Donald Trump's campaign has defended his eyebrow-raising decision to spend time promoting his businesses in the final days of the US presidential campaign as his poll numbers sink.

With less than two weeks left before Election Day, the Republican candidate is taking a break from campaigning today to formally open his new hotel in Washington.

Meanwhile, he is dispatching his running mate Mike Pence to Utah - which has not backed a Democrat for president in 52 years.

Mr Trump's hotel stop follows a visit on Tuesday to another of his properties, the Doral golf course outside Miami.

The odd travel schedule less than two weeks before the November 8 election illustrates a Republican ticket pulled in two directions while Democrat Hillary Clinton surges.

Mr Trump's campaign manager defended the stops, arguing that Mrs Clinton took time off to prepare for the debates and that stops at Mr Trump's hotels highlight his business experience.

"Hillary Clinton took five days off to prepare for one debate and everyone looked at that as some kind of noble exercise," Kellyanne Conway said on NBC's Today show.

"He's got the most active campaign schedule of the two candidates by far."

The appearance comes amid signs that Mr Trump's controversial presidential campaign has hurt his corporate brand.

Rooms at the new 212 million dollar (£173 million) hotel that bears his name at Washington's Old Post Office Pavilion have been heavily discounted and smartphone data suggest fewer people are visiting his properties compared with rival venues nearby.

A new Facebook live show produced by his campaign has heightened speculation that Mr Trump may try to offset any losses with advertising revenue by starting a media network - a claim he denies.

At his Miami golf course, employees, many of them Hispanic women, offered testimonials about how happy they are working for him - touting Mr Trump's job-creating prowess.

Mr Trump also promoted the workers as examples of people affected by rising Obamacare premiums, though the golf course's general manager later clarified that most workers receive their insurance through Mr Trump as their employer.

The federal government announced this week that premiums for insurance under President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law would rise sharply next year - news some Republicans heralded as an unexpected political gift.

"He could make this race for the last two weeks a referendum on Obamacare. But of course he won't do that," said former Ted Cruz strategist Chris Wilson.

"It's just a matter of him swatting at flies instead of having a coherent and consistent message."

After stopping at the hotel not far from the White House, Mr Trump will visit North Carolina for two campaign rallies on Wednesday.

Besides Utah, Mr Pence is also stopping in the swing states of Nevada and Colorado before he heads on Thursday to solidly Republican Nebraska, a state that awards some of its electoral votes by congressional district.

His rally in Omaha may be aimed at shoring up support in the one district that Mrs Clinton could potentially win.

Spokesman Marc Lotter said Mr Pence's Utah visit is more about favourable logistics than fears the deep Republican state could be slipping away.

Mr Pence had already planned a western swing that included a fundraiser in Utah, he said, adding that a rally was easy.

But Mr Trump undoubtedly cannot count on heavily Mormon Utah, last won by a Democrat when President Lyndon B Johnson carried the state in 1964.

Many of the state's top Republicans urged Mr Trump to abandon the race following the release of a 2005 recording in which the billionaire bragged about sexually accosting women.

That has been a boon to independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin, a former CIA agent and graduate of Brigham Young University.

Mrs Clinton, meanwhile, holds two events in Florida on Wednesday, both aimed at encouraging voters in the state to cast an early ballot.

It is her 69th birthday, a milestone she celebrated a day early on Univision's entertainment news show El Gordo Y La Flaca, where she was feted with a bottle of tequila and a large cake featuring her face and the White House.

Her campaign released two new ads on Wednesday billed as laying out her closing argument.

The spots, scheduled to run in seven battleground states, feature her plans to help families if elected and draw a contrast between Mrs Clinton and Mr Trump.

"Our children are looking to us. What example will we set?" says actor Morgan Freeman, in one of the ads, as footage of children flashes on the screen.