Hotel upkeep

There's something funny about hotels in Israel. While the standard hotel in the United States and in much of the western world operates on an eight year renovation cycle, hotels in Israel seem to wait much, much longer than that. Even the venerable international chains, with their strict upkeep standards, tend to adapt to the local practice once they descend upon the Holy Land. And why not? If travelers are still willing to pay top dollar (and yes, Israel has some of the highest priced hotels in the world and lowest value, in our opinion), then why bother renovating? The result has been abysmal for travelers who expect international standards and are then disappointed when they see the state of their hotels and their guestrooms. For guestrooms are often the least updated rooms, with the logic being that guests don't spend enough time in their rooms to warrant much attention to detail and upkeep. Yet in two instances, we have begun observing an even worse practice: hotels will renovate some of their guestrooms and then charge extra for them, as a deluxe category of rooms. Recently, the Hilton Eilat Queen of Sheba unveiled beautifully renovated Executive and Superior Rooms, which retail for $30-50 more than the standard rooms. Suspiciously, the images that depict the standard rooms are missing on the website, perhaps luring unsuspecting travelers into thinking that the standard rooms resemble the renovated varieties. Yet the Hilton is not the only culprit. The Sheraton in Tel Aviv, former home of Justin Bieber, finally renovated some of its rooms. All over the website are pictures of these gorgeously designed rooms, with sleek woods and warm stone elements. The website notes that "the Executive Club Rooms are the most exclusive accommodation option, having been refurbished and redesigned by Bert Haler in 2014. The refreshing room designs are reminiscent of Jerusalem architecture and feature the world famous Jerusalem Stone." These "club" rooms go for a whopping $90 more than the standard rooms. It seems like robbery to charge guests for what should be standard. Guests have a right to expect a pleasant, well kept guestroom that is up-to-date and maintained. And even non-international hotels are using this trick. The legendary King David Hotel in Jerusalem offers its renovated "Top Floors" guestrooms for a $60 premium. The Dan Panorama in Jerusalem offers renovated "Deluxe" rooms for an additional $35 a night. Luckily, some hotels score in our books with hotel-wide renovations, like the Hilton Tel Aviv (still ongoing) and the David Intercontinental.