Guy Nardi, Globes, 29.01.2020
In recent years we have witnessed an unprecedented flourishing of the hotel industry in Israel. More and more hotels are being built, and places are definitely not expected. This is how you can see hotels near Sde Boker, up at Dawn, in Shavei Zion and even in Airport City.
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In Tel Aviv too, the coastline is no longer everything, and the hotels are entering the residential neighborhoods: hotels are entering office buildings and apartments.
The change is evident not only in the number of hotels that open and in the new locations - but also in what the guest offers. The hotels no longer offer a lodging experience, but a hospitality experience. The hotel mix is expanding and becoming diverse, and accordingly the design characteristics and ability to make money change. Some of the oldest hoteliers in the country told the Globes about this change.
Leon Avigd, Brown Hotels: "People are not in the room"
Leon Avigad, who founded the Brown Hotel chain 10 years ago with his partner, makes it clear that "they are not a chain but a collection. Each hotel has a different story, a different narrative, a different concept."The chain currently has nine hotels in Tel Aviv and two in Jerusalem, and several abroad, and Avigad emphasizes that there are no clear rules in the design and design of the chain's hotels. "We have concepts. There are party hotels, such as the Lighthouse, Tel Aviv, Berlin and Athens, and there are tiny, cozy 20-room villas. "
Avigad describes a significant change that is currently taking place in the planning of urban hotels in Tel Aviv and other major cities: "In recent years we have seen two important trends. One is an increase in real estate prices, which must be thought more effectively every meter.There is no such thing as a meter that it does not yield. There is no such thing as a lobby just because a lobby needs it. That thinking has changed a bit.
"A second trend is the addition of content. It started with boutique hotels, with nightlife and parties, not just a room to put your head. And it expanded into theme hotels. In the digital world, you have to differentiate yourself, especially by content."
What does content mean?
"For example, setting up a concept store where we sell our toiletries, our music and bedding. When doing collaborative work spaces, or dedicating space to art. It depends on the terrain. The trend of rising real estate prices requires thinking about every meter. The rooms are getting smaller because the people are not in the room. "
How much smaller?
"I wouldn't say small, but functional. At our hotels, always in addition to comfortable beds will be in a work room. There is something luxurious and comfortable at such a table, although most people today work with the laptop on the bed. We also keep comfortable chairs. There will always be an armchair, So if you come back from a day of work or a tour of the city, you can sit in a luxurious recliner. We will always stick to bathrooms with a long waterfall shower. "
What is the size of a room in an urban hotel?
"Even in 16 square meters, you can put in a comfortable bed, with small nightstands on both sides of the bed, with a desk and comfortable work chair and bathing experience. Once it was considered something they had not heard of, today I am unable to tempt me with large rooms.When I look for a hotel in a hotel, it's much more appealing to me if there's a cool bar, or a spa that attracts people from the outside, and then you meet more people. Much more tempting if there is a good restaurant or cool club, or the design is superwow. If it's just a big room in a generic, hotel-free hotel, it's not interesting.
"We are now building a hotel in Athens, which not only has a tattoo parlor, but also a hairdresser, a huge spa, a collaborative work area, two more gallery shops, a coffee shop which is a cool Athenian brand. There are also meeting rooms, a bar with a swimming pool, an outdoor cinema hall With a projection on the building next door, plus another top roof just for hotel guests. The rooms here are really small. "
How do you explain the change in hotel design?
"The hotels were once a place to put their heads, and they became cultural agents, a place of personal expression. A lot of boutique hotel entrepreneurs are creative people who want to tell their story, and don't think about the thickness of the bed."
And the clients?
"We've all perfected. The Digital Revolution has changed us all. We're bombarded with culture and content and music. And the hotel can't just stay a room in it.
"You used to choose a hotel according to the view from the hotel, or the size of the room. Today it is an interesting rental. Today people choose a hotel based on how many followers you have on Instagram and how cool you are."
Danny Lipman, Atlas Hotels: "Getting Guests Not to Leave the Hotel"
Danny Lipman is the CEO of the Atlas Hotel chain, which has 12 hotels in Tel Aviv, and other hotels in Jerusalem, Haifa and Eilat. Lipman believes that there is a significant difference between hotels in Eilat and other places.
"Obviously, the rooms in Eilat need to be big, because there are people in freedom, and you want you to have a little more than you have at home. In urban hotels, measuring a little differently, but still the size of the rooms is an important factor. The wisdom is to create a mix of rooms for different needs.
"Our hotels focus on boutique hotels, both urban and non-urban. For me, a room in a Tel Aviv hotel should be about 22 square meters. It's okay to have some 16sqm rooms, but I also have 30sqm. There's an audience for it and there's an audience for it. "
And what about the change in perception of public spaces?
