The idea was wrong. And the actual cost of hosting the meeting is nothing compared to the free global PR. Yes, it was a mistake and yes, it is good that he has backed down on it.
Yes. But there is also the matter, as it has been pointed out above, that Doral is underperforming even in terms of its competitors in the Miami area, plus June is a very slow month in terms of occupancy for all southern Florida resorts. So even if Doral offers rooms and food at “cost”, it is still doing better during the period of the G7 by covering operating costs with what would likely be full or close to full occupancy as opposed to having empty rooms and not meeting overhead costs.
Not making a profit and just breaking even vs losing money is still a net gain. But I’m sure Trump knows this. And it was a bad idea from the get go.
While it could be said that offering the resort at a lower cost to tax payers than competing venues who might want to make a profit is a good thing, right or wrong it smacks of self-dealing. The optics is bad as is the timing when Trump and his supports are going after Biden and his son for profiting from Joe’s position as VP.