Elis Boutique Hotel

The beach is close, the sea view from those rooms is great, and the price isn't too high. But the building needs renovating, the air conditioner didn't work during my stay, and I was still hungry after breakfast. The staff don't speak English, which is frustrating, and I don't think they're honest with Booking.com. I can't recommend this hotel. By the way, they're very nice when someone is honest about the place:

For a beach trip, the location works well. The beach is only two minutes away, and there are plenty of restaurants along the promenade within walking distance. But getting to Tel Aviv for sightseeing, the beach, or a night out means taking a bus or taxi. Traffic can make the trip an hour or longer, depending on where and when you're going. Tours to Jerusalem, the Dead Sea, and elsewhere start in Tel Aviv, and most operators won't pick up tourists at hotels in Bat Yam, so you need to arrange how to meet the tour yourself. The hotel doesn't help plan trips. The hotel itself is average, not a boutique hotel. Rooms are fairly small and the bathrooms smaller still. There's a coffee maker, but no cups unless you ask. Breakfast is limited: good coffee, but only in paper cups, one type of tea, bread and jam, and two kinds of cornflakes. It's served in the lobby, where there are sofas instead of proper tables, which isn't ideal.

For the money, I wouldn't recommend staying more than a night or two. My boyfriend and I came to see the place at 5 pm before booking. We wanted to book through Booking and pay there with the taxes included, as we usually do. They said Booking hadn't charged us yet, so because we're Israelis we had to pay them and the taxes directly. We paid, even though customers are always right. After a five-minute argument with the new front desk worker, we were finally allowed to go up, but the whole payment process took half an hour. The room looked and smelled freshly painted, and there was only a sheet on the bed. We had to ask for pillows and blankets, though what they gave us were just sheets. After a day of driving and traffic, we wanted to relax and watch TV, but the volume didn't work. We went to ask them to fix it, and they blamed the TV company, saying it wasn't their fault. Then I needed an iPhone charger for my iPad, and they said I'd have to pay for one, even though the woman at the front desk had a charger and was sitting there anyway. When I went to ask for water, she had to ask which room I was in. I'm very disappointed with the service. It's not worth the money just to sleep in a bed with a view.

It's a budget hotel, which is fine for a one-day stay. The beach is nearby, the view helps make up for the awful service, and you can park for free outside at night. The room was small, old, and dirty. There was a noisy little fridge that must have been at least ten years old. The shower ceiling had mold hanging from it, with almost no ventilation, and the air conditioner looked as if it was leaking and made strange noises. Breakfast is included, but don't expect a meal: just a few slices of bread and some breakfast cereal, and there were only a few portions of each to share among guests. We arrived late at night during a Jewish holiday and didn't realize the restaurants would close in about an hour. When we asked the clerk where to get a quick bite, he must have known about the holiday but didn't tell us. We drove all around Tel Aviv before discovering everything was closed. Back at the hotel, the clerk confirmed it. He seemed more focused on his game than doing his night shift, and made that pretty obvious.