06 APR 2017: Making a decent living as an independent ‘mom and pop’ travel agency has always been challenging: Even without having to defend yourself against deep-pocketed corporate bullies that claim you’re stealing their brand name.
Since last year’s US election cycle, Long Island, NY agency owner Claudia Rabin–Manning has been telling her story on an ever more regular basis. Had she named her agency ‘Travels by Claudia’ or – Peyton and Eli notwithstanding – ‘Manning Travel’ it wouldn’t have been a problem but, since all the way back in 1985, her agency has gone by the handle ‘Trump Travel and Tours.’
The name was the brainchild of the original owner: She was a big bridge player – trump cards (lower case t) meant a lot to her – and so the agency, which operates out of a tiny storefront in the little town of Baldwin, was branded accordingly. It seemed like a good idea at the time and was no big deal… at least not until 1989 when the Trump (upper case T) Organization decided it wanted to get into travel, or more specifically the airline business.
With his familiar MO of using ‘other peoples money’ – a $380 million loan from a syndicate of 22 banks – Trump acquired the Eastern Airlines shuttle operation. In the summer of 1989 he re-launched it as the Trump Shuttle out of LaGuardia. Then in early 1990, the Donald’s lawyers decided that Claudia’s little Trump Travel (about 20 miles from the airport) somehow constituted a threat that had to be taken out.
It came right out of the blue (now that’s a good name for a travel agency) and Claudia still visibly cringes as she recalls the day she and her dad were slapped with the first lawsuit. Trump’s lawyer argued in his federal court papers that they had, “deliberately, willfully and wantonly adopted, used and are using the trade-name and mark TRUMP TRAVEL AND TOURS with intent to deceive the purchasing public into believing its services are authorized or endorsed by Trump.”
Although incredibly upset by this unprovoked attack and, as she openly admits, “afraid I might lose my business”, Claudia was having none of it and said she’d see them in court. She hired a lawyer and, in the best David and Goliath tradition, they took the fight right back at Trump. They argued that the words ‘travel’ and ‘trump’ were in common use, that the latter had come from its card game application and that, “The existence of Donald J. Trump played no role whatsoever in the naming of their business.” They then went on to audaciously throw the Trump argument right back in their face by claiming it was them who were in fact misappropriating the brand in connection with travel services and in so doing causing irreparable damage to Trump Travel.
The judge concurred and little guy won! It cost Claudia a lot in legal fees but she got to keep the brand on the one condition they appended the words “Not affiliated with Donald J. Trump or the Trump Organization” to every application of the Trump Travel name.
But as we have seen of late, the Donald is not a good loser. Surprisingly his lawyers attempted to re-file the suit in the mid 90’s but it was rejected on double jeopardy grounds. They came back yet again in 2008, claiming the font size of Claudia’s disclaimer was “virtually microscopic”. Claudia increased the print size and hasn’t heard from them since.
But now that President Trump is how shall we say “distinguishing himself” in so many ways, Claudia admits to sometimes wanting to make the “not associated with” disclaimer as big or bigger than the Trump Travel font size. In fact she worries that rather than helping, any perceived Trump association may well be costing her new business.
Claudia confided that, “Some clients ask us not to put our name on their travel documents for fear it will cause them problems when abroad.” On another occasion someone, who had never been a client of the agency, gave them a lousy rating in an online travel site. They’ve even had people asking them for money or sending Trump gear wearing baby pictures draped with US flags, “to include on their website”.
One way or the other, given the current political climate, Claudia says she feels like she’s, “walking on egg shells”. She runs a small agency that maybe grosses a million dollars a year. Has a service fee of $25 but admits with a smile that, “most people only pay 15.” Is it hurting her business? She responded, “I’m not sure. We give the same great service as always and our regulars keep coming back but we have no way of knowing how many people that might have called or come in simply aren’t doing it. It might be time to rebrand.”
So in an effort to help Claudia make her decision, I thought I would ask our readers to come up with some great rebranding ideas for the agency. My first thought was to simply add to the current name and call it, “Not THAT Trump Travel” but may be a bit of a reach. Ironically it might risk getting the Trump lawyers involved again asking, “So what are you implying is wrong with an association with ‘that’ Trump?”
By the way, in case no one remembers, The Trump Shuttle never turned a profit and after only 15 months in service defaulted on its loans resulting in ownership passing to the creditors. Sound familiar?