The “Yediot Ahronot” Hebrew daily reports that the Royal Dead Sea Hotel, the most luxurious hotel at the Dead Sea, has closed down, with hundreds its workers being fired or sent on indefinite unpaid vacation.
The 400-room Royal Dead Sea, built at a cost of over $100 million, opened two years ago. The luxury hotel had a large synagogue, wooden floors, marble, a mikve (Jewish religious ritual bath), inside and outside swimming pools for both men and women, and a luxury health spa.
Avi Dan, a haredi (ultra-Orthodox) businessman from Jerusalem, who as far as is known made his money in the US, owns the hotel. Since it opened, the hotel has had low occupancy rates, owing to its high prices. The hotel was almost empty during the week. On the weekend, when all other Dead Sea hotels had 100% occupancy, the Royal Dead Sea still had empty rooms. At one stage, the hotel was open only on the weekends, and appealed to the religiously observant public, but was unsuccessful in this market, too.
Hotel industry sources said yesterday that it was still unclear when the hotel would be reopened. A partial reopening is possible before the Passover holiday, but what will happen after that has not been determined.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on January 25, 2004