Want to take advantage of the Hilton Impresario program to receive extra perks (like breakfast and upgrades) for paid stays at the Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem? Contact [email protected] for more details. He may even be able to help if you already have a stay booked.
We were spending a total of one week in Israel, and were planning on splitting our time between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and then doing day trips from both cities. When it came to planning this trip, I was in charge of flights and hotels, while my mom was in charge of planning our activities on the ground. In retrospect we should have coordinated better, as we ended up seeing some things out of Tel Aviv that would have been more convenient out of Jerusalem, etc.
Anyway, based on hotel availability we decided to book our first three nights at the Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem, given that it’s probably the best points hotel in the city. My mom and I were staying for three nights, and we redeemed 95,000 Hilton Honors points per night for the stay (it would have been a better value to stay five nights and get the fifth night free, but there wasn’t availability for all five nights).
Then my dad joined us for the last two nights, and we booked that room through Virtuoso, which was about $450 per night, and included a room upgrade, a $100 food & beverage credit, etc. I figured by booking one room using cash and one using points I was splitting the difference in terms of the out of pocket.
The drive from Ben Gurion Airport to Jerusalem took just under an hour, and we arrived at the hotel before 8AM. The Waldorf Astoria has a beautiful exterior, with the main part of the building having a pretty classic look (given that it’s a historic building), and then there’s a tower behind it with more rooms.
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem exterior
The hotel’s bellman — who is quite a character — welcomed us and offered to assist us with our luggage.
The hotel has a lovely lobby, with a beautiful floral arrangement acting as the centerpiece. Reception was located inside the entrance and to the right.
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem lobby
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem lobby
We proceeded to check-in and inquired about the availability of rooms (as usual, I proactively mentioned that I realized we were way early, and that it was totally fine if a room wasn’t ready). The guy explained that no rooms were available immediately, but that he’d put us in the queue as soon as possible.
As he looked at room inventory he said “there’s a deluxe room that’s available and just needs to be cleaned, but I’ll have to ask my manager if I can upgrade you to that.” While I’m only an Honors Gold member, I think that’s pretty indicative of my elite upgrade experience with Hilton. If someone is entitled to an upgrade and the next category of room is available, it’s sad when a front office associate isn’t empowered to upgrade someone without asking a manager.
It ended up taking almost four hours for our room to be ready. We were still checking in way ahead of check-in time, though they didn’t do a very good job managing expectations, as the guy told us that he thought a room would be ready within 90 minutes.
In the meantime I had a seat in the atrium area and got some work done, so that we could go out and sightsee in the afternoon. The hotel has a very nice atrium spanning four floors that has lots of natural light.
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem lobby
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem lobby
While I loved the design as such, I couldn’t help but feel like the cheap patio furniture was an odd choice for the lobby of a luxury hotel. This seems more appropriate at an Embassy Suites than a Waldorf Astoria, in my opinion.
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem lobby
There was some more traditional lobby seating, including a couch and some leather chairs, to the side, behind the concierge desk.
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem lobby
Then on the opposite side was another small atrium with some retail outlets.
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem lobby
Once our room was ready we headed up to the third floor. The elevators are located inside the lobby and to the left, and they’re the type of elevators where you select the floor you want to go to, and then it tells you which elevator to use.
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem elevators
Once on the third floor we had views of both of the hotel’s atriums.
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem atrium
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem atrium
My mom and I were assigned room 324, a twin deluxe room.
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem room exterior
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem floorplan
The room had an entryway with some closets on the left and then a bathroom on the right. The hotel is only a few years old, so the room felt nice and fresh.
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem twin deluxe room entryway
The room wasn’t especially large, particularly for an upgrade over the base room, and featured two twin beds that were pushed together.
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem twin deluxe room
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem twin deluxe room
At the foot of the bed was a seat with room for two, and then across from that was a desk with a chair and then a TV on top of a console.
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem twin deluxe room couch
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem twin deluxe room desk & TV
In the corner of the room was a chair. It was comfortable, though it would have been nice if there were an ottoman (then again, I guess that would have made the room feel even smaller).
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem twin deluxe room chair
The room faced the exterior of the hotel, though there wasn’t much to see.
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem twin deluxe room view
Back near the entrance on the left was the minibar and the in-room Nespresso machine.
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem twin deluxe room Nespresso machine
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem twin deluxe room minibar
The bathroom was near the entrance as well, and featured a sink, a walk-in shower, a soaking tub, and a toilet in a separate room.
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem twin deluxe room bathroom
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem twin deluxe room toilet
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem twin deluxe room shower
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem twin deluxe room bathtub
Toiletries were from Ahava, and were pleasant but forgettable.
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem toiletries
Overall I thought the room was nice. It wasn’t over the top amazing, or anything, but was perfectly comfortable and luxurious.
While we were spending three days in Jerusalem, my dad only arrived a day later, so we booked a second room for the last two nights. While the first reservation was on points, we booked the second one through Virtuoso, and that room automatically got upgraded to a king grand deluxe room. This room was located in the tower of the hotel, rather than in the main building around the atrium.
