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The five-star country
Israel's hotel ranking system is questioned as recent data indicate Tel Aviv has more luxury hotels than New York. The reason? Hotels rank themselves. Third article in series
Danny Sadeh
Israel
is lacking thousands of hotel rooms. What was one a 5,000-room shortage has become a 22,000-room deficiency which stems not from an immediate problem, but from projections suggesting that in 2015 Israel will see five million tourists a year.
According to existing data on hotel capacity, Israel is theoretically capable of accommodating all of those prospective tourists, but not in high season.
| Part 1 |
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| Why isn't Israel a tourist mecca? / Danny Sadeh |
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Despite numerous attractions, Israel's tourism industry has hit decade-long plateau as result of security situation, high costs |
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Lack of accommodations aside, Israel's hotels suffer from an image problem, or rather a ranking problem.
Several weeks ago, a leading hotel reopened for business after undergoing a multi-million dollar renovation and giving itself a "five-star deluxe" rating.
Party goers at the grand reopening, however, couldn’t ignore the hideous carpeting in the lobby, or the fact that the floor near the reception desk was cracked – details that would have given the hotel a three-star ranking abroad.
The fault lies, it appears, with the ranking system. According to the Hospitality Investment Survey by Ernst and Young – considered by many in the tourism industry as its "bible" – Israel offers tourists outdated and unsophisticated accommodation. Israel, the report found, offers no distinct architecture or design. The majority of hotels were built in 1960-1980 and as such do not reflect modern design concepts, nor do they represent any sensitivity to their natural surroundings.
The report names the hotels on the Tel Aviv promenade – which it claim make poor use of their proximity to the beach, and those in the Dead Sea area – whose tall design is in complete contrast to the natural desert that surrounds them.
The report may be three years old, but it raised an interesting question regarding hotel ranking in Israel, which up until the 1980s was done by the Tourism Ministry. In the mid 1980s however, the ministry deferred task to the hotels themselves.
| Part 2 |
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| Why Israeli tourism marketing fails / Danny Sadeh |
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Bar Refaeli, ads in soccer stadiums, wooing churches – none of these moves bring us more tourists. Why? Because they target the wrong audiences, don't represent long-term strategies. To top it off, airline tickets prices are too high. Second article in series |
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The most recent Mobil Travel Guide lists only 42 hotels in the entire US as five-star hotels, five of which are in New York. Both Eilat and Tel Aviv rank 10 of their hotels as such.
The problem becomes clearer when looking at hotel chains, such as Meridian, Holiday Inn or Hilton: Most Holiday Inn hotels overseas are considered three to four-star hotels, but are ranked five-stat hotels is Israel.
Hotels along Tel Aviv's promenade (Photo: Bat Polack)
Industry experts are in agreement that Israeli hotels still enjoy the benefits of an outdated, generous ranking system. Eli Gonen, president of the Israel Hotels Association, also says that the ranking is obsolete, since the various websites offering travel arrangement do a fare job of ranking hotels.
"What we need isn’t hotel ranking, but uniform data," said Gonen. "There should be 20 ranking parameters and every hotel must make them public. The parameters should include things like the size of the rooms, hotel services, like a spa or a gym, and their prices."
Another problem the tourism industry faces in quality of service: Industry jobs are considered seasonal and temporary, and the majority of workers are inexperienced youngsters, fresh off their military service or just before starting university, which unavailingly leads to an embarrassingly low quality of service.
Israel is also considered an expensive vacation destination, especially compared to Egypt
or Jordan.
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