Is Cristiano Ronaldo’s Hotel in Morocco Offering Shelter to Earthquake Victims?
The hotel management clarified to several media organisations that they are not hosting refugees in Morocco.
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A claim, which states that footballer Cristiano Ronaldo is providing shelter to all those who were affected in the earthquake in Morocco, is going viral on the internet.
Some users have also claimed that the Pestana CR7 Hotel in Marrakesh has been approved as a refuge site for survivors.
An archive of the post can be found here.
(Source: X (formerly Twitter)/Screenshot)
At the time of writing this report, the post had more than 6,90,000 views on the platform.
We received multiple queries about the claim on our WhatsApp tipline. (Archives of similar claims can be found here, here, and here.)
What is the truth?: There is no truth to the viral claim. The hotel management clarified to several news organisations that they are not hosting refugees or victims of the earthquake.
News reports: We performed a keyword search and came across a news report published by Ynet news.
The report said that Ronaldo's hotel in Marrakesh clarified that the information about the hotel providing refuge to earthquake victims are not accurate.
It mentioned that the hotel's operations manager expressed great surprise at the information being shared.
The hotel management responded to Ynet news by saying that although they have received requests to host people but it is not accurate to say that they are hosting refugees and victims.
The report was published on 11 September 2023.
(Source: Ynetnews/Screenshot)
Other sources: The hotel management in an email confirmed to Reuters that it is not accurate to say that the hotel is a shelter or is hosting refugees.
The management added that since the hotel was not affected in the earthquake, it received guests from different parts of the city who were seeking new accommodation.
We did not come across any press release or information on the hotel's official social media handles or website to confirm the viral claim.
We have reached out to Ronaldo's team and the hotel management, the story will be updated as and when a response is received.
About Ronaldo's luxury hotel: The Pestana CR7 Hotels brand was formed after an agreement between Pestana Hotel Group chairman and owner Dionisio Pestana and Ronaldo in 2015. The hotel in Marrakech is one of the recent ventures of the brand.
What happened in Morocco: The country was hit by a powerful earthquake of magnitude 6.8 on 8 September, which reportedly resulted in the death of at least 2,946 people and more than 5,674 have been injured.
Conclusion: It is clear that the news about footballer Cristiano Ronaldo's luxury hotel offering shelter to earthquake victims in Morocco is false.
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