Trump pays surprise visit to his Washington hotel

WASHINGTON – He just couldn’t stay away.

President-elect Donald Trump made a surprise visit to his Washington, D.C., hotel on Wednesday night, grabbing a late dinner while in town for a couple of fundraisers.

Trump flew into the city from New York on Wednesday evening for an event honouringVice-President-elect Mike Pence at the National Portrait Gallery and another featuring his potential cabinet secretaries at the Library of Congress.

After speaking at both events, he and his lengthy motorcade pulled up to the Trump International Hotel just before 9:30 p.m.

Reporters were not permitted inside the events or the hotel — but a video posted on Instagram showed the president-elect being greeted with cheers and applause.

During the campaign, Trump made frequent unannounced stops at the building to check in on its construction, and he held several events on-site.

The hotel is currently off-limits to reporters. Patricia Tang, director of sales and marketing for the Trump International in Washington, said media are banned from the hotel grounds through Sunday to protect guests’ privacy.

Tang said she is confident the ban does not violate the hotel’s lease with the government or the city’s public accommodations laws.

Trump’s flight home Wednesday was his last aboard his own private plane as president-elect.

Trump is spending the night back in New York and is scheduled to return to Washington for good Thursday.

As per tradition, he’ll be staying at Blair House, the president’s guest house, instead of his Pennsylvania Avenue hotel the night before his inauguration.