Tel Aviv, Israel – The High Holidays are almost upon us, and Shabbat-observers should think twice before making weekend reservations. Hotels may have a synagogue or provide kosher meals, but they will also ask guests to vacate their rooms in the afternoon, way before the Sabbath’s end.
Join our WhatsApp groupSubscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Until now, religious tourists have been forced to choose between desecrating Shabbat, paying a significantly higher price, cancelling their vacation and waiting in lobbies with their luggage until Motzia Shabbat. Now they are asking the local rabbinate to act against this phenomenon.
In light of numerous complaints on this issue, the Tel Aviv Religious Council turned to the city’s Hotel Association and demanded that it change their current policies and allow guests to stay in their rooms until Shabbat ends.
The Association insisted that around the world check-out is in the afternoon, but the chairman of the religious council promised to “stop this shameful phenomenon.”
Peretz Dagan, a Kiryat Ata resident turned to the city’s chief rabbi, Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, and asked him to work towards changing this policy just like he supervises kosher kitchens and dining rooms.
It’s 4 pm, time to check-out Dagan described a incident how he was informed on the eve of Shavuot that the accommodations he made terminated during the height of the holiday. “When we asked what we as religious people are to do, they told us that at 4 pm we should move our belongings, including money, phones etc. to another place in the hotel and wait until the holiday ends,” said Dagan.
Later, he asked to speak to a senior hotel representative and the next day was answered that he can stay in the room until 6 pm at the latest. “I was told that even for an additional fee, it was unfeasible to stay in the room until the end of the holiday because they wouldn’t be able to sell the room to another guest.
Another person who filed a complaint said, “I checked and found that in many places in Israel, hotels are forgiving and give up on the few hours; but in Tel Aviv they act in a Sodom-like fashion and insist upon punctual check-outs even if the rooms were not reserved for Saturday night.
But Eli Ziv, director-general of the Tel Aviv Hotel Association, responded by saying that “this issue is not an issue of keeping the Sabbath but rather of a proper reservation in exchange for a fee or a proper arrangement set with the hotel itself.”
He mentioned that all the hotels in Israel and in the world conduct their check-out in the afternoon and claimed that hotels receive guests at the end of the Sabbath and thus, need to make arrangements and prepare the rooms beforehand. He therefore determined that there was no reason why guests should stay later if this was not arranged at the time of the reservation; a procedure known by mitzvah-abiding guests.
“When the reservation is made, the hotel is not aware of who keeps the Sabbath and who doesn’t,” wrote Ziv to the rabbinate. “It is unreasonable for a hotel to ask each guest making a reservation if they keep the Sabbath or not…In any event, if the guest did not make arrangements in advance, the hotel provides a luggage checking service until the Sabbath is out… As far as I know, some of the relevant hotels in Tel Aviv have already determined a special price for late check-out on Shabbat and it could be that some do not charge extra.”
I think its so silly that we are trying to force hotels to lose money by losing out on the ability to sell rooms. This is a standard hotel practice, and if you want to stay longer than what you pay for, you should charge an extra fee. Should we force every hotel to install shabbos locks and elevators, force them to stock the minibar with only kosher food, force them to remove the TV’s before we arrive. We are supposed to blend into this world, not demand that this world modify itself to suite our needs.
I would think that in all of the places in the World,
Israel should understand what keeping Shabbos means…..
y cant you pay for 2 nights or pay an additional fee. ? if you dont have the money dont go to the HOTEL in the first place.
This is the way business has to work, I am sure they would have booked an extra night if you had agreed to pay. OR
Stay in a Holiday Inn property, they, under the ownership of a frum Yid, probably handle this better.
yossi that’s not the case in a yidishe medina but here is another example why chareidi jews shouldn’t be a part of it & not fight
This is mind boggling that in Israel there is No “Shabbos arrangement, as to check out times.
I was at a hotel just this past Shabbos, Not in Israel, but in Florida- Normal check- out time is 12:NOON. We needed to stay till 8:15pm, Sat. nite. It was No problem, nor were we charged for 2 nights, or any such hassles or extra fees. Just paid for Friday night.
Even if arrangements need to be made for the next guests,i dont think it takes 2 hours to arrange a room.
Even if arrangements need to be made for the next guests,i dont think it takes 2 hours to arrange a room
If it is only 1 room sure, on the other hand what if it is 40 rooms?
