Eric Danziger wears a pin on his suit lapel that sends a subtle message to the U.S. Secret Service: he’s a Trump man.
The 10-sided bauble lets Danziger bypass security inside Trump Tower, a privilege granted to perhaps a dozen people.
Danziger, it’s safe to say, is no longer an ordinary executive. As head of the Trump hotel business, he occupies one of the most exclusive perches in corporate America. And one of the oddest.
Since Donald Trump entered the White House, Danziger has worked to expand the first family’s hotel business, while rebutting suggestions that he, along with the president’s sons Donald Jr. and Eric are, in effect, trying to monetize the U.S. presidency.
Danziger, 63, scoffs at the suggestion. “There is zero conflict,” he says. “Zero.”
It’s been a remarkable run for Danziger, who passed through Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide and Wyndham Worldwide Corp. before joining the Trump Organization 22 months ago, when a Trump victory seemed like a long shot.
Questions about how the Trump Organization is navigating conflicts, real or perceived, aren’t going away. Last week, Danziger unveiled his latest effort to take the gold-plated Trump brand down-market with a chain that projects an all-American image. The plan: to open hotels under the name American Idea in, of all places, Mississippi, one of the poorest states in the nation.
‘Crazy Hard’
“He’s got a crazy hard job now with a lot of opportunities because of the high profile of Trump, but a lot of challenges too,” said David Loeb, founder of Dirigo Consulting LLC and a veteran lodging analyst.
Foreign investors are now taboo. Trump Hotels in April cut ties with a partner who touted his plans for a Scion hotel in Dallas to be financed by investors in Turkey, Qatar, and Kazakhstan. Scion is Trump’s new four-star chain.