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Luxury car pickup, free stay: UAE developer opens farmhouse to hundreds of stranded tourists
Stranded tourists in the UAE are finding shelter at an Ajman farmhouse, where a family has arranged free stay and meals as they wait for flights home
- PUBLISHED: Fri 6 Mar 2026, 6:43 PM
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At a quiet farmhouse in Helio 2, Ajman, the scene looks more like a large family gathering than a shelter. Mattresses line spacious halls and tents, people from different parts of India cook together in the kitchen, some practice yoga in the morning while others sit around watching movies or cricket in the evening.
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Every few hours, cars arrive at the gate bringing more stranded travellers and some of them picked up in luxury cars. For many tourists stranded in the UAE after flight disruptions, the 80,000-square-foot farmhouse of Dubai-based developer Dr Dhiraj Jain has become a second home.
For the past six days, Dr Dhiraj Jain, chairman of 1XL Holdings, has opened the doors of his personal farmhouse to tourists who were unable to fly back to their home countries after flights were cancelled and airspace disruptions left many stranded in Dubai.
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“We want the guests not to have a negative mindset. We want them to feel like they are staying in their second home,” said Jain.
To help stranded travellers reach the farmhouse, Jain has deployed 11 cars, including luxury vehicles, to pick up passengers from hotels and other locations in Dubai. “The cars run multiple trips, bringing tourists who have run out of accommodation or need a place to stay until their flights resume.”
The initiative began after the situation worsened around February 28, when many travellers realised they would not be able to leave the country as planned. Jain said a message was circulated informing stranded tourists that they could come to the farmhouse if they needed help.
“At around 9.30pm, we sent a message that people could come to the farmhouse. Around 100 people confirmed they would come, but the situation was good and people cancelled. The next day, the first group started arriving,” he said.
The scale of the operation grew rapidly. At its peak, the farmhouse hosted around 260 people. On Monday, 150 travellers managed to fly out, reducing the current number of guests to about 90, though Jain said another group of about 85 travellers is expected to arrive soon.
The property includes 11 bedrooms and four large halls, which have been converted into sleeping areas. Initially, the team had arranged around 100 mattresses, but as more travellers arrived, they scrambled to increase capacity.
“It took us two days just to arrange mattresses,” said Jain. Today, the farmhouse has around 500 mattresses and 700 blankets to accommodate guests comfortably.
Food has also been arranged on a large scale. Jain said he contacted suppliers and grocery stores to ensure that meals could be prepared daily.
“We arranged around 10,000 meals so far,” he said.
While the farmhouse had enough space, washroom facilities initially posed a challenge. To address this, the team ordered portable washrooms to ensure the large number of guests could be accommodated comfortably.
Despite the difficult circumstances that brought the travellers together, the atmosphere inside the farmhouse is far from gloomy. Guests have created a community-like environment, cooking meals together and sharing activities throughout the day.
“In the mornings some people do yoga. In the evenings we watch movies or cricket. The best part is that people from different regions cook their dishes, so we have many different Indian foods here,” said Jain.
The effort has also become a family mission. Jain’s wife Mamata Jain, their son Jainam (14) and daughter Jivika (11) have been helping manage the arrangements for the past six days.
Along with them, friends, relatives and staff members have volunteered to support the operation. “We wake up at around 6am and work until midnight,” said Jain.
For Jain, the effort is driven by a simple philosophy about helping others. Referring to the world’s population of about 8.5 billion people, he said that in a lifetime a person may not even meet 8,500 people, which is only 0.0001 per cent of the global population.
“If we can keep even that small number of people happy, the world will become a better place. And if everyone does that, everyone will be happy,” he said.
Jain said the support will continue until the last stranded passenger is able to fly home. Until then, the gates of the Ajman farmhouse will remain open welcoming travellers who arrive tired and uncertain, but leave with a place to rest, a warm meal and, sometimes, even a ride in a luxury car.
SM Ayaz Zakir is a Senior Correspondent with a flair for extraordinary stories. His playground? Every corner of the UAE. He often ventures into remote corners of the country to capture compelling news and human interest stories.