Elon Musk wears many hats with President-elect Donald Trump. He is Trump’s most important donor, most influential social media promoter and a key policy and personnel adviser.
For most of the time since Election Day, he has also been Trump’s tenant.
Musk has been using one of the cabins available for rent at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, Marjorie Merriweather Post’s former Florida home, which Trump turned into a members-only club and hotel in the 1990s, according to two people with knowledge of the arrangement. The cabin where he is staying, called Banyan, is several hundred feet from the main house, according to a person with knowledge of the property.
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Staying exactly in place helped Musk have easy access to Trump.
He may attend Trump dinners, like one he recently had with Musk’s rival, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Musk, who spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars in the final months of this year’s election cycle to help elect Trump, has attended staff meetings at the Mar-a-Lago Tea House, participated in phone calls with foreign leaders and spent hours with Trump in his office. Musk employees from his various companies have also been integrally involved in the transition, evaluating potential candidates for senior administration roles in interviews at Trump’s transition headquarters in West Palm Beach.
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Musk isn’t the only member of the president-elect’s inner circle who has been staying at Trump’s estate. Vice President-elect J.D. Vance stayed in one of the cabins at Mar-a-Lago when he was in Palm Beach and has been there frequently during the transition, according to a person with knowledge of his stays. And others also would have used the cabins since Election Day. But few have been as ubiquitous as Musk.
The cabin used by Musk has been used over the years by many of Trump’s friends and associates.
Years ago, former House Speaker John Boehner stayed at Banyan with a friend, before Trump became a presidential candidate.
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Trump boasted to people that Musk — the richest man in the world — is “renting” one of the residential spaces at Mar-a-Lago. It’s unclear how much Musk will end up paying for the cabin, which has historically rented for at least $2,000 a night, according to a person with knowledge of the rates.
Club officials typically do not charge guests until the end of their stay, leaving open the possibility that Trump may choose not to charge Musk or reduce the amount on his bill. But Trump is not known for avoiding rental opportunities.
Musk moved into the cabin around Election Day and watched the results at Mar-a-Lago with Trump. He left the property around Christmas and is expected to return in the coming days.
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Musk is known at the club for making requests such as meals outside of normal kitchen hours. While at Mar-a-Lago, he was joined by at least two of his children — Musk has at least 11 — and their nannies.
One of his children’s mothers, Shivon Zilis, who worked for Musk at his brain implant company Neuralink, was also photographed at Mar-a-Lago after the election.
Musk travels frequently and has been known to stay at his friends’ properties. In San Francisco, he is known to stay at the home of David Sacks, a venture capitalist whom Trump recently appointed as an adviser on cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence. While in Hawaii, he resided in places owned by billionaire Larry Ellison on the island of Lanai.
Mar-a-Lago is different, however, in that it is a for-profit company owned by Trump rather than a private home.
A spokesperson for the Trump transition did not return an email seeking comment on the arrangement. Musk did not respond to an email request for comment.
On Friday, in a post on Truth Social that appeared intended to be a private communication to Musk, Trump wrote: “Where are you? When you come to the ‘Center of the Universe’, Mar-a-Lago. Bill Gates asked to come tonight. We miss you ex! New Year’s Eve is going to be AMAZING!!! DJT.”
Some of Trump’s advisers have privately complained about how much influence Musk has had on the transition and how inseparable he is from the president-elect.
Musk is unlikely to have such unfettered physical access to Trump after the president-elect is inaugurated on January 20 in Washington. Coming and going to the Oval Office is more expensive than in Trump’s private clubs, as is access to the White House residence.
Still, Trump has often enjoyed bringing people together and has enjoyed knowing that many of them pay for access to him. Since he first took office, people seeking to please him—or have face-to-face time with him—have joined his clubs, rented rooms on his properties, or stayed in his hotels.
Trump is said to have increased the annual membership fee at Mar-a-Lago to $1 million.
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