In the recent Starwood post an anonymous commenter asked about the Starwood branded hotels in Israel.
Less than 20 minutes later another anonymous commenter answered,
“Israel is one of the best places to use the starwood points (since they dont categorize them properly) – Le meridien dead sea 2-3000 points and the Herods Eilat which usually costs around 350 Dollars (cat 3) is only 7000 points in America it would be a Cat 6 – The Jerusalem Sheraton is also only 7000 points but not such a great hotel – still a unreal value.”
Now that is how the comments system is supposed to work-other people answering questions that they know about!
Since I have a planned trip to go to Israel in August for the first time since I was an infant, I have been looking into this issue as well!
P.S. If anyone has any other Israel tips (cell phones, car rentals, GPS rentals, etc.) please leave a comment!
There are 13 Starwood hotels in Israel.
Category 1:
Le Méridien Dead Sea
Sheraton Moriah Dead Sea
Le Méridien Haifa
Category 2:
Sheraton Moriah Eilat
Sheraton Moriah Tiberias
Category 3:
Sheraton Jerusalem Plaza Hotel
Sheraton City Tower Tel Aviv
Sheraton Moriah Tel Aviv
Herods Forum Eilat
Herods Vitalis Spa Eilat
Le Méridien Eilat
Sheraton Herods Palace Hotel Eilat
Category 4:
Sheraton Tel Aviv Hotel and Towers
Again, here is the cost in starpoints by category,
Unrestricted:
Category 1: 3,000 points (2,000 on a weekend)
Category 2: 4,000 points (3,000 on a weekend)
Category 3: 7,000 points
Category 4: 10,000 points
Restricted Cash And Points: (Tentative-Launching June 28th.)
Category 1: 1,200 points + $25
Category 2: 1,600 points + $30
Category 3: 2,800 points + $45
Category 4: 4,000 points + $60
As far as cars eldan.co.il is usually your best bet.( Prices are crazy now) Make a reservation for a group C car and pray that they upgrade you for free, If not you can always pay the diff for a full size car. Only mastercard world will cover you for insurance. No other credit cards cover collision even AMEX. Cellphone if your not going to use it alot just buy a prepaid sim which works with many triband phones, or you can rent a phone from traveldeal e.t.c. the prices are around 10-12 cents a minute, which is decent.
Does anyone know the best type of phone to use when travelling to Israel? (The use would be mostly for calling America)
Is there any rental car company that will waive the underage fee for me in israel(I’m 22)
Will corporate codes that work in the USA to waive the underage fee work in Israel?
If I buy a sim card-how much will it cost to call america compared to renting a phone in the USA or Israel?
Hey Dan,
I tried renting in israel using a corp. acount and although the reservation went through they wouldn’t give me a car since i’m under 21 ALSO insurence with renting a car in israel is problematic since ussaly i avoid buying inssurnce from the car rentels and use the credit cards inssurance (at least for the “loss damage waiver”) but MOST credit cards WILL NOT cover cars in israel the only one that will is the “master card world” (or something like that)
Another thing about hotels: if you pull out a AMEX platnuim credit card and you tell the person working the counter when you check in that you want to be upgraded to a suit since your platnuim.. they will ussaly give it to you! (they dont really know the diffrence) And if you stay at the herods in eilat be advised that they have tree sections the “herods forum” which is the worse of them the “herods palace” which is secoend.. i stayed there and got a suit 🙂 and then there is a third one i forget the name wich is the best and they all go for 7000 points!
i have rented from avis in israel using a american corporate code to waive the underage fee which can be as high as 120 dollars a day. the trick for it to work is to make the reservation through a us office so when you arrive there its automatically in the system
any tricks to get out of a cingular contract??
So forget eldan but avis-budget 21 is old enough. Try this avis phone number 800-638-4016 its a israeli branch in ny and they sometimes have better rates then online. ,or 03-570-5102 which is a agent for avis here in israel. As far as corporate accounts they do almost nothing here and are usually even more expensive. The prepaid simcards are not to cheap to the U.S. so your best bet is renting. How long will you be here for?
Dan,
with amex plat card you can rent with hertz at 21 with no under age fee.
once you have a hertz #1 gold you should have no problem. Just remember that you have to rent a least one time in order for the gold to be active it.
avis corp. account never works however the location at yirmiyahu rent to 20+
i am going to israel in july and i got from avis 13 dollars a day i booked it through sidestep.com
and its not prepaid
but what about insurance ? can i get away with a citi master cards
you can call your credit card to reconfirm but to my belife the only credit card the gives insurence to car rentels is the “world master card” http://www.mastercard.com/us/personal/en/aboutourcards/credit/world_card.html
Continental and AA personal cards are World Mastercard’s that offer insurance in Israel.
dan:
why don’t you rent a gps from costco?
Forget about renting phones, they wilL rip you off. You should take an unlocked tri-band GSM phone and buy a sim card when you arrive. I think both Cellcom and Orange have stores in the airport.
The Orange sim card costs 100 shek (like $23) with 10 shek starter time. You buy top up cards to put money on your phone. Orange also had very cheap texting when I was there (9 agurot-like 2 cents).
The good thing about both Cellcom & Orange is free incoming texts & calls. Also no contract garbage and you keep your number forever, or sell it when you leave.
DY,
While there are benfits with buying a prepaid sim card (have it forever…) Calling america with prepaid is pretty pricey and you could get much better rates with a rental! I rented a phone this year they gave me a phone no charge, calling america was 11 cents. and was free for those in our school (which was like every lubavitch bochur in israel)
and about “income being free” all phones in israel are free income BUT its free for you but VERY pricey for who ever is calling you back at home, when you look at your home phone international rates for Israel your seeing the prices to a land-line NOT A CELL which is alot more: like 40 cents a min. even with voip!
so you really have to waigh the pros and cons
KCB’er:
How do you get 11 cents to america?
I’ll e-mail you the info… its not so pushet