Elma Arts

21c Museum Hotels, the renowned U.S. boutique chain known for their unique design which encourages guests to interact with art during their stays by having galleries and museum-quality pieces throughout their hotels are expanding their profile. Alas, a new hotel in Israel is not quite in the works. More like Nashville and Oklahoma City, for now. Luckily, the design has been adapted (read: copied) by a new hotel in Zichron Yaakov, which "is entirely dedicated to arts." This property, like so many others, aims to be "unlike any other project in Israel." Opening in late 2014, the Elma Arts Complex Luxury Hotel will have one hundred rooms and suites with sweeping views of the Mediterranean. The hotel will also have a chef restaurant, spa, indoor and outdoor pools, and "extensive banqueting and convention facilities." Drawing on its arts theme, the hotel will include an arts center with two concert halls, several art galleries, and a studio for a resident artist. It's difficult to predict how successful this venture will be. If the hotel is lovely, which it no doubt will be, guests will come for weekends and getaways to be in Zichron anyway, which is lacking in quality hotels. The art side seems like an unnecessary gimmick. But what do we know? In other news, Tel Aviv is getting yet another boutique (not that we're complaining...) Housed in two historic buildings, the Norman TLV features 50 guestrooms, including twenty suites. The buildings have been meticulously renovated and now feature, among other things, "state-of-the-art air conditioning." Hotel guests will be pampered with free WiFi, home-made turndown snacks, fresh flowers, and rainforest shower heads in the gorgeous rooms with modern retro designs. The only member of Small Luxury Hotels in Tel Aviv (and one of just two in Israel), the Norman also boasts "an impressive modern art collection", a rooftop terrace, a gym, a courtyard garden, and two gourmet restaurants. The hotel also features an infinity edged outdoor pool, a rarity amongst boutiques in Tel Aviv. Opening in September, we found rates starting at $360 a night.