With a silver beard, Danziger says, half-jokingly, that people tell him he resembles the debonair Dos Equis beer pitchman, “The Most Interesting Man in the World,” originally portrayed by actor Jonathan Goldsmith.
He certainly has an interesting job. He is a Trump insider who, in some ways, will always be an outsider, because he isn’t family. Inside Trump Tower, he is known as Ed, rather than Eric. Another Eric -- one with the Trump name -- works there too, after all.
“I’m not a politician,” Danziger says. “I’m a lowly little hotel guy, and all I do is run hotels.”
Teenage Bellman
In contrast to the privileged upbringing of his Trump-brother bosses, whom he calls “mentors,” even though one is three decades younger, Danziger started as a bellman at age 17 at a Fairmont hotel.
“I did this,” he says, “half because I had no interest in college and half because my parents couldn’t afford it.”
Danziger joined Trump Hotels in August 2015, two months after then-candidate Trump alienated chefs Jose Andres and Geoffrey Zakarian -- and millions of voters -- with his anti-Mexican campaign comments, causing the chefs to bolt from planned restaurants at Trump’s luxury Washington hotel.
If Danziger is stressed out, he doesn’t show it, except for the black vape pen he turns on before being interviewed. He comes across as amiable and unpretentious. “What’s up, dude?” he says to an acquaintance who stops to say hello at a conference. For years, he smoked three packs a day. His smile today reveals perfect white teeth.
The post-election Trump Hotels is relying on other people’s money to proliferate its two new chains throughout the country -- the same strategy used these days by most big hotel operators, which are focusing on franchise and management revenue and letting others take the development risk.
American Idea