CombatCritic's TravelValue™

Friday, December 28, 2018

Tel Aviv, Israel: Tiny Room And Relatively Cheap In One Of The Most Expensive Cities In The World

Ness Hotel

10 Ness Ziona Street

Tel Aviv, 63904, Israel

Website: Booking.com - Ness Hotel
Prices: ₪₪₪₪

Booking.com Hotel Description

Stay in the heart of Tel Aviv - Great location - One of our bestsellers in Tel Aviv!

Set on a quiet street in the heart of Tel Aviv, Ness Hotel is less than 5 minutes' walk from the beach. It offers ultra-modern rooms with free Wi-Fi, a shared kitchen and 24-hour internet point in the lobby.

Staff at Hotel Ness can arrange a variety of trips around Israel. A continental or Israeli breakfast is available on request at a café just 30 feet away.

Staying here means being just a few steps from some of Tel Aviv's most popular cafes, restaurants and shops. HaCarmel Market is 1,950 feet away, while the Neve Tzedek district is a 20-minute walk away.

Rooms are bright and spacious. Each one is air conditioned and includes a fridge and TV with cable channels. The room is cleaned at the end of your stay.

This is our guests' favourite part of Tel Aviv, according to independent reviews.

Couples particularly like the location — they rated it 8.7 for a two-person trip on Booking.com.

Translation of Hotel Descriptions

Description: "A continental or Israeli breakfast is available on request at a café just 30 feet away."

Translation: There is a bakery with a coffee machine and outdoor seating about 100 meters away

Description: "Rooms are bright and spacious"

Translation: Rooms are dark and small

Description: "The room is cleaned at the end of your stay"

Translation: There will be no maid service during your stay

Review

Pros: The hotel is centrally located close to Jerusalem Beach, restaurants, shops, markets and transportation (buses). The price was relatively cheap, but that is in a city that is much more expensive than most. We stayed in a nice, nearby one bedroom apartment 10 days prior for $20 less per night than this place. The room had an electric kettle, instant coffee and sugar (but only one cup), a mini fridge, a small balcony, and a TV with local channels (a couple in English). The bed took up most of the room, but was fairly comfortable.

Cons: As mentioned, we stayed in a nice, nearby one bedroom apartment 10 days prior for $20 less per night than this place, so $78 per night for this tiny room seemed quite excessive. The bathroom was the size of our shower and there was no door or curtain on the shower, so the door and surrounding trim were heavily damaged by decay. The front desk staff were rather aloof and somewhat rude with one telling my wife to "clean up after yourself" when she asked to use the restroom before our departure.

CombatCritic Gives Ness Hotel 5 Bombs Out Of 10 ... More Bombs Are Better!

Five Bombs Equates To:

Translation for Civilians: "Continue Mission"

Thursday, December 27, 2018

Tel Aviv, Israel: Osher's "Perfect Location Ever!!" Is Exactly That

Osher's "Perfect Location Ever!!"
Ben Ami Street, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel
2 Guests - 1 Bedroom - 1 Bed - 1 Bath
Entire Apartment
Website: Airbnb - Tel Aviv

Airbnb Description

Sparkling clean - 6 recent guests have said that this home was sparkling clean.

Great check-in experience - 100% of recent guests gave this home’s check-in process a 5-star rating.

Osher is a Superhost - Superhosts are experienced, highly rated hosts who are committed to providing great stays for guests.

Our cool and young designed apartment has everything you are looking for. comfortable bed, TV connected to the computer, great sofa, fully equipped kitchen, AC, relaxing shower and the most important is the location - just in the center of Tel Aviv!!

The apartment is a semi basement with windows.

The space

Full apartment in the center of Tel Aviv

Interaction with guests

Any help getting tours and taxis ,help with what to do in the city, getting directions. recommendation for restaurants and any other questions.

Other things to note

The building is under constructions there are Scaffolding but it is not noisy. The window in the bedroom is blocked.

Being a travel blogger, I always review by providing my honest opinion in the most objective manner possible. Reviews on Airbnb and elsewhere would be useless if everyone gamed the system, giving 5s across the board. I owe it to my readers as well as future guests to provide the most accurate details possible about places I visit and shall continue to do so now and in the future.

We were extremely happy with everything at Osher's with the exception of the internet speed which they may have no influence on. If they do, I recommended that they get the fastest speed possible for future guests. We have been plagued by slow internet throughout our current trip, with the exception of London, making it very difficult to post reviews and photos on my blog or to stream video.

The apartment is as central as central can be in Tel Aviv, just steps away from Dizzengoff Square and numerous restaurants, shops, a mall, a cinema, and public transportation. It was very easy to get around Tel Aviv from there with the exception of the lack of a western alphabet on public transportation which Osher has absolutely no influence on. She and her husband were always available and very helpful anytime we needed help.

The apartment is the perfect size for two adults with a separate bedroom with queen bed, a large living area with kitchen, table and chairs and a sofa, and a bathroom with a shower and plenty of hot water and good water pressure. It was very clean when we arrived and Osher was kind enough to leave a bottle of local wine for us on our first night in Israel.

We were met upon arrival and briefed on the details of the apartment, appreciating everything Osher and her husband did for us during our stay. Osher went as far as contacting Gett, a taxi app that I had problems with, working with them to get a refund even though she and her husband were trying to enjoy a vacation of their own.

The apartment is exactly as advertised on Airbnb, both in photos and the description. There is even a washing machine complete with detergent and fabric softener, although it rained most of the five days we were there, making drying our clothes a bit of a challenge. Osher also has a fabulous motorhome that they rent out when at this apartment in Tel Aviv. We would be very happy to stay with them again in the future if they will have us.

