Model of Isrotel Bereshit
Luxury in the crater
Isrotel Bereshit Hotel, slated to open at end of 2010, will be luxury resort on edge of Ramon Crater that will offer high-end services to its guests. Crater residents oppose hotel, but hotel managers promise not to harm surrounding areas or livelihood of locals
Guests will be able to arrive at the hotel in their private helicopters. A bellboy will await them on the landing pad in a golf cart to take them to the reception where they will pay about $400 a night, after which they will be escorted to their rooms that overlook the desert landscape.
This may sound like a description of an exotic destination spot, but in fact, this will be the new reality in Isrotel Bereshit Hotel now being built on the cliffs of the Ramon Crater overlooking its breathtaking views. The hotel is planned to be the most stately and luxurious in Israel, and potentially with the best views as well.
The hotel in the construction stage (Photo: Albertos)
The Isrotel chain had to overcome many hurdles before embarking on building the hotel, which will be located on the lip of Ramon Crater. Nature lovers claimed that the hotel would spoil the view. Furthermore, some claimed that the hotel would hurt the livelihood of residents of nearby town Mitzpe Ramon because the crater is considered a national resource.
Isrotel CEO Rafi Sadeh emphasized the importance the chain places on preserving the environment and the view, saying that the whitewashing of the walls and the pool and everything else in the hotel will be done in a manner that will blend in with the natural environs.
A model of one of the hotel's rooms. No corners cut on pampering
"Even the vegetation on location will only be unexaggerated, local desert plants," explained Sadeh. "In conjunction with the Jewish National Fund and the local council, a grove will be planted at the entrance to act as a green lung. In addition, the hotel will renovate Mitzpe Ramon's tennis courts so that they may also serve the hotel's guests. In addition, a public promenade will be built along the edge of the crater that will also blend in with the area landscape."
Once all opposition was removed, building commenced on the hotel. The building stage is expected to be prolonged by efforts to ensure the hotel blends in with the natural landscape and use of experimental materials meant to bring an innovative solution to the desert's harsh climate conditions, such as the large temperature differential between day and night, strong winds, and unforgiving sun. As such, the hotel construction, which will cost NIS 150 million (about $37 million), is slated to conclude at the end of 2010.
Hotel units. Simulation of Isrotel Bereshit
The hotel will have 121 units divided between dozens of small houses. Each house, most of which will be two storeys, will contain four units. The first floor of each house will have a pool that can be converted into a jacuzzi. The pools will be heated by solar power in the winter.
The crater will be seen from the bedroom and bathroom of each of the units. Stone and wood will be the most prominent design elements of the units, and the hotel as a whole.
With local flair
The project's interior designers are a British couple who have under their professional belt the design of about 200 hotels throughout the world. The pair did not hold back on any details that would spoil guests in their rooms, such as advanced home theater systems and espresso machines. The design emphasis is on modern-contemporary, combined with local materials. For instance, beside each bed will be a night table made from a tree trunk with artistic pieces made by local Bedouins in conjunction with the Joe Alon Center for Bedouin Culture.
The hotel restaurant will offer a menu of local Arab-Bedouin flavors. The restaurant will be open to guests of the hotel and to outside visitors alike.
Simulation of the hotel's restaurant
Isrotel Bereshit will also have a 12-room spa offering its guests spa services.
The presidential suite
The presidential suite will be of a level of luxury unprecedented in Israel. The structure will be 200 square yards on the edge of the crater.
The suite, itself a little villa, will be built in a modular format such that it can be rented as one, two, or three units. Each unit will be connected by a walking bridge. Each one of the units, in addition to full wash room facilities in each, will have an outdoor shower appended to it, something typically offered by luxury hotels in the Far East.
