THE DAN PANORAMA HOTEL IN JERUSALEM

Long time readers of this blog know that I always stay at the Dan P when I am in Israel. I have long maintained that the hotel is my home in Israel. The hotel is a wonderful place to stay- the rooms are lovely, the staff incredible, the food excellent, and all around a great place.

Breakfast at the hotel is the usual Israeli hotel extravaganza. Everything is fresh and quite tasty. The choices are amazing, seemingly without limit. We order cafe hafuch (cappuccino) every day and enjoy it with breakfast. In addition, the omelet we so enjoy is delivered to our table without our even having to ask. See, at the Dan P, once they know you, they remember you and remember your likes and dislikes. The dining room staff is extremely helpful and attentive and friendly. Huge smiles are the order of the day as you enter the dining room.

Back at the front desk, Issam Habbash rules over the realm with the love of a beloved uncle. Issam is a most gregarious fellow who watches over his guests, remembers their names and is available for any kind of help. Once when he arranged private transportation for us to some place, he phoned the driver several times during the day to see how we were managing. When it comes to Israel, there seems to be no limit to Issam’s knowledge of the place.

The rest of the front end staff is equally friendly and helpful, too. The behind the scenes staff are stars in their own right. Over the years as we have stayed at the Dan P so many times, we have met many of the “inside” staff. We love the fact that most mornings, Yehuda Kraus is in the dining meeting and greeting his guests. Other staff members do the same. We have not had one single day here when we were not greeted with a big boker tov (good morning) by staff members.

The house keeping staff is conscientious and do an excellent job of maintaining the rooms. Our room is always spotless. These hard working people remain mostly invisible, yet they are, in good measure, a gauge of the hotel’s success.

At the moment, the hotel is undergoing lobby and dining room reconstruction. Everyone here seems to be most apologetic about the work interfering with guests’ comfort, but the truth is that it really does not impact on anyone’s comfort. In fact, we can’t wait until our next trip to see how it all turns out.

We love the Dan P. As we always say- there may be fancier hotels, but no one does it better than the Dan P.

As always, we thank them for a great stay.