“You are confused, we are not on vacation”: the hotel in Eilat that said goodbye to the evacuees

“It was really difficult for them to get the service at the hotel,” recalls Ran Ahinoam, manager of the Yisrotel Red Sea Hotel in Eilat, a hotel where evacuees who left the Gaza Strip came in the days after the October 7 massacre. The hotel managed by Ahinoam was perhaps the most prominent of those that opened their doors immediately after Black Sabbath, in view of the huge flow of evacuees that came from the surrounding settlements. He was “privileged” to host within its walls the members of the Kerem Shalom and Nir Oz kibbutz – the kibbutz that suffered the heaviest blow on that terrible Shabbat. The beginning was obviously not easy, neither for the evacuees nor for the hotel employees themselves who were stunned.This is how Ahinoam describes one of his first meetings with the envelope evacuees: “At breakfast on October 9, which was the first meal, one of the kibbutz elders came to me. ‘Sir, are you the CEO of the hotel? Say, who did you make this breakfast for?’ ‘What do you mean?’, I answered him, ‘this is all for you’. So he clarified to me: ‘You are confused, we are not on vacation, absolutely not on vacation. We don’t need pancakes and pizzas’. He looked at me and said: ‘We don’t need that much. Cheese, salad and eggs will suffice. Thank you very much and peace’. Little by little amazing relationships were forged with them. And these are people who didn’t want to see us cleaning their rooms. They cleaned by themselves and didn’t want the waiters to serve, so they got up and cleared themselves. It was really difficult for them to receive the classic service at the hotel.”

Kibbutz atmosphere

And so they, the kibbutzniks, occupied the hotel as a temporary shelter until the beginning of January. “There was a kibbutz atmosphere here. They walk barefoot and the children are on scooters. All in all, they are very modest people and they also took care to maintain the hotel. But their kibbutzism was mainly expressed in the fact that they wanted to do as much as possible by themselves, even take turns in the kitchen, and not see too many people working for them. But one moment Ahinoam will not be able to forget: “There were all kinds of moments that surprised us in terms of the needs of these guests. For example, they asked for books to arrive at the hotel and we didn’t understand. In the end we realized that they have a burning smell that they can’t get out of their heads.”

“Slowly, amazing relationships were forged with them. And these are people who didn’t want to see us cleaning their rooms and didn’t want the waiters to serve them, so they got up and cleared out themselves”

And so, Ahinoam’s hotel overnight became one of the most famous in the country, one that is already recognized in the world: “Three and a half months that they were here and there was a lot of media activity around them from all over the world. A lot of people came to rub shoulders and all the sadness that was here, so the feeling is, You know, we and the walls here did a lot of things, and what’s left of it now? So you see guests entering the hotel today and saying, ‘What a piece, the first time I’m here, but I recognize the hotel from Channel 12.’ , from the news and from all the locations they filmed here’. It’s ingrained in people. It’s like you buy an expensive bottle of wine and there’s really nothing special about it, but there’s a story behind it.”

And what is life like now?

“Since then, we are constantly full of guests and the demand is crazy. But the hotel has remained such a sacred aura, and for those who believe in karma, this is important. During this time of freedom, we were both in Nir Oz and also visited the community in Kermi Gat (Kermi Gat neighborhood in Kiryat Gat, to which Nir refugees recently moved) Oz – YC), so we are still in touch. But we still have something like ten evacuated rooms – some from the south and some from the north. You don’t feel them at all and are preparing for Passover. and suddenly work normally. Suddenly you are serving guests. It is to return to the routine, the routine of complaints, the routine of ‘Why is it like this? And why is it like that?’ But okay, these are our lives.”

 

 

 

What else is left since then?

“I can tell you that among the employees, the sensitivity and the level of service have greatly improved. And suddenly every request from a guest takes on some kind of dimension of extra importance. The treatment is more thorough, perhaps, and sensitive. It could be situations related to a certain sensitivity of children. Or someone who lost something. There was some A guest who lost a piece of jewelry with a sentiment. Before that we would say ‘well, here is the Almighty’ and do what needs to be done and in the end find it or not. Now it’s as if everyone feels mobilized and wants to deliver the goods, to see the guest smiling at the end and not leaving in sorrow. This is the most tangible example of not wanting to see sorrow here and not wanting to see disappointment. We’ve seen enough of that here.”

“I can tell you that the employees’ sensitivity and level of service have improved. We don’t want to see sorrow here, we’ve seen enough of it”

“Not just shampoo for carpets”

In January, as mentioned, during the period when the special chapter in Eilat’s hotel history ended, the hotel staff set about renovating and repairing a long list of damages that had accumulated and also refreshing themselves a little. Such silences are commonplace in hotels. Still, Ahinoam emphasizes, this time it was a little different. “This is not just a normal housekeeping job of shampooing the carpet. It is true that there was no renovation of breaking the hotel, but a very deep treatment. If it is deep cleaning work or paint, replacement of upholstery and polishing in everything related to furniture. The dogs in the hotel also did all kinds of damage In the furniture, especially in the beds, and the furniture in the lobby, we just changed the upholstery.

“The hotel starred in the media. Today you see guests who enter the hotel and say, ‘What a scene, it’s my first time here, but I recognize the hotel from the news'”

 

 

 

A particularly unusual preparation that was required of her was the need to adapt the hotel to guests who do not consider a five-star hotel: the dogs that the evacuees brought with them. “It was very unusual. At first it was very difficult to accept it. But of course the time order made us understand and connect quickly. They had food and everything. But it was the most unlike a hotel where a dog walks around. And I remember that by the time the hotel closed there was no one And there was a family that stayed with one dog. They said, ‘What, there’s a dog here? We’re not staying here.’ Here after everything we’ve been through… it was really funny.”

What will the summer look like for you and in Eilat in general?

“An explosion. We see the trend. We closed a sale on all hotels in Eilat for Passover already a week ago. Crazy. But, of course, only to Israelis.”