Mendeli Street Hotel, Tel Aviv

We love staying in apartments while in Tel Aviv, and usually rent from Airbnb or a local agency. I like the comfort of a home and the ability to cook, having more space, a balcony, and laundry facilities. There is a certain amount of risk that is involved in renting an apartment based on photos submitted by the owner or reviews that might possibly be exaggerated, or downright fake. During this, long-term stay in Tel Aviv, we faced the added risk of possibly renting an apartment that would have something wrong with it and being stuck in it for two months. In order to avoid this type of a situation, I decided to rent two different apartments, each one for a period of four weeks. The problem in the first apartment, a lovely modern place with a large balcony and partial view of Rothschild Boulevard, was apparent early on during our stay, but I tried to ignore it. It was mold. I could smell it, and I could see it. The owner kept denying it and insisted that what I was smelling was not mold but the small bouquet of flowers that I bought to decorate the dining room table. After a week of back and forth, unpleasant emails, and more hassle than necessary, we decided to cut our loses and abandon ship. I had to act fast and find a replacement since the apartment for the second half of our stay was occupied. Luckily, I found a really lovely place that was available but in three days, so rather than look for something else, we decided to stay in a hotel and move to the lovely apartment once it became available.

We chose the Mendeli, a lovely boutique hotel between Ben Yehuda and Hayarkon streets. We found the close proximity to the beach to be a huge bonus since we have gotten used to our morning and evening beach walks.

The lobby of the hotel is small as the space is shared with Mashya restaurant, one of my favorite dining spots in Tel Aviv.

We found the staff of the hotel to be very pleasant, professional, and accommodating. They went out of their way to get our room cleaned and ready, helped us with our luggage (we had bags of food, some bedding, and kitchen stuff), and were generally informative.

This was our Deluxe room.

The bed and the pillows were very comfortable. I like when a hotel provides pillows of different firmness since my husband likes to sleep on an uncomfortably cement-like pillow while I enjoy a soft cloud-like cushion.

There were no drinks in the fridge. Was that a mistake or did they not have any confidence in my self control.

The water pressure in the shower was terrific.

This was our son's Standard room. It was totally fine for him, but I found it a bit claustrophobic. It was quite small, but who really goes to Tel Aviv to sit in a hotel room?

The wonderful bonus of staying at the Mendeli Street Hotel is the breakfast at Mashya; I believe that breakfast is included in the cost of most rooms at the hotel. Mahya offers breakfast, lunch and dinner, so one does not have to stay at the hotel to enjoy this delicious start of the day.