R48 hotel: Tel Aviv's top luxury boutique stay with unmatched design and service - review

When I asked a colleague to recommend a hotel where my wife and I could celebrate our 36th (“double chai”) wedding anniversary, my colleague didn’t hesitate. “The R48,” he replied. “It’s probably the best hotel I’ve ever stayed at – not just in Israel but anywhere in the world!”

After our recent stay, I would have to concur.

The R48 Hotel and Gardens, located at 48 Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv (hence the name) is an 11-room boutique hotel with a meticulously designed interior ensconced in a classic Bauhaus-style building that had been, for many years, an abandoned eyesore used by drug dealers and the homeless.

No more.

In 2012, Canadian Jewish billionaire couple Heather Reisman (founder and CEO of Indigo Books and Music) and Gerald Schwartz (chairman of private equity firm Onex) bought the building, which is one of 4,000 or so boxy Bauhaus structures across the city that have earned Tel Aviv its UNESCO World Heritage status, along with its nickname, “the White City.”

Reisman and Schwartz already owned the building next door, housing the HESEG Foundation, which provides free university tuition to lone soldiers in Israel. Never having run a hotel before, the Canadians partnered with Ruti and Mati Broudo, owners of the R2M Group, a key player in Tel Aviv’s tourist and culinary scene.

R2M operates restaurants, bars, live music venues and other properties including Coffeebar Express, Herzl 16 and the Montefiore boutique hotel.

The R48, which took 10 years to refurbish, opening in 2022, is the crème de la crème of the growing R2M hospitality empire. “The idea was to feel like you were going to your best friend’s house,” Reisman told Azure Magazine in 2023. That is, if your best friend’s house sports rooms that start at around $2,000 a night.

The R48 experience starts before you even arrive.

From reception to room

“Send us a WhatsApp 10 minutes before you get here and we’ll wait for you on the street,” wrote Arielle, the cheery front desk manager who made aliyah 15 years ago from North America. And indeed, she and valet/bellman Max were there to take our car and our luggage – a nice touch given there’s no parking on Rothschild.

Arielle didn’t just check us in and point out the way to the elevator; she walked us to our suite and explained all the hi-tech devices we’d need to operate. Those included iPad screens to control the lights, air conditioning, and blackout shutters; instructions on how to “cast” one’s laptop or iPhone to one of the two flat-screen TVs; and how to operate the pièce de résistance – the suite’s Japanese toilet. Open the bathroom door and the toilet lid automatically rises as the unit gives itself a quick rinse. The seat is heated and there are three cleaning settings: spray, pulse, and air dry.

To top it off, there’s also a second bathroom, truly the height of luxury.

The minibar was more of a maxibar with its three drawers stuffed with drinks and snacks. On the dining-room table, two of the most delicious blueberry muffins awaited us, in addition to a bottle of wine, a tray of finger sandwiches, olives, and some tasty and slightly pickled cucumbers.

We stayed in the Garden Suite, a mid-level room for the R48. But there was nothing “mid” about this room, which at 80 sq. m. was larger than our first apartment in Israel. At NIS 6,400 a night – the equivalent of a month’s rent – it’s more than the Bauhaus Suite (at “just” NIS 3,500) but less than the penthouse (starting price: NIS 10,500).

The furniture in the suite – and throughout the hotel – is from Liaigre (the studio of French architect Christian Liaigre), featuring tulipwood, assamela, and walnut. The tranquil garden outside the front lobby was helmed by Dutch landscape designer Piet Oudolf, who also planned New York’s High Line elevated linear park.

When we visited, the country was in the midst of the nerve-wracking “waiting period” before Hezbollah’s and Iran’s threatened retaliation following Israel’s targeted assassinations in Beirut and Tehran. We debated for days whether it was prudent to take a vacation in Tel Aviv, the presumed epicenter of any attack. Our compromise was to stay close to the hotel and its bomb shelter. Rather than explore the city, we lounged around the foliage-rimmed rooftop pool.

For breakfast, don’t expect the classic Israeli buffet with endless fish, cheese, and eggs. The buffet is served at your table. There were more of those delectable muffins, various types of bread and rolls, and omelets with a mound of smoked salmon on the side. Even without the all-you-can-eat ambiance, we still walked away stuffed.

It’s not often that an elevator is a tourist attraction, and the one at R48 is something special. When the team at AN+ Architects was working on the design, one of the original stairwells was beyond repair. In its place, they built a 360-degree glass lift that’s essentially an entire room, complete with a couch and an enormous book of Annie Liebowitz photographs. The hotel is peppered with art from well-known Israeli artists, including Ori Gersht, Tal Shochat, and Anis Ashkar.

If I had to come up with any complaints, there would but one: The windows weren’t particularly soundproof in our suite, so the sounds of the city crept in (and every garbage truck sounded to me like an air raid siren).

So, is the R48 “the best hotel in the world?” It’s certainly top of my list. For your next visit to Tel Aviv, make sure it’s on yours.

The writer was a guest of the hotel.