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Trump Organization launching new hotel chain

by Rebecca Savransky - 03/21/17 3:01 PM ET

The Trump Organization is launching a new chain of hotels.

The company built by President Trump is planning to open the new hotels, called Scion, in cities across the country, The Associated Press reported.

The hotels will have rooms for between $200 and $300 a night, a cost less expensive than that at some of the hotels in Trump’s luxury chain. One of the first locations could be Dallas, according to the AP.

Trump Hotels CEO Eric Danziger said the company has signed letters of intent with more than 20 developers for the new line of hotels.

“It’s full steam ahead. It’s in our DNA. It’s in the Trump boys’ DNA,” Danziger said.

{mosads}To build the hotels, the Trump family will get local real estate developments and investors to put up the money.

Former President George W. Bush’s chief White House ethics lawyer called it “the new version of pay-to-play.”

“Get in there and do business with the Trump Organization,” Richard Painter told the AP.

Danziger, who took over Trump’s hotel business in August 2015, said he plans to open 50 to 100 Scion hotels in three years.

The Trump family has reportedly applied for rights to use the name Scion in many different countries, according to the AP, including China, Indonesia and Canada.

Danziger said new investors in Scion would undergo an “exhaustive, thorough review to make sure, for instance, they’re not offering sweetheart deals to the Trump family to curry favor with the president.”

Before taking office, Trump’s attorney told reporters that Trump’s company would not be making any new foreign deals and would appoint an ethics adviser to sign off on new domestic business agreements.

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