Trump’s European Golf Resorts Have Lost About $90 Million

^Donald Trump continued losing money in 2019 at his two golf properties in Scotland, where he has been struggling for years, according to regulatory documents released this week. Turnberry, the most prestigious property in Trump’s golf empire, lost about $3 million on revenue of $26 million. A second business, near the Scottish city of Aberdeen, bled $1.5 million on $4.3 million in sales.

That’s bad news for the Trump Organization, which has now declared losses of roughly $90 million at its European golf resorts, according to an analysis of records from Ireland and the United Kingdom. Since the president opened his Aberdeen course in 2012, he has lost $15.5 million. Business has been even worse at Turnberry, which Trump bought in 2014 for $65 million. Despite investing an additional $75 million or so to fix up the property from 2014 to 2018, the place piled up losses of $58 million, according to an analysis of financial reports. The 2019 figures, first reported by the Scotsman, bring Turnberry’s total losses to $61 million since 2014.

The Turnberry and Aberdeen properties make up half of Trump’s troubled portfolio of golf resorts. In Doonbeg, Ireland, he spent nearly $20 million on a third property, the Trump International Golf Links & Hotel, in 2014. The president poured in another $12 million from 2015 to 2018, but he failed to see much of a return, racking up about $9 million in losses. Irish documents released in December show an additional $1.5 million of losses in 2019.

Trump’s fourth golf resort is in the United States. The 643-room Trump National Doral used to throw off big money. Documents obtained through public records requests show that 2015 profits (defined as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) hit $13.8 million on $92.1 million of revenue. Trump’s politics eventually poisoned the property, however. In 2016, the year Trump won the presidency, revenues dropped to $87.5 million in 2016, and profits slid to $12.4 million. After election night, the resort lost 100,000 booked room nights, according to someone familiar with the business. Revenue plummeted to $75.4 million in 2017, and profits sank to $4.3 million.

Things perked up slightly in 2018 and 2019, with sales at Doral increasing $1.2 million each year. Despite the lack of profitability, revenues increased at Aberdeen and Turnberry as well. Just as the numbers were beginning to offer a hint of optimism, however, the coronavirus struck, all but guaranteeing more losses for Trump’s resorts.