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Trump’s official grand opening of The Turnberry Hotel is set to take place on Friday 24 June, with the controversial presidential candidate to be present at the launch event following a £200m refurbishment after he bought the Ayrshire venue in 2014.
“Very exciting that one of the great resorts of the world, Turnberry, will be opening today after a massive £200m investment. I own it and I am very proud of it,” Trump said at the start of the month.
“I look forward to attending the official opening of this great development on 24 June.”
UK travel site EarnAway.com is not looking forward to Trump’s visit, however. In fact, the business, which rewards travel cashback to customers for their bookings, has removed all of Trump’s hotels from its inventory.
The decision was made after the company received numerous complaints about Trump properties being featured on the site, which compares deals at more than 500 hotels. EarnAway.com is now hoping for a snowball effect that will see other firms follow its lead by taking a stand against Trump.
The founders have said they “refuse to contribute any further to Trump’s domination of the American political system” and will no longer support the budding politician’s international hotels.
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EarnAway co-founder Robert Berriford explained: “We have now made the decision to remove all of his hotels and resorts from our website as we feel it’s ethically and morally wrong for us to effectively help fund and contribute to a political campaign that we have such strong opposition to.
“I am not at all worried about this decision having a detrimental effect on our business; in fact, we have already had a number of complaints from some of our regular customers who don’t appreciate the fact that we promote Trump’s hotels in the first place. Hopefully, we can inspire other online travel agencies to follow suit and dissuade Britons from sending any extra money his way!”
Turnberry has been met with controversy already. The Scottish National Party’s Alex Salmond slammed Trump for “unacceptable behaviour” that would damage the local economy, as the hotelier put up a fight against the construction of a nearby wind farm that would power homes. He claimed it would spoil the views from Turnberry.
On the topic of high-end properties, these are the most sensational shopping malls on the planet – booked your flights yet?
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