Lady Stern Jerusalem Hotel

I had a great stay for about 10 days. The hotel was beautiful, very clean, and comfortable, and Jerusalem is a wonderful city. I’d recommend it to anyone visiting Israel.

I ended up at this hotel because of a booking mix-up. My original hotel was full, so I was asked to move here, and I won’t consider coming back. At the previous hotel, breakfast and dinner were included. When I went to this hotel’s dining room in the evening, the clerk asked for my room number and whether I wanted dinner. I told him I’d been transferred and assumed the same arrangement applied. He set a table, told me to help myself, and I began eating. About 20 minutes later, he said I wasn’t eligible for dinner here and should have eaten at the previous hotel. I hadn’t known I was expected to go back there. He should have told me before seating me and encouraging me to eat. The room added to the disappointment. There were visible stains on the sofa, dusty surfaces, and a generally unkempt look. When I went to the front desk to sort out the dinner issue, the same clerk followed and denied telling me to eat there. I tried to explain that I hadn’t known about the arrangement, but it became a loud argument with the front desk staff in front of me. They then demanded $175 for the meal, an exorbitant price. I’ve eaten at some of the world’s most expensive restaurants and never seen such inflated prices. Instead of acknowledging the clerk’s mistake, the hotel blamed a guest who had been drawn into the situation against his will. The disrespect and distress, along with the room’s poor cleanliness, left me with no intention of returning. It’s disheartening to see such disregard for guests’ well-being. This hotel is far below what I expect for a pleasant stay.

Some of the dining room staff were kind and delightful, but reception and management were almost always rude and dismissive. We stayed as part of a tour group, and the hotel mishandled the booking, then took two hours to fix it without offering a proper apology. Service at Lady Stern felt more like Fawlty Towers than a major city hotel, as if our arrival had taken them by surprise. They ran out of cutlery, plates, and towels. The towels we did get were damp or threadbare, and one day I had to use my own because I couldn’t get anyone to bring one. Our room bins weren’t emptied for five days, the hallways were never vacuumed, and a dirty knife sat outside our room the entire stay. Please don’t stay here.

The location worked well for us, though that’s personal. Breakfast was nice, with the basics: coffee, salads, cereal, and pastries. It’s kosher, the staff are friendly, and the vibe is pleasant. We had parking, although the garage smelled a bit bad. There’s no pool or gym. The Shabbat elevator is programmed oddly and stops at every floor going both up and down, which makes no sense. If the location and price suit you, go for it.