PARK PLAZA ORCHID TEL AVIV Luxe

The good: View from bar, proximity to the beach, friendliness and helpfulness of the management and hotel staff The bad: Agree with over reviewers on the physical condition of the place. It is in need for some serious updating throughout. Upon arriving at the hotel, there were serious problems with Wifi in at least half of the property. This was quite an inconvenience for those traveling on business. My initial room was stale and in substandard shape for a place charging $275+ per night. My view of the ocean was clouded by the dust and grime on the window and window sill. The bed creaked and clearly had lost most of its coil spring support. What was worse was that the next morning I woke up to the noxious smell of cigarette smoke coming from the hallway. I was moved to a second room which was in much better overall condition, but the grout in the shower was black in many spots (mildew) and the shower door leaked water onto the bathroom floor quite often. Also, there was a fire alarm going off around 4:30am every morning (3) in my part of the hotel. Conclusion: Unless you absolutely need a view of the ocean, I would recommend other places, particularly if traveling for business. The Orchid needs a bit of work throughout.

We were not disappointed having visited previously and being very happy the previous time. The standards have remained high. Service at the front desk and in the restaurant remained good. Location excellent and near everything in the area. A WORD OF WARNING: Beware of the piranha taxi drivers ranking immediately outside the hotel. Know that they are obligated to activate the meter but will do all they can to convince you that the negotiated rate is better. It never is. You will also find that these taxi's upon being told were you want to go might suddenly pretend they busy or do not understand you if you are not going far enough. The only "mensch" amongst them from my experience is Eyal. It would be a better is the bellboys at the hotel were told by hotel management to try ensure guests are not "handled" but from what I saw, they are unable to assist as these taxi's appears to be akin to mafia. My wife and I used to catch taxis across the road to avoid these scum unless Eyal was there at the time.

This hotel needs a serious makeover. We stayed with my children (3 and 5 years old) and my husband in Orchid Tel Aviv for two weeks in June 2017. We stayed on the 16th floor in one of the suites, as we were 4 people in the room. A little kitchenette with a sink with a microwave was great, as I had to warm up my son's milk regularly. The room was large enough for the four of us and the sofa bed was fine for the two small kids to share, although it was quite old. The bathroom was very strange, as it had a "jack and gill" sink set up (2 sinks), but then the wardrobe was in the bathroom, which meant every time i needed to open the wardrobe doors, I had to close the bathroom door. The location is indeed fantastic - you are right by the beach and all great Tel Aviv locations are either a walk or a short taxi ride away. Like most of the "old" beach line hotels (Crown Plaza, Orchid, Herod and to some extent Intercontinental), sea view means loud road traffic, but I knew this and it didn't particularly bother me. The room furniture had too many very sharp corners in my view - all tables including night tables had thick glass covers with extremely sharp edges, against which my kids managed to scratch themselves a few times. So, of course my kids' bedding wasn't in the room when we arrived around 5pm and after some 4 or 5 calls they finally brought it around 21.00, so way over the kids' sleep time! Ok, I shouldn't have been surprised - the same happened when we stayed in Orchid 5 years ago with one infant at that time. Breakfast was ok (vegetarian with some fish, as it had to be kosher), but coffee was pretty awful. On Saturday breakfast was simply horrible - I know it's sabbath, but this is not an excuse to serve stale bread, which even my 5 year old refused to eat. One positive side though - very friendly staff at the breakfast. The air conditioner in our room was extremely loud and when I complained to the reception and a technician came over, he told me with confidence that such industrial air conditioners were supposed to make such noise and that there was nothing they could do! It wasn't the first time I was staying in a hotel, but didn't argue with him. In the hindsight, I should have insisted on moving us to another room, but it would have meant being away from my parents' room who had exactly the same suite opposite ours. At the end I ended up cooling the rooms till 18C and then switching off the aircon completely for the night. Toilet flush was half-broken too, as it had to be flushed twice to stop the water flow. I was certainly not interested in the hotel rolling out a construction site in my room and didn't even bother complaining. The manager also for some reason decided to schedule pool deck polishing closing the swimming pool for a full day. Why it had to be done in peak season when everyone wanted to be at the pool was beyond my comprehension. Just as it was beyond my comprehension as to why the pool had to close at 6pm. I assume it was because it was most convenient for the staff and the management, as I didn't buy the argument they had to close the pool 1 hour before sunset. The sun didn't set until around at least 8pm. Again, on the other hand, the pool safe guard did a fantastic job looking after hotel guests. Despite initial requirements to have kids wear swim armbands, he agreed my children to go into the pool without them, as I explained they never saw them and didn't know what to do with such "equipment". Nevertheless he always kept an eye on us, which was reassuring. I later observed he watched other kids carefully too. Service at the lobby bar/restaurant was really bad and the personnel was clearly more interested in chatting than serving guests. When I asked a jug of tab water for the table, one of them just pointed out there was a fountain at the bar and I could help myself! Room cleaning was very good on some days and bad on other days, so very inconsistent. It appears that they didn't vacuum at all, as all sand we brought from the beach was still on the floor after they had "cleaned" the room. The absolute low-light was heavy construction work under the hotel during the second week of our stay. We could hardly hear each other during breakfast and when I asked the manager why they had to do the work exactly in the morning of THAT DAY was advised it was absolutely necessary and was the only time allowed to them. This just tells me the owner neglected the property long enough to have to do emergency works! I am giving Orchid two stars only thanks to the lovely staff at the breakfast and the pool, including the manager Olga, and the location. Unless something changes radically, I will avoid Orchid in the future.

I like the orchid tower hotel because of two reasons. The first is the location - the best in Tel Aviv. The main beach "bugrashov" 10 min from Dizengoff center and The "carmel market". And the second reason is the staff, helpful and friendly. Especially the managers Sharon and jenny. Thanks for everything. See you soon

Love coming to the Orchid while staying in Tel Aviv. The location is unbeatable, and the grounds are very clean. The bar downstairs is always stocked with goodies, and the staff is always available to help. View from the pool is impeccable, and sometimes very busy. Cross the street and you're at Bograhov Beach