The Pestana CR7 Marrakech hotel, a joint venture between Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo and the Pestana Hotel Group, has not been turned into a shelter for victims of the Morocco earthquake despite contrary reports spreading online, a spokesperson for the hotel group has said.
“A Marrakesh hotel owned by Cristiano Ronaldo is offering shelter to victims of the earthquake in Morocco” reads one such post on Facebook with 27,000 reactions and 737 shares.
Since the CR7 Marrakech hotel “was not affected by the earthquake, it has received many guests who were staying in other hotels in different areas of the city, and were seeking new accommodation,” the Pestana Hotel Group said in an email to Reuters.
“It’s not accurate to say that the hotel is a shelter or is hosting refugees.”
The hotel’s website showed rooms available for booking on Sept. 14.
Pestana CR7 Lifestyle Hotels is a brand partnership agreed between Pestana Hotel Group chairman and owner Dionisio Pestana and Ronaldo in July 2016. The brand launched its Marrakech venture in 2018.
A 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck 72 km southwest of Marrakech, Morocco, late on Sept. 8, 2023. Reuters reported that the earthquake was the deadliest in Morocco since 1960.
