worldiswide

We met who we thought was the general manager, I think from Belgium last December. Has management changed since then? Where did the two people you ref e r to come from.. hilton or local?

helosc

Quick question:
Can the windows be opened in the rooms without balconies?

helosc

According to the hotel, all room categories have opening windows.

wjnelson04

Any diamond members stay here recently? Does the hotel honor diamonds with anything?

Rizla

I stayed at the Hotel. Fantastic Hotel but its very Jewish, (it has separate restaurants for meat and dairy and most of the clientele are Jewish).

I think they dont get many non jewish guests. Didn't affect the service quality or the stay in any way and I was happy.


Diamond member, got nothing.

I would stay at this hotel. Location is excellent.

wjnelson04

[QUOTE=Rizla;25990281]I stayed at the Hotel. Fantastic Hotel but its very Jewish, (it has separate restaurants for meat and dairy and most of the clientele are Jewish).

I think they dont get many non jewish guests. Didn't affect the service quality or the stay in any way and I was happy.

I think it's kinda sad that they do not offer any recognition for loyalty. Stay over 100 nights a year at Hilton properties to only save points to go to a waldorf and they do not extend any benefits for your loyalty.

Rizla

[QUOTE=wjnelson04;25991122]I stayed at the busiest time of the year. It was Yum kippur and eid at that tine.

Im sure they will upgrade you.

Rizla

[QUOTE=wjnelson04;25991122]I stayed at the busiest time of the year. It was Yum kippur and eid at that tine.

Im sure they will upgrade you.

helosc

As Diamond on paid 2 night stay, I got upgraded from superior room to grand deluxe room (price wise that's 3 levels up).
I got high floor (8) as wished for.
I received water, fruit bowl and a 1/2 liter bottle of red wine in the room.
I got 2 vouchers for a drink in the bar ( up to 65 ₪).
And I got a toilet bag with 3 Saphire hair products.
The room ( and the bathroom ) is fantastic.
The room has very good lighting.
The heater works very fast and well.
The breakfast is very extensive and really really nice.
Notice that they now have a banner on their homepage that says breakfast not included for any kind of award stay.
All staff is very nice.
I am writing this on the I-pad provided.

benberg2013

Really? When I was there some months back, I thought not very much of the Breakfast, it was in a small room on the left at the back of the dining area. Compared to other luxury hotels in Israel, it seemed quite small, a bit squashy, and people were having to wait for others to take etc.

Yes, that's a nice amenity

helosc

In my opinion breakfast is very good - but these things are of course very subjective.
I travel in Europe and there are quite a few of the items offered there that I don't eat. So this breakfast seems very lavish to me.
I haven't had the breakfast in Hilton Tel Aviv as I always stay on points and cash so I can't compare.
Friday I'll try breakfast there (ran out of points).
The breakfast is still in the room to the left but I don't find the room to be particularly small (it wasn't crowded at all which could explain it).
Different fruits, selection of cheeses, many kinds of bread/buns, 6 choices of smoked/marinated/cooked fish, several kinds of grilled vegetables, 12 different sorts of salads, smoothies, great choice of nuts and dried fruits (even pecan nuts which I am partial to), cakes and pastries, and 9 kinds of warm food if I remember right. + you can order 4 (?) kinds of egg dishes.
I can't think of anything lacking.

troyb

Had a recent two-night stay here. Overall, I wasn't impressed. Luckily, I was able to take advantage of the recent buy one, get one free Visa Signature offer, which took some of the sting out. I would have been seriously frustrated if I had paid the full FHR rate I had been planning on until the Visa offer came along.

The highlights of this property are the rooms and to a somewhat lesser extent, public spaces. The rooms are very well designed, and importantly for me, very well lit (poorly lit rooms are a bit of a pet peeve of mine). The bathrooms, in particular, are fantastic. On the other hand, the lobby seems poorly utilized - for example the huge area of open seating that is kind of half restaurant, half bar, half general lobby seating. Just kind of weird.

The service was underwhelming. No real offer of assistance with bags / etc. when we pulled up in a taxi after a very long trip. Typical upgrade and rate discussion shenanigans upon check in. For example, I was told we got an upgrade, however the room type was exactly what I booked. When I called the agent out on that, she kind of shrugged and acknowledged that it was not actually an upgrade. When I pressed her about how upgrades at the property work, I never got a real answer, despite asking pretty directly "So I know for future reference, what room type(s) would my reservation be eligible for upgrading into, if there was actually availability?" The response "Oh, well there are several types of rooms.." after which she rattled off basically every room category. Not helpful. She also told me my rate had free internet - well, so does everyone who stays in the hotel, so please don't act like I am being treated specially.

Finally, something that turned out to be really annoying is the F&B options on property. As noted above, they have this huge bar area to the right side of the lobby, a full service upscale restaurant to the left, and random seating in the middle. After a full day tour of Jerusalem, I was hoping to get some casual food and not have a full 2 hour dinner. We were surprised to find out that after lunch, only dessert is served in the bar. So, the only options for dining on property after lunch are the fancy restaurant or room service. If, for example, you want a burger, pizza, etc. - no way to eat such a thing except for room service. Seems like a lost revenue opportunity and a silly way to frustrate guests - they could easily just offer basically the same menu as room service at the bar. We ended up going off-site.

In summary, I would probably never pay full price (~$500) here in the future. My effective rate ended up a little more than half of that and even then, I was a little annoyed.

levman

Hi all,
I am trying to arrange a family trip to Israel in December. I'm already holding 2 rooms x 5 nights at the Hilton Tel Aviv, and a paid 2 rooms x 5 nights for a paid stay at a boutique hotel in Jerusalem.

I'd prefer to make the Jerusalem stay an award stay. I am about 130,000 points away from having enough points for 2 rooms x 5 nights (with 5th night free award) at the Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem and should have those points by May or June (I'd be only 10k away if it weren't for the recent points changes - the lowest rate just went from 80k to 95k per night - but I digress).

The issue is that the hotel has rooms available at the 95k/night rate - the lowest category "superior" room - for every night of my stay except for New Years Eve, where no superior rooms are available but otherwise plenty of rooms are available. This has been the case since last December when I first started looking, I suspect that they are holding those rooms from booking (points or $$$s) in anticipation of bookings closer to NYE. It's also possible that they have some event that will be using all those rooms, I suppose.

My question: has anyone had any success having a hotel shake free a particular room for one night of a multi night award (5th night free) stay for an Honors Diamond? And if so - am I better off starting with the Hilton Diamond Desk or directly with the hotel?

I don't plan on asking until I have the rest of the points I need for the stay.

more4less

Hi,

I have tried twice and have not succeed, I hope you are luckier.

craz

by and large 12/31 in Jerusalem is no different then 3/28, its simply just any reg day