From diet coke rules to guest mishaps: What it's really like working in Trump’s hotel

From keeping ‘table 72’ free for the former US President Donald Trump at all times to adhering to a ‘script’ during interactions with him, a former employee at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC has made some groundbreaking revelations about what it is like to work there. As detailed by the former staff of five years to the Washingtonian magazine, there is a range of peculiar demands that Trump Hotels asked of its workers including seven-step instructions on how to pour former US President’s beverage with four detailed images. 

What’s its like to work at Trump Hotels?

• Diet coke rules

While Trump Hotels boasts about its luxury and larger-than-life experience, the former staff revealed that the process of pouring diet coke for Trump involved seven steps. It included opening the bottle at his table, which was number 72 with a longneck bottle opener that is held by the bottom third of the handle, with the bottle also held by the lower third in the other hand. The instructions don’t end here as the former US President's go-to beverage has to placed on his right-hand side after it is poured. The whole process has to be repeated by the employees until Trump leaves. 

• Trump's specific food instructions

Apart from drinks, serving food has specific instructions too. According to the former staff, Trump’s order was always the same. All the servers at the hotel were asked to reportedly serve double-portion of popovers within two minutes of his arrival along with a shrimp cocktail to arrive “immediately”. 

The usual Trump order included well-cooked steak with fries and required Heinz ketchup on the side, which should come in a miniature bottle that has to be opened for him at the table  “taking care to ensure he could hear the seal make the ‘pop’ sound”.

The employees had to ensure there was a table of junk food available for Trump featuring Lay’s sour cream and onion potato chips and a variety of sweets including Snickers, Oreos and Tootsie Rolls.

• 'Script' for employees

The magazine also stated that the employees had to stick to the script including a “Standard Operating Procedure” document, obtained by the media outlet that listed what to say each time the former US President dined at  BLT Prime, the hotel restaurant. As per the report, a mini-bottle of Purell hand sanitiser had to be placed “discreetly” even before the COVID-19 pandemic took over.

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• Trump's guests and mishaps

Former US President’s guests included several Republican lawmakers and allies such as MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, and the president’s lawyers Michael Cohen and Rudy Giuliani.

As per the account of the former restaurant manager, Giuliani was “the biggest pain” and Trump’s children were comparatively low-maintenance. In addendum to that, former trump Hotel workers revealed a series of awkward situations related to the same high-profile guests of Trump. At one of the instances, the former President of the United States was left unhappy because apparently, his dining companion had a bigger piece of meat than him. 

The guests had to be served with hyper-personalised service “to feed their egos”. It was also disclosed that even though most senior staff presented themselves as Trump supporters, it wasn’t always true. Washingtonian reported that the majority were “ambivalent at best”.

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