The few hotel rooms that are still available for summer vacation season are on the expensive side, but not because the hotel owners raised prices significantly, according to Dan Hotels CEO Ronen Nissenbaum.
Prices for rooms in most hotels are within five to 10% of what they were in 2019, the summer before the coronavirus pandemic began, he told The Jerusalem Post.
“Obviously, we aren’t comparing numbers with 2020, when people were afraid to travel, and many hotels were giving 30 to 40% discounts,” Nissenbaum said. “If I look at our numbers compared to two years ago, which was the height of history for Israeli tourism, costs are five to 10% higher, and our achieved rates, which reflect the hotels’ profits, go up and down five to 10% compared to last year.”
However, the prices listed on some of the travel booking websites seem much higher than travelers are used to, he said, adding: “The problem is that because demand for vacationing domestically is much higher this year than usual, a lot of rooms are already prebooked. That means the ones that are listed online are mainly the most expensive ones, and because demand is so high, there is no reason to offer discounts on those.”
“If the most expensive rooms in all the hotels are the only ones left, it looks like prices are crazy,” Nissenbaum said. “But people understand that supply and demand makes it cheaper to take a vacation at some times more than others. In the peak weeks of August, when everyone wants to go away, you can’t expect discounts, especially this year.”
A number of Israel’s hotels are already sold out for August, the most popular time for vacations. An informal survey of Daka90, one of Israel’s largest travel sites, yielded just three to five results for searches for hotels in Eilat during August, compared with approximately 40 results during off-peak weeks. In the Galilee and the Golan Heights, about half of the usual options were unavailable during August.
While Israel’s skies are open for residents to travel to many locations, many people feel that traveling under coronavirus restrictions is too complicated, Nissenbaum said.
“Even if it is 50% cheaper to go to Greece or Turkey, you have to add in the PCR tests, the quarantine for the kids if they aren’t vaccinated, the uncertainty and other annoyances, and it’s just too complicated for a lot of people,” he said. “So naturally, a lot of families are opting to stay in Israel, and advanced bookings are filling up. So what is left are the most expensive rooms.”
Nissenbaum advised travelers to act quickly to book well in advance of their vacations.
“Don’t wait until June or July to book for August,” he said. “There is no risk to book far ahead because all hotels offer cancellations for free.”
Although Israeli hotels are notoriously pricey compared with overseas options, even during normal travel seasons, that doesn’t translate into higher profits, Nissenbaum said.
“Even with our high prices, hotels here are less profitable than in Europe and other places,” he said. “Between wages, property taxes and other expenses, the cost of doing business here is much higher. In 2019, the best year on record for the industry, the largest companies barely made a 10% profit. “
Vacation rentals, often referred to as zimmers in Israel, can be much more affordable than the hotels, according to Ilana Alony, CEO of the Allove Group, which runs the ZimmerLand and VillaLand booking websites in Israel. However, there aren’t many of those left either.
“Zimmers can run as low as NIS 500 to NIS 600 per night and can be an affordable way to get away as a couple, a family or a group of several families,” she said. “Some of the zimmers have raised their prices, which is normal when demand is so high. But I haven’t seen anyone go overboard on raising prices.
“Unfortunately, there are very few places that have any availability left. I’ll be posting last-minute deals as they become available on our Instagram account @zimmerland.official.”
The busy summer season is a welcome respite and opportunity for rebuilding for zimmer owners whose businesses were ravaged by the pandemic and the national closures, Nissenbaum said.
Meanwhile, Dan Hotels is working on launching a new tourism concept by the end of 2022, he said. The chain is in the process of closing a deal to offer luxury tent accommodations to tourists in Eilat, with prices ranging from NIS 200 to NIS 2,000 a night per couple.
“The concept is to offer services to a market seeking more experiential travel,” Nissenbaum said. “For people seeking a desert vacation experience, we offer affordable tents for families and groups, an option to park your RV and connect to our electricity and water, all the way up to luxury tent accommodations with the same luxurious bedding, private bathroom and spa treatments that our regular visitors expect.”