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BuzzFeed headline says:

President Trump Apparently Couldn't Find A Hotel To Book For The G20 Summit

He is one of the most powerful people in the world. He is coming to the meeting of 20 powerful countries. And he has a problem: no hotel room for the G20.

It's widely reported by the press, but only quoting BuzzFeed as a source.

Martin Schröder
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vartec
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    The US has a consulate in Hamburg ... perhaps they can find a spot for the President to sleep there ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consulate_General_of_the_United_States%2C_Hamburg#/media/File:Consulate_General_USA_Hamburg_2.jpg – GEdgar Jul 08 '17 at 00:12
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    @GEdgar you're not far off, the news alleges that he's staying at Hamburg Senate Guest House, while his staff stays in the US Consulate. – vartec Jul 08 '17 at 00:17

1 Answers1

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True.

The "Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten" turned down President Trump in April, as reported by Hamburger Abendblatt (paywalled, secondary quotation e.g. on The Local and Spiegel Online.)

Apparently the contingents booked by the Auswärtiges Amt (Department of Foreign Affairs) were already allocated otherwise when the US request came in, indicating that the White House staff was a bit late on the ball.

On 9 June, Bild reported that the Hamburg Senate has offered President Trump a guest house as accomodation. (Adblocker-blocked, also secondary quote by The Local.)

Subsequent reports about President Trump at the G20 summit, like this one by the Norddeutscher Rundfunk, also mention Persident Trump staying at the Senate's guest house.

DevSolar
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    I'd call that partially true. If they were trying to book a hotel room in April, than they didn't forget; they were just late enough that their initial choice was booked, so they made alternate plans (still a month in advance). I'd say the answer to the question in the headline was false, while the question in the text is arguably true. They didn't find accommodations in a hotel. – Ask About Monica Jul 10 '17 at 16:11
  • @kbelder: They did not look for accomodations early enough to find any. The guest house was provided by the Hamburg Senate; it's not a "bookable" venue. – DevSolar Jul 10 '17 at 17:01
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    @kbelder - I'd call it completely true. The G20 summit location was set back in February of 2016, and the logistics of how to set up for the group that is needed hasn't changed vs the previous 11 G20 summits. If they "waited" until April to look for accommodations, it's not by design, it's because they dropped the ball. Plus, if it was not an error, they wouldn't be trying to blame it on Obama. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4674154/Trump-staying-government-Hamburg-lodgings-blame-Obama.html – PoloHoleSet Jul 10 '17 at 17:05
  • It's standard for plans to be made many months in advance. That's how all the other nations somehow managed to get into hotels. – PoloHoleSet Jul 10 '17 at 17:07
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    DevSolar: The reference provided by @PoloHoleSet undermines both their opinion and your summary. It seems this was the timeline: Feb 2016, G20 summit announced. Jan 2017: inauguration. Apr 2017: administration looks for hotel accommodation. Jul 2017: G20 summit. Painted that way, it seems far less safe to assume "The administration is incompetent and they totally forgot", and more like "They started looking three months ahead of time. They may have had had higher priorities in the first 100 days of the administration." – Oddthinking Jul 11 '17 at 02:53
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    @Oddthinking: The comment posted by PoloHoleSet undermines your criticism. The question was, did the White House staff (of Trump's administration or previous) "forget" to book a hotel (in time). The question to that is an unmitigated "yes". There might have been reasons for it, but the fact remains. – DevSolar Jul 11 '17 at 05:58
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    We seem to have different definitions of "forget". Perhaps I should post a contrary answer based on the same facts? – Oddthinking Jul 11 '17 at 07:44
  • @Oddthinking: Looking three months ahead of time is "forgot to book (in time)" when all venues are booked out *by that time*. If you had higher priorities, that still means you forgot / were too busy (incompetent) to get it done in time. The only angle you could take would be if the *Obama* administration did not *forget* but did not book *on purpose*. You'd have to provide proof for that. – DevSolar Jul 11 '17 at 07:47
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    @DevSolar - and, seriously, does anyone think the Trump administration would **want** to use accommodations booked by the Obama team? Also, the Obama administration had professionals at all levels of the bureaucracy ready to brief the incoming administration on priorities and mundane tasks that needed doing. Trump, in too many cases, either wasn't interested in their input, or didn't have people lined up to receive that information. Also, in that case, it is standard to ask people to stay on until a transition can be made. Trump instead told people to hit the road. – PoloHoleSet Jul 11 '17 at 21:10
  • @PoloHoleSet shouldn't Obama be blamed fo the mistake, since he was President until January this year, so he had 11 months to make the arrangements on his own? – JonathanReez Jul 12 '17 at 05:56
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    @JonathanReez: That's still the White House Staff making the mistake, as per the question. – DevSolar Jul 12 '17 at 05:58
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    @JonathanReez - Why should Obama be blamed for Trump not attending to a matter for three months before he did? There's nothing to suggest that rooms were not available in January or February. "Make the arrangement on his own?" "his own?" Obama wasn't going there. Obama didn't select the number of staff, who they were, didn't have Trump's requirements for logistics. As I said, even if he did, it's doubtful Trump would have wanted him to, but everyone manages their "teams" differently. There's no reason to think how Obama would have manged it would match with how Trump wants to. – PoloHoleSet Jul 12 '17 at 13:43
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    @PoloHoleSet: To be fair, the Daily Mail article you linked in your first comment *does* mention a BuzzFeed report that "the properties were booked solid before Trump was elected last November". That they then called in *April* doesn't help of course. Anyway, "did *the White House staff*"... yes they did, be that Obama's staff or Trump's. ;-) – DevSolar Jul 12 '17 at 13:46
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    So, yes, he did have trouble booking the room; but the implication, in most articles/memes citing that fact try to paint him as incompetent for "forgetting", which is an essentially false implication. An alternate-universe President Clinton would also likely have had trouble. – Stephen R Jul 19 '17 at 12:05
  • @StephenR: It's also a fact that they didn't find out about everything being booked solid until several months after the election / inauguration. A valid follow-up question, for example, would be if it is common practice for a POTUS to book accomodations for a successor in this case... I think we can leave the interpretation of the fine print to the reader. – DevSolar Jul 19 '17 at 12:34