Villa Brown Jerusalem

I have had the privilege of staying in some of Israel's best hotels. Sadly, Villa Brown does not make the cut. It has the air of a place that promises to, but, during our stay, it undelivered on almost every criterion. The disappointment began at check in, which was chaotic owing to the desk being manned by one staff member who, whilst juggling multiple guests and phone calls, had no choice to leave us standing waiting around for quite some time. We were then shown to our room, the second disappointment: like other reviewers have rightly said, this was very small and actually lacked decoration. It felt like a Middle Eastern Travelodge, i.e. if it weren't for the wonderful Jerusalem stone walls it would have been distinctly unremarkable... nothing 'boutique' here. In addition to its diminutive size, little things, such as a 'double room' having only one chair on the balcony, made me feel that the room was actually unsuitable for more than one guest. The Cave Bar downstairs was another example of something that did not seem to have been properly thought out. Although beautiful, there were, for example, no tables for us to put our drinks on. Worse yet, staff seemed totally untrained: on one occasion I had to open a bottle of wine for a bartender who began attacking the cork with a knife. We also found it very weird that the 'complimentary wine' only made an appearance after we had paid for other drinks: is the wine free or not? Make this clear for your guests or you just breed confusion and possibly double standards. Breakfast was overall so, so disappointing. First, the waitress simply unloaded a selection of mezze on our table and walked off. The correct thing to do is explain to your guests what each of these small dishes are: one of us is vegetarian and so had no idea what was and was not suitable. As it stood these mezze were actually quite unpleasant tasting, despite being pretty to look at. Many were way too salty. The mozzarella omelette, on the other hand, tasted of absolutely nothing... it was so, so bland and totally anaemic in colour. What are your chefs thinking? Have they no pride? Really, sort this one out as soon as you can... there's so much you can do here. Salt and pepper on tables for bland omelettes, if you must keep it on the menu, would be a start. Waiting staff looked really miserable and unhappy. When I asked for a glass of water with my breakfast (having already ordered a coffee) I was told "you will have to pay for it". Quite incredible to hear water is not included with breakfast... what kind of luxury hotel is this? If you think you will be offered fresh orange juice (as in almost all other hotels in the country), you can forget that! It is really worth emphasising the miserable staff point: none of them seemed happy, properly trained or like they wanted to be there. Indeed, every time we entered the hotel, the receptionist (despite us having to walk directly past him each time) did not once raise his head to acknowledge us. Most bizarrely, water is only provided to guests "on the first night", as though guests only experience thirst on the first night of their stay. When we asked for some water, such a terrible ''hoo ha'' ensued with the receptionist who was outright rude... there "was no water"... "only at the bar"... "you will have to pay"... and so on. I thought the whole thing was really, really weird, and we headed to bed making our disappointment really clear. I was waiting for a knock on the door from a staff member, thinking someone would have the common sense to just bring us some water (and avoid the disgruntlement that leads to reviews such as this one), but that expectation was dashed. We were then woken in the middle of the night by someone hoovering (vacuuming for our American friends) outside the door. Terrible! Overall, Villa Brown is a totally haphazard operation. I suggest management invest a lot more time in training staff and reviewing standards. Breakfast needs attention, rooms require a rethink, and, most importantly, staff culture needs a complete overhaul - a smile goes a long way, and I am only too happy to share my thoughts about this hotel (i.e. that it is a major disappointment) because no staff member did anything to make me feel otherwise. We received a 15% discount at the end of our stay from a generally conciliatory manager, but he should not have tried to justify the "one bottle of water per stay" rule. Just sort it out and give your guests water. It is not gold. We will definitely not be back and advise other visitors to Jerusalem (a wonderful and incredibly special place) to stay at one of its other hotels - Bezalel, for example, is a small boutique hotel with wonderful staff, complimentary drinks and far more comforting rooms. And, by the way, if you think I seem bitter or an unpleasant person, you can look at my other reviews. I have written many of the years and I take pride in being fair, objective and impartial, not unpleasant... you have a LOT of work to do here!

My husband and I recently returned from a 7 night stay at Villa Brown. It is a beautifully restored mansion, with very chic and modern decor. It is within walking distance to most the major sites: Old City, Mahane Yehuda Market, Jaffa Street, and the Mamilla Mall. PROS: --Staff was fantastic! Amro at the front desk went out of his way to help us several times (including when I left my iPhone in the taxi from the airport). I don't have the names of the others that worked the front desk, but they were all very professional, kind, and helpful. We were given a complimentary massage and the 2 massueses were phenomenal! Lastly, the Cave Bar attendant was extremely friendly and took time out his day to answer all of my questions about Israel! The manager checked with us on several occasion to ensure we were happy with our stay. --Breakfast. The breakfast is worth every penny. Every thing I ate was superb! The staff at breakfast always gave great suggestions. --Location! Central location was perfect for all of our needs. --Classy decor and design --Molton Brown toiletries...I needn't say more! --Cave Bar is a very cool place to unwind and listen to good music after a long day. Very extensive cocktail menu. --Free Wifi--usually worked pretty well with occasional slow downs --Personal but not intrusive experience of boutique hotel CONS: --My biggest issue here was lack of space. Since we were there 7 nights we brought 2 suticases (so many coats and shoes!!) and 2 carry-ons. While I knew the rooms would be small, I wasn't prepared for the complete lack of storage options. Yes, there was a bar to hang garments over the fridge, but it was not high enough to let the clothes hang freely. Had we been here for a long weekend, the space would not have been an issue. . There was no closet or nook really to store these things. I will admit, that I'm a bit of a neat freak, so it was hard for me to my things in such disarray. --The bathroom, while quite big in comparison to the room, had a few issues. Our first day, the shower drain was clogged and water leaked all over the floor. They had to send a plumber to fix the problem. But they did it right away and the problem was solved. The bathroom just seemed to maintain a mildewy smell throughout the stay. The grout/tile on the floor looked pretty worn for being a new hotel. --The bed linens. There was only an ill-fitted flat sheet to cover the mattress. I'm not sure that the linens were changed during our trip. By the end of the week the sheets were looking a little rough and missing that freshness. Overall: Overall, a beautiful hotel--modern and chic, with an exceptional staff. I truly enjoyed our stay and would love to have the opportunity to return!