"We are talking about a hospitality experience today and not a lodging solution. The new hotels are looking for a way to get the community to come to the hotel, rather than how to get guests out of the hotel, for example by creating a culinary experience at the hotel. We recently opened the Fabrik Hotel on Nahalat Binyamin Street "Working with Imperial Group, we opened a very successful bar there called Bushwick, which is the entertainment hub for people coming from the neighborhood. A scene is created there for hotel guests to enjoy."
Lior Raviv, Isrotel: "In Eilat the rooms are very large"
Lior Raviv, CEO of the Isrotel chain, also says there is a significant difference between hotel design in Eilat and Tel Aviv: Traditionally, we started our activity in Eilat, where the rooms are very large. This has to do with the fact that there was no limit on land in the past. The rooms in King Solomon are 25 square meters and the public areas are huge. This is the hotel that invented this genre in Eilat: dining halls, swimming pools, restaurants. Everything is big. Royal Beach, which is a huge area of 40,000 square meters, has been We did a lot of swimming pools, kids facilities. The smallest room here is 30 square meters.
"At Royal Garden we have already gone to a concept of suites, the smaller of which is 40 square meters. We opened a supermarket inside the hotel and placed kitchenettes in the rooms. It's the ultimate family vacation solution. "
And what's going on in Tel Aviv?
"We are in the process of setting up eight hotels in Tel Aviv. This is a completely different story because the cost of land is very high and the goal is to make as many rooms as possible. The rooms do get smaller and smaller - 18-22 sqm - but we do not have rooms of 14 We do not enter the field of capsules.
At Isrotel, much thought is given to the design of the bathroom: "Instead of making a lot of walls that make the bathroom small, we open the bathroom to the bathroom. The bathroom and bathroom are closed with glass, but the sink is part of the room. So you get the feel of a very large room."
Has access to public space changed?
"I want that when you check in at our hotel, you will feel that you have come to the right place in Tel Aviv. The experience of the past was that you go down to the bar, go for a drink at the bar and go back to your bedroom. Today's bar also comes from locals. Places where he can mingle with the local audience. There is a synergy between tourists and locals opening business for us. "
Ami Federman, Dan Hotels: "The small rooms are trendy"
I meet Ami Federman, owner of the Dan Hotels chain, at the Link Hotel, on King Shaul King Boulevard in Tel Aviv. Once, Amidar's headquarters were located here, and the chain turned it into a hotel. We sit next to the basement cafe. The place is designed in the common work space style and is packed with young people sitting here with their laptops and working on soft music sounds. Federman is the oldest of the respondents, and has a long-standing and sober approach: "Until the 1970s, hotels were entertainment centers. Look at Plaza in New York, Savoy in London. Even before restaurants were so common, hotels were a place to eat and spend In them, and in Israel, you will see the industrial area in Herzliya. There was no restaurant there. Where did people go to eat? At hotels. There were not that many people who went out to eat. "
Has the situation really changed?
"To say that there is a trend of small rooms and large public areas is true of a certain type of hotel, but it is a marginal trend overall. Today there are people who want large suites, and there are young people who want a minimal room, but not quality.
"I constantly compare it to the urban space - you probably agree that there are a lot more people willing to live downtown in a three-room apartment than a big house outside the city. Once the dream was just the opposite. Living in the city means the kitchen is smaller and the cabinets are smaller, and the kids maybe Together in the room. Anyone who chooses to live in the city gives up a personal space for the benefit of the public space. You get out of the apartment and you have a culture, you don't need transportation. That's the same with the hotel. "
Federman points to the bar at the Link Hotel, explaining that all customer priorities have changed: "At our bar, there is only self-service, no cash, too. Our best surprise was that guests get the dishes alone. Why can't you do that when you walk into a hotel? "
The big generating real estate companies are getting into hotels
Azrieli
Owners: Azrieli family
Market value: NIS 31 billion
Hotel activity: Acquired NIS 275 million for the Mount Zion Hotel in Jerusalem, will invest another NIS 500-600 million in renovations. Also planned is a 250-room hotel in the planned spiral tower in Tel Aviv, as well as a hotel near the Azrieli Mall in Modi'in
Industrial buildings
Controllers: About 40% of the public, about 33% of the institutional, 26.6% of stakeholders
Market cap: NIS 7.6 billion
Hotel activity: A group of companies, the parent company, transforms a commercial building in Beersheba into a hotel. Consider converting the group's additional properties into hotels
Israel Canada
Owners: Barak Rosen, Assi Tochmeyer, Avraham Ben David Ohayon
Market value: NIS 2 billion
Hotel activity: Play Hotel in Midtown Tower initiated by the company, recently acquired the Hotel Pavlica in Herzliya, established a hotel management company
We are here
Owners: Kobe Maimon and Haim Nutz
Market Value: Private company, assets worth billions of NIS
Hotel activity: Purchased the Princess Hotel in Eilat, in the process of building hotels in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa and Airport City. Examines entrance to Beersheba