This article is an appallingly abusive extrapolation of data suggesting causal effects that cannot be substantiated. Based on activity on 2 city guide apps, the article makes a direct correlation to the level of activity at Trump properties via insinuation and further implies a financial downturn for Trump companies — then inserts one CYA ‘just sayin’ section about how ‘pundits’ can interpret the data. And I am not posting to defend Trump or his properties — just this abuse of information.

If you want to know if Trump’s properties have been affected by the election v. the economy, aversion to air travel/TSA or anything else, why not look at some data like, oh, I don’t know, a stockholder report showing actual finances for the companies? Or talk with someone in the Trump organization, market cvb/chmber or travelclick.com who might, oh I don’t know, have stats on reservations, average room costs, you, know hard data that actually reflects financial activity. I notice there are no numbers provided on how many active users there are on Foursquare or Swarm in the markets in which Trump properties exist — only comparative percentages are used on the charts. What is the sample? The travel or visitor market has a huge landscape to choose from: Yelp, TripAdvisor, Expedia, Google Maps, Trivago — not to mention local or in-area sites that target tourists.