Luxury Cyprus hotel offers free rooms to stranded Israelis

The Rodon Hotel’s billionaire Hong Kong owner made the generous offer after being contacted by Israeli brothers.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Israelis stranded by the closure of Israel’s airspace due to the war with Iran have been enjoying a free stay in a luxury Cyprus hotel since Thursday, due to the generosity of its billionaire Hong Kong owner.

The owner of the Rodon Hotel, who wished to remain anonymous, had been contacted by Israeli brothers David and Ben Shlomo Cohen, who knew him through their real estate business on the island.

“We were also stuck in Cyprus,” the brothers told Israel’s Channel 12’s digital arm, Mako, “and it’s not an easy situation to be far from home without being able to return or at least knowing when we will be able to get home. That’s why we understand all the Israelis who are stuck even more.”

The man “really loves Israel,” they said, and “as soon as he heard about the war and realized that there were thousands of Israelis in Cyprus who had to spend quite a bit of money on their stay, he decided to help immediately. Not with words, but with deeds,” they said.

The 154-room, family-friendly hotel is part of a mountain-top resort located in the village of Agros, about a 40-minute drive from Limassol.

Its guests can enjoy pools, sports facilities, a gym and laundry service – a boon for those forced to unexpectedly extend their stay abroad until a rescue flight or boat ride is arranged to bring them back to Israel.

The offer, based on room availability, was made for a week, until June 26, with priority given to those in financial distress and those who had no place to stay, said David.

Requests for rooms could be made only through the brothers, not the hotel, they noted, offering Ben Shlomo’s email, Cohengroup38@gmail.com.

The generous donor, who owns hotels all over the world, also said that the offer could be extended based on the circumstances, they said.

As Israel and Iran agreed on Tuesday to a ceasefire, the owner may see his hotel rapidly empty of its sudden influx of guests, depending on whether the ceasefire holds and how quickly regular transportation can be reestablished to the Jewish state.

This may still take several days, however, as there are about 15,000 Jews stranded in Cyprus according to the country’s chief rabbi, Zeev Raskin, who is also the leader of Chabad on the island.

He told the Times of Israel news outlet on Sunday that the Hasidic sect, known for its Jewish outreach programs in centers around the world, had helped more than 12,000 such travelers in Cyprus since Israel launched Operation Rising Lion to destroy Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities on June 13.