednesday, January 17, 2018, but you should feel free to post your thoughts about the recent media coverage for this business on Yelp Talk at any time.”

Trump Hotels has not yet responded to The Independent’s request for comment.

The story comes after The Independent reported that rooms at Trump hotels have dropped by up to 66 per cent since President Trump took office.

Travel money provider FairFX compared January 2018 prices for a two-night stay in a variety of rooms at Trump hotels across the world with the same stay in January 2017 – marking a year since Donald Trump was inaugurated as President of the United States.

The average price of a luxury room has dropped by 25 per cent, while cheaper rooms have decreased by 35 per cent on average.

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