It's a hotel whose customers don't know exactly when they will arrive and many of them haven't even been born yet. Jerusalem's Shaare Zedek Medical Center has just opened Pinukit, a hotel for new mothers, their husbands and their babies in a new wing on the 10th floor of the hospital's Next Generation Building. It competes with Hadassah University Medical Center's 11-year-old Hadassah Baby Maternity Hotel, which is across the street from the Mother-and-Child building. SZMC's spanking-new color-coordinated facility, run by hotelier Shimrit Ohana, who previously worked in the King David and other Dan hotels, showed In Jerusalem around Pinukit. Ultra-modern and aesthetic, it boasts 10 private rooms, some of them with twin, electrically adjustable Hollandia beds and others with one for the mother only. Many of the rooms face a breathtaking view facing north to Ramat Beit Hakerem and beyond. The price is NIS 950 per night for the mother and baby (full or partial rooming in) plus NIS 150 a night for full board for the husband in December and NIS 250 starting in January. The dining room offers high-standard meals three times a day. There is a luxurious bathroom and a lobby with drinks and cake for visitors coming to see occupants of all 18 beds. The hotel is Shabbat observant and maintains a high level of kashrut. Women are advised to register two months before delivery, provide the expected due date and inform management when they arrive at the delivery room. The four public health funds subsidize stays for NIS 200 to NIS 350 per night for mothers. As for Hadassah Baby, there are 28 rooms on one story facing the Judean hills, said Michael Wiesel, who has been manager for nine years; before that he ran the Beit Shmuel complex and the Park Plaza, Shalom and Jerusalem Tower hotels. Hadassah Baby is owned by Ishpro, the company that also owns and operates the hospital's shopping mall. The medical facilities are run by a senior Hadassah nurse, Inna Bat-Kilin. Doctors come regularly to the hotel's nursery, and as in SZMC's hotel, there are workshops on breastfeeding, nutrition and baby massage. The beds are older models and non-electrical. Hadassah's facility is more expensive than SZMC for a mother's stay for one night – NIS 1,195 – but a bit cheaper for two nights (NIS 895); for three nights minimum it costs NIS 785 for a single room plus NIS 300 for full board for the husband. The hotel now offers a third night free. Ishpro's separate Ein Kerem Hotel, with three stories, hosts medical tourism patients from around the world, including the US, Russia and the Palestinian Authority, as well as relatives of Israeli inpatients at Hadassah
