More Jerusalem

This has been a really good month for Jerusalem hotels. First, we stumbled on the Tamar Residence. Yes, we are debating as to whether or not it counts as a hotel. It offers 24 hour reception and daily housekeeping, along with a whole list of standard hotel amenities (Wifi, coffee and tea in rooms, cable TV, concierge service, etc). On the other hand, the "hotel" doesn't offer much of a hotel experience. Instead, it has some thirty fully equipped apartments, ranging from garden apartments to penthouses. Optional breakfast can be had at the Grand Cafe located downstairs. Rates are extremely reasonable, $160 for a couple and $215 for a family of four, checking in on May 15. The founder of Tamar Residence, Danny Rubinstein, was one of the founders of Isrotel. He plans on opening similar "hotels" throughout the country. Then, we noticed a new boutique hotel going up in the center of town (in addition to the Jerusalem Roots Hotel) on Haneviim Street. The project, called Bayit Baneviim, includes an eleven room suite hotel, eight apartments, a coffee shop, a fitness center, and a concierge. (Yes, we were also debating as to whether or not eleven rooms constitutes a hotel...) The hotel will be housed on the ground floors of the building (probably the reddish part in the picture). And one more: Finally, finally, an update on the Dan Pearl/ Jerusalem Pearl. The hotel's sad history is about to end, it seems. Doomed from day one (Jerusalem mayor Teddy Kollek required that the hotel be lower than the Old City Walls), the hotel wasn't large enough to compete with other big Jerusalem hotels. Even after a reconfiguration and redesign, which divided the all suite hotel into standard rooms, the hotel still couldn't succeed. Five years ago, the hotel's owner, Claude Dray, closed it down. Following Dray's October murder, his daughter has proposed tearing down the existing structure and building a new luxury hotel on the site. Mamilla, here comes some competition!

On a side note, the blog recently hit close to 5500 views. That's waaaaaayyy more that we expected. Thanks to all the readers and please don't forget to leave us your comments below!!