IN SHORT: Some Facebook posts claim that the Pestana CR7 hotel, owned by football superstar Ronaldo, has offered to host victims of the Morocco earthquake. This is not true and hotel management has denied it.
Portuguese football star Cristiano Ronaldo has put up his hotel in Morocco as a shelter for the survivors of the earthquake, according to a number of social media posts.
One 10 September 2023 post reads: “Despite being mocked by Morocco after loosing the worldcup, Ronaldo offered his hotel to the people affected by the earthquake in morocco.”
The Portuguese football team was knocked out of the 2022 Fifa World Cup tournament by Morocco in the quarterfinals. Moroccan fans trolled the Portuguese captain, saying he failed to secure a win for his team and country.
A 6.8-magnitude earthquake hit Morocco on 8 September 2023, killing more than 2,500 people and affecting over 2.8 million others. The Pestana CR7 hotel owned by Ronaldo in the city of Marrakech was not affected by the disaster.
The claim has also been posted here, here, here, here, here, here and here, and was covered by news platforms Punch and Daily Trust.
But has Ronaldo’s hotel hosted earthquake survivors? We checked.
Hotel management denies report
The hotel management has denied the claim, despite media reports about it.
The management told the media that they had received many requests to host people because the hotel was not affected by the earthquake. “It is not accurate to say that we are hosting refugees and victims," a representative of the hotel said.
Sport news site Goal quotes the hotel’s spokesperson who labels the claim “false information”.
A fact-check report by Reuters also debunked the claim.
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