President Trump stopped at Trump International Hotel Waikiki during his trip to Hawaii on Saturday so he could “say hello” and thank employees.
Trump did not stay at the hotel on Friday night and the stop was a detour on the way to the airport, where the president will embark on a trip to Asia.
A statement from press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that Trump wanted to congratulate employees on the “tremendously successful” project.
“The president stopped by the Trump Hotel on his way to the airport. It has been a tremendously successful project and he wanted to say hello and thank you to the employees for all their hard work,” Sanders said.
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Pool reports said that press members were kept in vans while Trump and senior White House aide Jared Kushner entered the hotel.
The Hawaii hotel which bears Trump’s name is not actually owned by the Trump Organization. A statement on the hotel’s website reads that the hotel “is not owned, developed, or sold by Donald J. Trump, the Trump Organization, or any of their affiliates.”
Trump embarked Saturday on a five-nation visit to Asia, which will include stops in China, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines. The president announced Friday that his trip would be extended by a day in order to include a key summit of eastern Asian nations, the East Asia Summit.
The summit, held in the Philippine city of Angeles, is a two-day summit of more than a dozen countries. The administration had previously informed Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte that Trump would not attend the summit, but that decision was reversed.
“We’re staying an extra day, because the following day is actually the most important day,” Trump told the White House press pool on Friday.