Herbert Samuel Hod Dead Sea Hotel

We came to the Herbert Samuel Hod Dead Sea Hotel to celebrate my birthday and enjoy a relaxing spa day. The spa treatments were outstanding—the therapists were warm, professional, and made the experience truly special. The pool and facilities were clean, calm, and very relaxing.

Overall we had a wonderful time but I had a major issue with the following situation:

We added lunch on to our day package using our miluim voucher, and that’s where the experience unfortunately took a turn. Before our treatments, we wanted to get drinks at the spa bar, but it was closed. We were told to go upstairs to the hotel bar. When I asked about cocktails, the woman working there snapped that she doesn’t make cocktails, only the bartender coming at 3 does. When I came back to pay for my drink and my husband’s coffee, she rudely said “I know!” when I pointed him out—unnecessarily sharp for a hospitality setting.

We then went straight to lunch. I was wearing swim shorts, a shirt over my bathing suit, and a spa robe —modest and very typical attire for a spa guest, especially when lunch is part of the spa day package. There were no signs or staff at the entrance to say otherwise. Everyone there was in very causual clothing, shorts, jeans and t-shirts, nothing formal. Mid-meal, the same woman from the bar came over and told me I couldn’t wear a swimsuit or robe there. A manager followed and gave me a difficult time in front of everyone, claiming he had already told me that (he hadn’t—he wasn’t even there when we arrived). I was embarrassed and shocked at how poorly it was handled.

The spa staff later said when we told them what happened, “Wouldn’t one think for themselves that it’s not appropriate?” only after when we said our issue is with how it was handled, she agreed. But in many nice hotels in Israel, it’s totally normal to eat in spa attire if you’re coming straight from the pool or treatment. This hotel even had an outdoor enclosed seating area off the pool—they could have easily and politely offered that option instead of making me feel like I wasn’t being modest.

It’s a shame, because the actual spa experience was really lovely, but the lack of hospitality, poor communication, and unnecessarily harsh behavior during lunch really clouded what should have been a 100% relaxing birthday.

The room was old but preserved ok.
Good beach access. SPA was ok (basic) but the food was the worst I have ever seen! Worst ever from all the hotels/hostels I have visited. Didn’t expect that from this chain.