Herods Hotel Tel Aviv by the Beach in Tel Aviv

I am very disappointed with my stay at Herods Tel Aviv. When we arrived we were told we were given an upgrade which was very nice since we did not even ask for one. However if our room was an upgrade I’m afraid to see the room we were supposed to get. First of all the hallways are in desperate need of a renovation. The carpets, walls and doors are in such poor shape it felt like we were in a dump. Next we are to our room (816) which is right next door to an area under construction! How could they put any guest next to all that noise! The room needs a paint job, the built in furniture is banged up, paint chipping. There was a rusty garbage can in the bathroom - such an easy fix but obviously the management could not care less. We very much appreciated that when we asked for a room change we were given one immediately. The new room was better. It did look fresher and with better lighting, however the furniture is still banged up. The lighting in the bathroom is very dim making it difficult to put on make up or shave. It was not at the standard of hotel we are used to and this extremely disappointing. To cap of our stay we were charged the VAT because I have Israeli citizenship even though I have never lived here. We asked to change the reservation to my husband’s name but they said it was too late and there was nothing to be done except pay the tax. The woman serving me was not even kind about it. She told me I should renounce my citizenship if I don’t want these problems in the future. We had a food order charged to the room - good customer service would have been to give us that for free. We have been told that tourism is down in Israel, maybe better customer service would improve some of the situation.