Holidaysplease co-founder Charles Duncombe has posted images of the destruction left by the Rhodes wildfires, which caused him and his family to be evacuated from their hotel.

Charles and family were told to leave the Rodos Princess Beach Hotel, Kiotari, on Saturday, and, during the evacuation, he became separated from his parents for 24 hours.

Charles said: “Were were out for the day when the fire hit but my parents were at the hotel.

“They were evacuated to the beach and then by ferry up to Rhodes Town. I tried to get to them but was turned back by police.”

The family were reunited in Rhodes Town the next day and have now relocated to Lindos.

Yesterday, Charles drove to parts of the southeast of the island, including Kiotari, which is the worst hit.

From what he saw, he believes the Princess Sun and Lindos Breeze Beach Hotel, both in Kiotari, and the Lindian Village Beach Resort, Lardos are ‘pretty much completely gone’ and could take a year to reopen. However, in a *statement, the Lindian Village insisted it had suffered only ‘limited’ damage and will soon announce its re-opening date.

The Rodos Princess Beach hotel, where he and his family had been staying, could be up and running in six months.

“I spoke to the manager on site and he said it will probably be next year when it re-opens,” Charles added.

“He said that they will probably have a full renovation. Even if they were in a rush to re-open and just closed off the damaged bits then you are still talking months rather than weeks.”

The resorts of Lardos and Pefkos ‘seem fine’. Charles said: “The fire got close but stopped at road.”

Meanwhile, the tour operator Galaxi shared an update from a local company on Rhodes, which said: “The fire brigade has managed to control and contain the fire on a large scale so far, however, it still burns and is not fully put out.”

“The Lindos area has been opened and hotels are operational. Kiotari, Pefkos, Lardos and Gennadi and their respective accommodations remain closed until further notice,” the update says.

It added the Princess Sun and Rodos Princess will probably not operate for the rest of the season, while the Mitsis Rodos Maris Resort and Spa and Mitsis Rodos Village Beach Hotel and Spa was planning to reopen by the end of this week.

*This article was updated on 26/7/2023 to include a statement by Lindian Village Beach Resort