User Reviews for Grand Hotel Deborah

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May 10, 2007 by Natalie from Winnipeg
Overall Rating: 8
Cleanliness:[7] • Staff:[9] • Location:[10]

• View, location, and breakfast buffet.
• Internet access.

“I enjoyed my full week stay at this hotel. and I would not hesitate to stay there again. I have traveled in Europe, Mexico and the USA both as part of my work and for pleasure. What I liked about this hotel was primarily the atmosphere. I was reminded of an older and smaller European style hotel with tall ceilings and subdued furnishing and staff that is unobtrusive but everything is quietly completed for your comfort as if by magic elves. Europeans have mastered that lovely approach to providing for you, while most Israelis have not, and that was why I felt like I was in Europe again. The preponderance French and Spanish fellow guests reinforced the perception. The hotel is also kosher enough and Sabbath compliant enough that our stay included a convention of Orthodox Jews over the Sabbath giving it an authentic European Jewish flavor. The hotel fee included a lovely Israeli style breakfast buffet of three kinds of bread, exquisite (even by the excellent Israeli standards) fresh fruit and vegetables, pickled fish, eggs both scrambled and hard boiled, and over a dozen different Israeli salads. Keep that chef and give him a raise! A wonderful addition was a coffee machine that makes espresso, cappuccino and filter (as in North American style) coffee with all the trimmings including the hot milk dispenser. Our room was furnished in plain, circa 1960s furniture, comfortable and adequate to our needs. Another thing I really liked was how I could open my ninth floor window and lean out and see the nightlife or watch the sea break only two blocks away at the gorgeous Gordon Beach. I had only three minor complaints. One was the walls are thin and therefore I could hear the people in the next room moving around occasionally. There was a group of young men on the prowl one night and they woke me up with rowdy drunk talk at 4:00 am. A call to the always charming concierge resulted in someone coming upstairs within five minutes and everyone getting very quiet very fast. Second, we had trouble with our bathroom light. It was either on all the time or off. The on all the time was not so bad because we could just close the door but the off occurred during the Sabbath so no one fixed it until first thing Sunday morning. My third complaint is the smoking by the staff in the lobby. Now everyone smokes in Israel everywhere but I would have spent more time sitting in the lobby enjoying some of their first rate coffee more often if not for the smoking staff. Another sour point was my lovely ninth floor view was directly over a heap of junk in what was once a rooftop terrace. Honestly, they should clean that up and make it available for guests to use. If you are looking for a comfortable place that treats you well while exploring Israel at half the price of anything else, this is the hotel for you. It sits beautifully located near every major down town Tel Aviv site. I will definitely stay there again the next time I am in Tel Aviv.”