The bottom line is find out about this stuff before you make a reservation and if you can’t get a deal you like don’t make one.
only in israel
murray which hotel ??
want a extra day.. pay for it.. what do u mean the rabbonim are fighting.. ur bored?! get a torah life.. stop with the nonescence
Murray, it could be that in your case they knew that they weren’t going to sell the room that night, so they did you a favour, but you should know that it’s extremely unusual. The general policy of ALL HOTELS is that a day is from check-in time, usually from 3pm on, until check-out time, usually about noon. If you ask on that morning, after about 3am, you can generally get an extension of one or two hours, but that’s it. I’ve never heard of a hotel as generous as the one you stayed at, and you should definitely not count on it happening again.
I don’t see the problem with vacating a room on Shabbos. Just pack all the muktzeh into the suitcase before Shabbos start, and on Shabbos you only have to pack what you had out the night before. I’ve done this on occasion, and the hotel was more than happy to keep my stuff behind the counter until after Shabbos, while I sat in the lobby or around the pool.
Whenever i went to a hotel i paid for 2 nights if it was over shabbis, everyone from the west knows approximate checkin is at 3:00pm and checkout at noon. why do frum people always have to change everything for them??? why do we always have to make issues wherever we go? Yes even in israel, you know when checkin and checkout is and plan accordingly why act dumb? murray i can see now hotels plotzing with requests every weekend, people make such big achilel hashems all summer long in hotels and those that go know what i mean, im sometimes embarrassed to be part of them.
Murray:
In EY, they would be having to make this accommodation EVERY week for 1/3 of their rooms, not just one time for one room.
Plus, Sunday is a regular workday.
In israel when renting a car at AVIS & HERTZ… You don;t pay for rental for shabbes. Even here in Baltimore we have a deal with the local Enterprise. I should come without saying that a Kosher hotel should have a curtesy that a jew staying at the hotel must leave by 1 hour after shabbes or yom tov.
(Trust me they rip u off anyway. if u check in at 12 at night u still have to check out at 11AM. not even 24 hours and not even 12 hours.
No body complains about that.)
I hVE BEEN TO A NUMBER OF HOTELS IN ISRAEL AND IT IS SELF UNDERSTOOD THAT THE ROOMS ARE ONLY TERMINATED AFTER SHABBOS THE HOTELS THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT CANT BE WHAT WE CALL KOSHER SINCE THEN THEY WOULDNT HAVE THIS PROBLEM
Pay for the extra day and check out on Sunday.
people first u have to decide what Israel is jewish or secular if its secular then jews shouldn’t be in army etc. if its jewish then why have busses running shabos & Gay parades etc?
All you have to do is tell them at reservation time that you are Shabbat observant and can not check out until after Shabbat – I have done this in Israel and US and never had a problem.
A real problem is a post-zionist government in Israel surrendering to Arabs and people are worried about hotel checkouts.
Twisted priorities.
i saw this article in the hebrew papers it happened in the rennissance hotel in tel aviv which happens 2 b owned by 2 frum families from edison new jersey halperin and wilf
murray Says:
This is mind boggling that in Israel there is No “Shabbos arrangement, as to check out times.
I was at a hotel just this past Shabbos, Not in Israel, but in Florida- Normal check- out time is 12:NOON. We needed to stay till 8:15pm, Sat. nite. It was No problem, nor were we charged for 2 nights, or any such hassles or extra fees. Just paid for Friday night.
09-07-2008 – 9:05 AM
———————————————-
im willing to bet that this happened in a very low season . if it were high season you would be thrown out or charged. bottom line . this is not a shabbos issue. if you cant afford it dont go
chaim braun Says:
In israel when renting a car at AVIS & HERTZ… You don;t pay for rental for shabbes. Even here in Baltimore we have a deal with the local Enterprise. I should come without saying that a Kosher hotel should have a curtesy that a jew staying at the hotel must leave by 1 hour after shabbes or yom tov.
(Trust me they rip u off anyway. if u check in at 12 at night u still have to check out at 11AM. not even 24 hours and not even 12 hours.
No body complains about that.)
=========================================
If you dont like the price of chiken in your neighborhood butcher what do u do fight with him or go elsewhere.
Go find a hotel that will accomodate your price. You cant afford it then dont go.
This is ridiculous. There is no Gd given right to stay in a hotel on Shabbat. pay the price for the room or don’t stay there. Why are “rabbonim” interfering in the free marketplace? They should be sued for interfering in a business contract.
In Israel there are plenty of frum hotels — stay in a frum hotel, the kashrus is better there too.
guess what, i check in to a hotel before shabbos, and check out Sunday. Am I to expect a hotel to hold the room for me until 9:30 in the evening SAt. night adn not be able to rent it Sunday?
Ridiculous. Just pay for the extra night…part of the mesirat nefesh of being Frum.