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem grand deluxe king room exterior
The grand deluxe room was significantly nicer than the deluxe room, I must say. It featured a long entryway with the bathroom right by the entrance.
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem grand deluxe king room entryway
The room was marginally bigger, though I feel like it made a significant difference in terms of how it felt.
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem grand deluxe king room
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem grand deluxe king room
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem grand deluxe king room desk & TV
This room also had somewhat better views than the other one.
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem grand deluxe king room view
There was also a welcome amenity consisting of fruit and a bottle of red wine.
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem grand deluxe king room welcome amenity
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem grand deluxe king room welcome amenity
The biggest difference was with the bathroom, as this bathroom featured double sinks (one on each side), and then a big tub in the middle.
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem grand deluxe king room bathtub
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem grand deluxe king room bathroom
The toilet and shower were basically the same as in the other room.
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem grand deluxe king room toilet
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem grand deluxe king room shower
All Honors members receive complimentary Wi-Fi, and the standard Wi-Fi was sufficient.
In terms of the hotel’s other features, all rates at this hotel include breakfast, which is served daily from 6:30AM until 10:30AM (11AM on Saturdays) in The Palace Restaurant, located just off the lobby. I didn’t get the sense that the hotel was all that full, and as a result breakfast was never that crowded (though this might as well have been the Waldorf Astoria Milwaukee based on the people here — everyone was American).
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem breakfast restaurant
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem breakfast restaurant
The breakfast buffet at this hotel was incredible. This was easily one of my favorite breakfast buffets I’ve ever had at any hotel ever. It wasn’t the biggest buffet, but the quality of everything was unbeatable. More than anything else, though, I instantly fell in love with Israeli food, and this buffet had plenty of it. Yum, yum, yum.
Near the dining tables was an area with bread, smoothies, juice, water, pastries, etc.
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem breakfast buffet
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem breakfast buffet
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem breakfast buffet
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem breakfast buffet
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem breakfast buffet
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem breakfast buffet
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem breakfast buffet
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem breakfast buffet
Then the main part of the buffet was in a separate room, where there were nearly a dozen hot dishes, cereal, all kinds of cold cuts, etc. I’ll let the pictures mostly speak for themselves.
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem breakfast buffet
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem breakfast buffet
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem breakfast buffet
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem breakfast buffet
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem breakfast buffet
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem breakfast buffet
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem breakfast buffet
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem breakfast buffet
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem breakfast buffet
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem breakfast buffet
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem breakfast buffet
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem breakfast buffet
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem breakfast buffet
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem breakfast buffet
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem breakfast buffet
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem breakfast buffet
The coffee was also excellent, as were the cappuccinos. The problem sometimes was actually getting a refill. The first morning service at breakfast was awful, while the next two days service was excellent, as we had the same server both days.
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem capuccino
On the opposite side of the lobby of the breakfast restaurant was the all day bar and restaurant, King’s Court, where we ended up having drinks and food a couple of times. That’s not because there aren’t better food options in Jerusalem (of course there are), but after sightseeing all day I often had to work, so it was convenient to be able to eat while working on my laptop). The food and service in the bar area were both quite good.
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem restaurant & bar
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem lunch
One disappointing aspect of this hotel is that it has been open for years, though they don’t actually have a real gym and spa yet. Instead for the time being there’s a temporary gym on the first floor (it’s really room 111), which has very limited equipment. I’m not sure what the problem is, but it seems crazy for the hotel to be open this long and to still not have a gym and spa. There’s also no pool.
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem gym
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem gym
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem gym
In terms of other observations about the hotel, the location was excellent. It was within walking distance of the Old City, and just across the street from Mamilla Mall, which is a pedestrian area with all kinds of great shops and restaurants. So the location gets high marks from me.
Jerusalem
Jerusalem
My mom’s biggest complaint was the concierge team. I left her in charge of planning everything on the ground, and she felt like dealing with the concierges was like pulling teeth, as they weren’t very proactive with advice, etc. I can’t speak to this firsthand, but she unfortunately had nothing good to say about the concierge team here.
Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem bottom line
The way I see it, the best things about the Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem are the location and the breakfast, both of which are top notch. The hotel itself is nice physically, though doesn’t have much of a “wow” factor. Everything else about the hotel I found to be pretty inconsistent — service was good in some cases and bad in others, and I think it’s ridiculous that they don’t have a proper gym or spa.
Ultimately this hotel seems to be able to get away with charging a premium because the Waldorf Astoria gets name recognition from foreign travelers, so there’s not a lot of value to be had. For that matter, we must have spent almost 12 hours per day touring in Israel, so hotel quality matters less to me here than in other markets.
Still, if you’re a Hilton loyalist and/or want to earn or redeem points, this is the most luxurious option in Jerusalem.
If you’ve stayed at the Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem, what was your experience like?
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