Madison Hotel Nahariya

The staff tried hard to please us and were very friendly, but the hotel still left us feeling disrespected. We’d told them we were coming for our anniversary, and they didn’t even comment on it. Aside from the great location, there wasn’t much to recommend. We got a very old-looking room with no view. The hotel was run down, the furniture was peeling, and the elevator doors squeaked. Breakfast was very basic and only so-so.

I’d give it 3 stars overall, which is how many I think the hotel deserves. The pool is a two-minute walk away, and there’s a kids’ club that runs even outside peak season. Saturday checkout is at 2 PM, with the option to extend until the end of Shabbat. The best part was breakfast, a fantastic spread that felt like a 4-5 star level. Anyone saying otherwise must be leaving fake reviews. Rates were reasonable for Israel, and sometimes the best price is on the hotel website if you book direct. Rooms are large, with fridges, microwaves, and balconies. The promenade and beach are right there, about a minute away, with facilities including volleyball and tables. Staff were friendly throughout. The rooms are a little rough around the edges, especially the bathroom: drooping shelves, a missing sink drain plug, worn chrome on the fixtures, and thin towels. The beds were much too hard for me, and I couldn’t find a mattress pad or topper. Room service and setup were inconsistent. There was no do-not-disturb sign, the climate control was oddly placed high above the TV, the coffee setup had no spoons or stirrers, and the door had neither a peephole nor a bolt lock. The lobby is very basic. Even so, I’d definitely come back and can recommend it to couples and families.

I didn’t stay at the hotel myself, but my in-laws did, and I’m wondering whether a lower rating is even possible. Their check-in was set for 3 PM. They arrived at 5 and still waited until 6 for a room that wasn’t ready. Once they got in, it was dirty and the sleeping arrangements weren’t set up properly. There was still an extra baby crib in the room that staff couldn’t be bothered to remove. The bathroom didn’t work and was never fixed, so my father-in-law had to use the lobby facilities. When I visited in the evening, nobody I saw was wearing a mask, including the staff.

The hotel’s seaside location has a lot of potential. The food was very good, with plenty to choose from at both breakfast and dinner, and the chef was involved in the food and the quality of service. Dining room staff and the small cleaning team worked hard and stayed pleasant. But the infrastructure isn’t maintained. The elevator was broken, and unsupervised children of guests left litter around. The front desk sometimes passed responsibility to the company that rented the hotel, which led to poor customer service. Promised pickups for arriving guests didn’t happen, and some clerks didn’t know what was going on with rooms or maintenance requests.