Tel Aviv’s Carlton named best business hotel in Israel

Hotel manager accredits World Travel Awards nod to its Blue Sky restaurant, run by famed chef Meir Adoni

Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center

A view of the Blue Sky restaurant at the Carlton Tel Aviv, which was recently designated as Israel's best business hotel by World Travel Awards (Courtesy Gad Halperin Lighting)
A view of the Blue Sky restaurant at the Carlton Tel Aviv, which was recently designated as Israel's best business hotel by World Travel Awards (Courtesy Gad Halperin Lighting)

It’s official. Tel Aviv’s Carlton Hotel was named “The Leading Israeli Business Hotel” for 2016 by the World Travel Awards, based on votes by travelers and agents.

Other Israeli hotels recognized were Jerusalem’s American Colony Hotel as the country’s leading boutique hotel, the David Intercontinental as the best hotel, the Presidential Suite at Herzliya’s Ritz Carlton as the country’s best hotel suite and the David Dead Sea Resort & Spa for its superior spa facilities.

Israel is included in the European region of the awards.

It’s an honor, said Jimmy Zohar, the Carlton’s general manager for the last 17 years, but he’s not assuming they’ll have the title forever. After all, last year, the Carlton lost out to the Sheraton Tel Aviv in 2015 and to the David Intercontinental in 2014.

“They’re my competitors,” said Zohar. “But really, every empty room is my competitor.”

The private hotel, located on the beach and just behind the city’s famed Gordon Pool, has to work hard to compete against the larger, brand name hotels in the area, he said, such as the Sheraton up the block or the Hilton next door.

Unlike the larger chains, private ownership also allows them to make their own rules, said Zohar, who believes that customer service is what most guests look for in a hotel.

“We work hard on our service and how to do it better than others,” he said. “I tell my staff that they don’t have to build planes or high-tech, but they have to give service.”

And while the hotel is continually renovating, what has made a tremendous difference in the hotel’s name factor is its Blue Sky restaurant, the kosher bistro run by chef Meir Adoni, as well as Lumina, a more casual restaurant in the hotel, also run by Adoni.

Carlton manager Jimmy Zohar says finding the right chef to headline a hotel restaurant is a matter of chemistry; here, a sample from Meir Adoni's Blue Sky restaurant at the Carlton (Courtesy Blue Sky)
A sample of a dish from Meir Adoni’s Blue Sky restaurant at the Carlton. (Courtesy Blue Sky)

 

Zohar said he interviewed a slew of chefs before settling on Adoni, with whom he had the right chemistry.

“We couldn’t be the best in food, so you get someone who’s better at it than you are,” he said. “It’s taken a while for hoteliers to understand that.”

Adoni, who owns two other restaurants in Tel Aviv, Mizlala and Catit, is opening a restaurant in New York this fall.

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