Abramovich books a hotel for Passover
Chelsea’s Russian tycoon owner snaps up all 111 rooms in the Negev’s Beresheet, plans festival banquet in huge tent
Stuart Winer is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
Super-rich Chelsea soccer club owner Roman Abramovich has booked all 111 rooms in a Negev desert hotel where he intends to celebrate the Passover festival with family and friends, the Daily Mail reported on Thursday.
In addition to taking over the entire luxury Beresheet Hotel from Sunday to Thursday next week, the billionaire plans to hold a traditional Seder banquet in a large tent erected in the desert just for the event.
Sources close to the hotel told the Mail that Abramovich splurged $450,000 on hiring the Beresheet, apparently because he wanted get a feel for the desert in the area where the story of the Jewish Exodus from Egypt took place.
During the seven days of the festival Jews traditionally don’t eat any bread or other leavened products, although the report didn’t say whether or not the limitless spender intends to hold back on his menu.
Abramovich is expected to arrive in Israel on a private jet on Sunday with his partner Darya Zhukova and their two children before heading down south to the resort. Beresheet overlooks the 500-meter deep Ramon Crater, the largest and deepest wind-created crater in the world.
According to the report, Abramovich rented the entire floor of the Royal Beach Hotel in Eilat when he last spent Passover in Israel, in 2009. The Russian-born Jewish businessman, whose net worth is estimated to exceed $14 billion and who owns the London-based Premier League soccer club Chelsea, often travels to Israel where he has invested in high-tech start-ups and archaeological work.