CombatCritic Gives Osher's Central Tel Aviv Apartment 9 Bombs Out Of 10 ... More Bombs Are Better!

Nine Bombs Equates To:

Translation for Civilians: "U.S. Marine Response To A Verbal Greeting Or As An Expression Of Enthusiasm"

Read this and other reviews of Israel's restaurants, hotels, apartments and attractions:

CombatCritic's TravelValue: Israel

Lyon, France: Fleury's Charming Little - Very Little - Studio Near Tete d'Or Parc in Lyon

FLEURY'S CHARMING LITTLE STUDIO NEAR TETE D'OR PARC
Lyon 6e Arrondissement
Metro: Masséna and Brotteaux

2 Guests - Studio - 1 Bed, 1 Bath

We thought our Airbnb "studio apartment" in Paris was small until we arrived at Fleury's Charming Little Studio Near Tete d'Or Parc in Lyon. Once again, you get what you pay for and at just $306 for 5 nights ($60/night), I should not have been surprised.

We arrived as scheduled and as I informed Fleury and his colleagues several times, but we had to stand in the rain in front of the partment building and wait over 45 minutes for his colleague to arrive and let us in. Not a great start!

The building was old, yet charming and the room itself clean, well appointed, and the neighborhood "one of the best in Lyon" we were told by a friend (who was featured on House Hunter's International a couple of years back). The only problem was the size.

The apartment is accessed by entering a code at the massive front doors and walking up a flight of about 15 stairs. The entire space was about 10' x 12', including the toilet room, sink/shower room, and kitchenette which occupied less than 30 inches (wide) on the west side of the room. My wife and I brought a single medium size piece of luggage each and I had a backpack and my wife a large purse, that was it. We really did not have all that much with us because we were limited to 33 pounds of luggage each, but it took me an hour to figure out where to put everything.

The photos on Airbnb are deceiving, taken with a wide angle camera and/or from places a human could not possibly occupy. If you have more than two normal size people with one medium bag each, a backpack and a large purse ... DO NOT RENT THIS ROOM! We ended up consolidating plates and other things on the few shelves in the room in order to make room for the few things that we had, storing our bags in the shower and having to remove them every time we needed to wash.

The toilet and shower rooms (separate) had sliding doors and were barely wide or long enough to be functional. I am 5' 10" and about 220 pounds, but I could barely fit in the toilet space. I actually had to sit sideways at a 45 degree angle on the toilet in order to fit inside while being able to close the door. I will not go into any further details as not to gross you out, but the rest of the process was also a bit of a logistical nightmare.

The adjacent, but unconnected, shower room was equally as narrow, but a shower could be taken after moving our bags out of the way of course. The bathroom sink was so tiny that it was useless and it took forever to drain, so we ended up using the "kitchenette" sink instead. There was a single hook in the shower, barely big enough to hang a single towel on.

That brings me to the "kitchen". It was well equipped with a two burner stove, microwave, small fridge, decent size sink, a Nespresso coffee machine (that did not work all that well), an electric kettle, and a toaster. The only problem being that we had to take turns using the appliances due to the lack of counter space and electric sockets. They had the bare minimum in terms of plates, cups, silverware, and utensils, only what is required to comply with Airbnb standards.

The bed was decent and fairly comfy, between an American full and queen I would say, but it took up about 1/3 of the room. The remainder was occupied by a small table, two chairs and two small, narrow cupboards - one a single small cubicle on the floor and the other a tall, narrow stack of cubicles next to the bed. My wife and had had to literally take turns walking around the room due to the lack of space.

They told us that we had to wash the dishes and empty the trash (rubbish) when we left even though we had to pay an additional $34 for the "cleaning fee". Excuse me, the rubbish bin (trash can) took up another square foot-and-a-half of floor space, but the plastic bag they left inside was only big enough for 1/4 of the rubbish that would fit inside. We did wash up and tried to take the rubbish out when we left, but the bins downstairs were completely full and we did not have a bag big enough to transport it even if there was enough room.

Finally, as far as the negatives are concerned, the Wi-Fi left much to be desired. It was a 4G/LTE connection, if that, provided by a tiny mobile router that plugged into the wall. It was just fast enough to check email and do some vary basic web surfing, but it took forever to load photos and streaming video was completely out of the question.

Now let me get on to the positives of which there were a few ...

The area was great, centrally located and with many diverse restaurants in the neighborhood (French, Italian, Ethiopian, Brazilian, Thai, Chinese, Kebab, Halal, Japanese, Steaks ... you name it) and two Metro stops within a three to four block radius (Masséna and Brotteaux), the former on the east-west (Pink - A - toward Place Bellcour and the old part of town) line and the latter on the north-south (Blue - B - from Gare Part Due and connecting to the A Line up north) line.

The room was small, but it had everything we needed (except an English language TV station) and served its purpose during our five days in Lyon. Another very handy feature was the laundromat just across the street where we were able to refresh our wardrobes given the fact that there were no facilities in the room or in the building. A damn decent value overall if you think of it as a room and not a "studio" apartment, and I might even consider staying here again if we could not find anything better.

CombatCritic Gives Fleury's Charming Little Studio Near Tete d'Or Parc 5 Bombs Out Of 10 ... More Bombs Are Better!

Five Bombs Equates To:

Translation for Civilians: "Continue Mission"

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CombatCritic's Travel Value: France

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Friday, December 28, 2018

Tel Aviv, Israel: Tiny Room And Relatively Cheap In One Of The Most Expensive Cities In The World

Thursday, December 27, 2018

Tel Aviv, Israel: Osher's "Perfect Location Ever!!" Is Exactly That

Lyon, France: Fleury's Charming Little - Very Little - Studio Near Tete d'Or Parc in Lyon

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