Donald Trump has a few words especially for two Atlantic City casinos that haven’t taken his name off their premises nor promotional material more than five years after all ties were cut between them: ’You’re fired.’
Trump demanded on Tuesday that his name was removed from the two casinos by filing a lawsuit.
Trump Entertainment Resorts, an offspring of a parent corporation that Trump once controlled, was sued by Trump because it has let its two casinos degrade into a level of unworthiness making it unfit to sport the ’Trump’ brand on its name.
This confuses the customers and sullies the reputation of his personal brand.
We can understand why Mr. Trump is upset, as the Trump name is instantly associated with a high level of quality, prestige and luxury.
These 2 casinos have let themselves go a bit like a woman (or man) after getting married.
They’ve become visibly less attractive to clients and have otherwise failed to come through for clients regarding the expected high standards of quality which was a requirement according to the license agreement.
When Robert Griffin, Trump Entertainment Resorts CEO, was approached regarding the lawsuit; he simply said, ’No comment’.
It is stated in the lawsuit that Trump Plaza had failed two tests which were aimed the overall quality of the casino.
A third-party consulting firm was hired to carry the tests out, one of them just three weeks ago and the other in 2012.
Just days later the company announced its employees via letters that the Trump Plaza would be closed in September, without even notifying Trump himself.
“Not only does the issuance of these WARN notices further harm the Trump name and brand, but it also underscores the (company’s) inability to remedy the appalling conditions that gave rise to the defaults under the licensing agreement in the first place,”
the lawsuit says.
According to Trump, the casinos didn’t even meet the industry standards when it came to hotel services, overall cleanliness, food and drink operations. He added that guests had been complaining about this for several years.
Trump Entertainment Resorts, which emerged after the second of three bankruptcies of the massive Trump casino empire, is not controlled by Trump.
That being said, Trump still owns a 10% stake of the company, still enabling them to use his name to attract customers.