This is part six of a twelve part trip picture report from my current travels to Kiev, Vienna, Tel Aviv, and Kraków. This trip report covers the Sheraton Tel Aviv – specifically the recently renovated Sheraton Towers – a hotel within a hotel.
- Lufthansa Senator / Business Lounge @ JFK
- Austrian Airlines – JFK-Vienna (VIE) in New Business
- Austrian Lounge Vienna & Austrian Airlines – Vienna (VIE) to Kiev (KBP) F70 – Business
- Premier Palace Hotel Kiev
- I Survived KLM TransAtlantic Economy…and dare I say it was pretty nice! Trip Report KLM Economy
- Kiev, Unexpectedly Awesome
- Ukraine International Airlines – Kiev (KBP) to Tel Aviv (TLV) – Economy
- New Sheraton Towers Tel Aviv
- Le Méridien Vienna
- Sheraton Kraków Hotel
- LOT Polish 787 Dreamliner! Warsaw (WAW) – Chicago (ORD) in Business
- LOT Warsaw Lounges & LOT Polish Kiev (KBP) – Warsaw (WAW)
Tel Aviv is actually only a 2 hour and 40 minute flight from Kiev and the route has three flights per day operated by Ukraine International and El Al. With such a short flight, we couldn’t resist heading to Israel for the weekend. One of the only requests from my colleagues was to be located on the beach and perhaps a property where we could earn/redeem points. That left us with the Sheraton, Renaissance, and Hilton. No longer having Marriott status (besides silver) and with only Gold HHonors status, we went with the Sheraton. We also wanted to check out the recent renovations at the property. The rates available during our weekend in Tel Aviv were $265 USD or 12,000 point per night. The $265 rate was non-refundable for a deluxe room with a side sea view.
We arrived just after midnight and were the only ones at check-in. All three of our rooms were upgraded to the new Towers Level, which the Sheraton refers to as a “hotel within a hotel” and includes fully renovated rooms and a separate Towers Lounge. Keep in mind the pricing for these rooms runs higher than the normal rooms. During our stay these were the rates:
The rooms were awesome and quite different than non-renovated rooms that I had a chance to have a peak at several years ago…
PRIOR
MY UPDATED (and UPGRADED) ROOM
The room was fantastic with a modern feel, comfy Sweet Sleeper bed and new pillows, strong A/C with bedside controls, new curtains and carpeting, a flat-screen, two complimentary bottles of water, and a renovated bathroom (though the shower keeps the curtain). The flower in the bathroom was changed each day. Welcome amenity selections for Platinum guests are: bottle of red house wine, fruits, or dried fruits.
What else is included as a Towers guest?
Pretty nice – butler service, breakfast, cocktails, snacks, hors d’œuvres, free pressing for up to 3 articles of clothing, and don’t forget great views from the 18th floor lounge (both inside and out). I was a big fan of the Israeli salads for breakfast…
As you may know from reading this blog, I’m a huge beach bum and the views from my room were stunning. The hotel itself has a fantastic location across the street from the beach and boardwalk and you can easily switch between the pool and the beach throughout the day.
The pool deck was quite nice with ample seating, great views out to the beach and city, waiter food and drink service, and towel service. Note that the pool water is actually colder than the ocean…the sea temperature was gorgeous.
Highly recommend the watermelon…though it’s about $8 USD. I also really liked the fact that there were outlets by each of the chairs along the far wall, allowing you to charge your phones etc. while outside.
The only negative was that there is no Sheraton chair service on the beach. It wasn’t a huge deal for us as there are rental chairs and umbrellas or you can sit on an umbrella. The chair people don’t even seem to charge everyone, so you might end up with free seats and umbrellas for the day.
We really enjoyed our stay in our renovated rooms while utilizing the beach and pool. I realize that not everyone will be upgraded to the Towers Lounge so I was interested in finding out the renovation schedule for the rest of the hotel rooms as well as the public spaces. There seem to be some major changes in store! Here’s what I learned from hotel management:
- Current total number of Towers floors is 5 – the floors are 16 to 20.
- Renovation Plans – Entrance – The entrance area is next in line for a remake. Not only will we be opening up the area to the sea, we also will be modernizing it, with a new hotel logo, white marble, new parking elevators and rippling ceiling lighting. Work is scheduled to begin in September 2013, and should be completed in about one month’s time.
- Renovation Plans – Executive Club”- in 1st quarter of 2014 we will renovate 4 guest floors 12 through 15. These rooms will be re-branded as ‘Executive Club’. These 68 rooms and eight suites will be the most exclusive accommodation options at the Sheraton Tel Aviv. Our Tower Rooms, will be rebranded as ‘Club Rooms,’ which will be improved as well, and the 18th-floor Executive Lounge will be expanded by an additional 60 m² of space and remodeled to define a new quiet area for meetings and such, while still offering all the amenities and courtesies of the current lounge.
- SPG platinum members are entitled to access both lounges (there is currently a non Towers Lounge as well).
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14 comments
WOW, what a huge improvement. The hotel looks great and far better than anything else on the strip which hasn’t been renovated in years. I’m impressed and am now thinking about staying here rather than our planned location. thanks
congrats to the Sheraton. It was about time and it sounds and looks like they have finally taken steps to modernize. Like Lea, it sounds like we finally have a major chain hotel on the beach that has modern and comfortable rooms. I’m in…HOPING FOR THE UPGRADE THOUGH!
Great trip report. Views are spectacular, i had no idea the sea was that color there.
That is good news, that was one tired Sheraton. When I last stayed there the staff at breakfast had an attitude problem, acusing me of packing lunch. I offered them the chance to search my bags as well as my medical history, I can not tolerate dairy and did not touch the cheeses they were so concerned about.
Although you mentioned the salads you did seem to photograph the cakes with great interest!
Nice report, pictures are beautiful. Just added this to my list.
When I was there in November I was upgraded to a huge two room suite for being a platinum member. It was great, but low season. Also, they were renovating the entire pool area so I’m glad to see its done and it looks great. I thought this was a great hotel choice and centrally located to everything.
I stayed at the Sheraton in March and I was blown away! It was an awesome experience and I wrote about it here: http://first2board.com/pointssummary/2013/03/06/sheraton-tel-aviv-hotel-review/
when were were there in December the pool was being fixed and the desk chairs were too tall to go under the desk. Glad they fixed this.
Such a difference, what an improvement. I just booked us a stay for August.
BOOKED! Looking forward to seeing it in person in October. Anyone know if it will still be beach weather?
Great and needed improvement. Looks fantastic, they really did a very nice job. Thanks for the updates and nice pics. We are strongly considering a stay in May.
such a change from when i was there 4 years ago. once the rest of the floors are done it will be like a new property.
Wow, very very nice. Glad you’ve written about the upgrades as we had no idea. Looks like Sheraton stepped it up.
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