Carlton — Hotel in Tel-Aviv

Terrible. The people leaving multi-star reviews are doing a tremendous disservice to prospective customers looking for a good hotel. There is no way that this hotel is worth the money.

The front desk staff were disrespectful and unhelpful. It was surprising how rude they were. The concierge was only able to direct us to restaurants that were closed, and he didn't even know that the hotel's restaurant was closed as well! It takes around 15-25 min to get an elevator (add another 10-15 min to get to your floor). Do not expect to get your luggage into the elevators with any ease; there's only enough space for three people (if you stand in each other's personal space). Who doesn't like a great game of "will I ever get on a f*ing elevator!?"

The rooms are small, as are the beds and the bathroom. We stayed in a room where two people could not stand in the bathroom at the same time. A little research confirmed that paying extra wouldn't get us much better. Aesthetically, the hotel looks like it was built in the 1980s, and the plumbing in the bathrooms was probably installed sometime before the Six Day's War. Israel is a beautiful country that can get pretty damn hot; as such, you'd expect a "five star resort" to have stellar AC. Unfortunately, that's not the case here.

The one thing the hotel has going for it is its location, but even that isn't enough to justify the price tag and the horrible overall experience. ...

LOVED IT! We did our online research and found Carlton Tel Aviv Hotel on the Beach to be the best in terms of price, location, and reviews. On visiting, we fell completely in love and felt right at home. It is situated along the beach and yet an easy 5-10 walk to shops, bars, and restaurants. Recommend getting the beach view when booking a room and getting a suite if you plan to stay longer than two days. This made staying in on rainy days a treat! We appreciated the room service, the aromatherapy showers in our bathroom, using the spa (very small but not busy) next to the gym, trying the lunch at Lumina and cafe/bar in the lobby (serves one of the best warm apple pies outside Amsterdam- we had this twice!). The hotel does not have a luxury appearance but from the service, it offers you feel nothing less than royalty. We were impressed by how kind, polite and welcoming every staff member was- which we think is a gift when you are thousands of miles away from home. THANK YOU! Mr. Canaf at reception was a complete gem and demonstrated customer service that is hard to find. We have stayed in a few 5 stars but never had such wonderful personalized and professional customer service. It would be difficult for us to stay anywhere else but here when we visit next time. We definitely recommend Carlton Tel Aviv Hotel...

If you want to feel "urban cool" stay at the Carlton. Here's why:

1. It's on the beach. Literally. Exit the hotel and within 60 seconds you'll be sunbathing on the beach on the Mediterranean Sea. It's magical.

2. The rooftop. It's very high and on one side you have the sea and the other you have the Tel Aviv skyline. There's a bar, restaurant, pool, and a hot tub on the rooftop. Enough said.

3. The food. The breakfast that comes with it is quite the experience. It's located off of the hotel on the beach where you can enjoy any type of food you want with a view. They have a bread and pastry station, a waffle station, an omelet station, a fresh juice station, coffee bar, yogurt bar, meats bar...they have it all!

4. The rooms. They are spacious and come with a private balcony.

5. Wifi. It was the best we had in all of Israel.

The only downside was my shower's weather strip was off so every time I took a shower, the bathroom would flood. Other than that, it was an...