Trump Tower Vancouver to be rebranded as Paradox Hotel

The condition of the main entrance from West Georgia Street into the former Trump International Hotel & Tower, as of December 9, 2021. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Changes are forthcoming for the shuttered Trump International Hotel & Tower Vancouver, ahead of its reopening sometime in 2022.

Daily Hive Urbanized is able to independently confirm that the upscale hotel property’s second life will carry the brand of Paradox Hotel.

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This is a brand new international hotel chain, which is also planning to open locations in Phuket (Thailand) and Singapore in 2022.

Paradox Hotel is now also the operator of Summit Lodge Boutique Hotel. Both Summit Lodge and the former Trump-branded tower are owned by local developer Holborn Group.

But it is not immediately clear whether Paradox Hotel is a new hotel division of Malaysian real estate giant TA Global Berhad, which is closely affiliated with Vancouver-based Holborn Group under the same ownership and leadership.

Paradox Hotel’s first two locations in Asia could potentially be the rebranding of TA Global Berhad-owned hotels — the Movenpick Resort & Spa at Karon Beach in Phuket, and the Swissotel Merchant Court in Singapore.

Daily Hive Urbanized reached out to Holborn Group for comment, but they suggested they were unable to make any formal statements about the new direction for their hotel property in downtown Vancouver at this time.

The former Trump International Hotel & Tower Vancouver. (Shutterstock)

Champagne Bar at Trump International Hotel & Tower Vancouver. (Trump Vancouver)

Several industry insiders previously told Daily Hive Urbanized that it is possible that non-competing brand covenants on the former Trump hotel are still in effect, specifically with The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company and possibly with Trump Hotels, effectively limiting possible luxury international hotel brand options for the property.

The Ritz-Carlton was Holborn Group’s original hotel partner for the tower during its planning stage in the late 2000s, until the 2008 recession put the project on hold. The Ritz-Carlton did not return after the project was restarted in the early 2010s.

Industry insiders also told Daily Hive Urbanized that The Ritz-Carlton is expected to be the new hotel operator of CF Pacific Centre’s former Four Seasons Vancouver hotel tower, which is now past the halfway point of its extensive renovations. Cadillac Fairview has yet to announce the luxury hotel operator replacing the Four Seasons.

Holborn Group opened the Trump-branded Vancouver hotel property in February 2017, with TA Hotel Management, the Canadian subsidiary of TA Global Berhad, operating the hotel. The developer had partnered with the Trump Organization to use their branding and hotel chain, but the Trump family never had an ownership stake in the building.

The hotel permanently closed in August 2020 due to the accumulated impacts of the pandemic, with TA Hotel Management declaring bankruptcy.

The 616-ft-tall, 63-storey tower — one of the last designs by late architect Arthur Erickson — is the second tallest building in Vancouver, containing 147 guest rooms, amenities, and ballrooms within the first 15 floors of the tower, and 217 luxury condominium homes in the upper levels.

The exterior of the main entrance of the former Trump International Hotel & Tower Vancouver, before its closure. (Trump Vancouver)

The strata overseeing the tower’s residential uses removed the controversial “TRUMP” branding as soon as possible after the hotel closed, rebranding itself as “1151 Residences.”

Last month, Daily Hive Urbanized obtained the minutes of a meeting between the strata council and Holborn Group executives in September 2021. The owners informed the strata that any remaining signage and branding named after the former US president will be removed sometime in 2022, and that the property will undergo a rebranding for a new operator ahead of its reopening next year.

As of Thursday morning, the signage overhead the closed hotel’s main entrance, including the giant “TRUMP” sign, was observed to be fully intact. But wooden boarding on the main entrance doors has now been removed, and it appears that renovations are being performed on the hotel lobby for the required rebranding alterations.

Also last month, Hong Kong-based upscale Chinese restaurant chain Mott 32 reopened its restaurant location at the base of the tower following a year-long closure.

In 2017, a hotel and residential tower in downtown Toronto that was Canada’s first Trump-branded property was rebranded as The St. Regis Toronto after a change in hotel management.

The former Trump International Hotel & Tower Vancouver. (Ian Ius/Daily Hive)

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