The new Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Herzliya is every bit as luxurious as you would expect.
By NERIA BARRRitz-Carlton(photo credit: Courtesy)
Arriving at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Herzliya, we passed the grand entrance and stopped at a side door, where a very courteous concierge picked up our luggage and ushered us into an elevator (it almost felt as if we were celebrities trying to avoid their fans). After a short ride up and a walk down a wide corridor, we arrived at the reception desk.By then it was clear that despite images one may have when the name Ritz is mentioned, there was no old-world grandeur to be seen. Instead, the design is modern and light, more like the style of a New York boutique hotel than the traditional Ritzy glitz, yet lacking nothing in emanating relaxed, leisurely luxury.The reception desk is located at the end of a spacious lobby with large windows overlooking the marina, with smaller, more intimate areas along the walls, designed for quiet meetings.It took four years to build the hotel. It was a large-scale project headed by two leading local groups – the Tidhar realestate group and Adi’s Life Style, which specializes in managing hotels and restaurants.The design was given to a group of local and international architects and designers, resulting in the fresh modern design, including video art on the lobby level floor and a changing Israeli art display.The receptionist welcomed us, and soon we were shown to our room. We had one of the deluxe rooms, a very large (60 square meters), spacious room overlooking the marina and the sea. Arriving at sunset, we went out on the terrace to enjoy the view, which was spectacular.The bed was very comfortable, with white satin sheets, plump pillows and beautiful bedding.The room was beautifully furnished, with a sitting area, large closets, a huge modern bathroom equipped with wonderful British Asprey citrus-scented amenities of the brand’s famous Purple Waters and thick towels.The room also had a coffee corner, stocked with an espresso machine and a collection of teas. In short, the room was ideal for a short or long stay.The Ritz has more than 85 hotels worldwide, and the Ritz-Carlton Herzliya is the chain’s first exclusive hotel in Israel. True to the Ritz-Carlton heritage, the hotel offers awardwinning service and an unforgettable pampering experience.It was recently named one of 70 Scene Makers hotels worldwide on the It List of Travel + Leisure magazine.The impressive 12-story building houses 115 guest rooms, as well as 82 vacation apartments, all facing the Mediterranean.There are 66 Deluxe rooms, 36 Superior rooms, 10 Standard, two Junior Suites and a Presidential Suite, the largest any hotel in Israel offers. It spans 220 sq. m., has a private kitchen, an attached service room and more. The hotel’s top floor has six top-standard penthouses.The hotel spa, which extends over the four top floors of the hotel, includes treatment rooms, a gym overlooking the sea, a Turkish sauna, a relaxation room overlooking the sea and a spectacular rooftop swimming pool with an adjacent night bar. Spa treatments are offered in six private rooms, and the roster includes couple treatments.The products used in the treatments are all made by renowned Japanese cosmetics company Shiseido. After their treatments, guests are invited to sit in a relaxation lounge and have a cup of green tea while enjoying the sea view.At the entrance level of the hotel, next to the well-appointed lobby, the Herbert Samuel kosher gourmet restaurant offers celebrity chef Yonatan Roshfeld’s top cuisine to hotel guests, as well as other patrons who line up for a truly unforgettable experience at lunchtime, dinnertime (meat) and one of the best buffet breakfasts available in Israel. This is the first time the celebrated chef has opened a kosher restaurant, and he more than lives up to his reputation.For dinner, we were seated at a table that was located halfway into the open part of the kitchen.It was a clear invitation to walk over and talk to the team of handsome cooks, who were preparing the dishes with skill and flair. We played a guessing game, trying to figure out who was preparing our dishes and what each cook was doing. But then came the food, and it was one of the best meals we’d had in a long time. The dishes were all presented beautifully, the taste of each delicious dish was superb. In his sublime kosher gourmet dishes, the chef uses no substitutes or inferior ingredients.It is simply excellent food, executed to perfection and elegantly served. I predict that the restaurant will become a great success, catering to those seeking high-level kosher food in Israel. It simply doesn’t get any better.Returning to the restaurant for breakfast, we chose the same table and experienced a great breakfast. The buffet is not as large as in other hotels, but the cooks will gladly prepare any dish you choose from a large menu of egg dishes, including a wonderful salmon eggs Benedict, light quiches, freshly cut salad, fruit, freshly baked breads, juices and, well, anything you might want. The service was efficient and friendly, with a multilingual staff that seemed very knowledgeable.The Ritz-Carlton boasts uncompromising service under the chain’s slogan “We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.” All the employees are bound by the chain’s Gold Standard of service, carrying on their person the Credo, a small book of rules and regulations. They try to read the guests’ minds and provide them with what they want even before they know it.“Unlike other workplaces, we encourage the staff to initiate and take responsibility, to find solutions and use their judgment.They even have a budget for this purpose,” says the management.The result is a wow factor that remains with the guests long after their stay is over.“We are proud to join the international family of top hotels.The Ritz-Carlton brings new standards to Israel in the area of luxury hotels. Our goal is to make the guests’ stay unforgettable,” says the hotel’s CEO Gadi Hassin. “Our slogan ‘Let us stay with you’ is about personalized service. This is the chain’s mark, and that is what returning guests worldwide expect.”Guests are invited to use the World Concierge on Foursquare application, which enables self check-in and allows the concierge to give them tips about nearby places of interest.(https://foursquare.com/ ritzcarlton(.We certainly felt it throughout our stay, from the warm welcome at the reception desk to the spa, the gym, the restaurant and, of course, the room.We loved it.The writer was a guest of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Herzliya.The Ritz-Carlton Herzliya 4 Hasnunit Street, Herzliya Tel: (09) 373-5555 www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/ Herzliya/
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