As many Israelis are deciding in which hotel they wish to spend Rosh Hashanah, some frum advocates are advising people to think twice before opting to spend the holy days in Tel Aviv since many hotels compel guests to check out during the afternoon hours, even on Shabbos. Those who decide to head for Tel Aviv are urged to make arrangements to avoid chilul Yomtov.
In the past, some Shomer Shabbos guests have been compelled to leave their rooms on Shabbos, remaining in the lobby during the afternoon and evening hours, while other agree to pay a much higher rate for the privilege of remaining until after Shabbos.
Apparently there are a growing number of complaints, prompting the Tel Aviv Religious Council to turn to the city’s hoteliers, asking they modify their checkout policy to avoid chilul Shabbos.
Some guests told the Tel Aviv Rabbinate that even when they offered to pay additional money to remain in a room until the end of Shabbos, they were compelled to leave, with the hotel explaining they must prepare the room for the next guest and waiting until the night will leave them with a vacant room.
Kiryat Arba resident Peretz Dagan, who canceled his reservations a number of months ago, is calling on Tel Aviv Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau to address the situation.
Eli Ziv, the head of the Tel Aviv Hotel Association explains it is not an issue of Shabbos, but one of permitting hotels to operate as required. He explained one must expect to pay for the time one spends in a hotel room. It is regular practice to check out during the afternoon and those wishing to spend the entire Shabbos should make appropriate arrangements in advance.
In one case reported by Ynet, a guest was compelled to pay NIS 400 for an additional 90 minutes so she would not be compelled to violate the Shabbos.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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4 Responses
Yechiel, why don’t you give credit to the site that had the ORIGINAL source material for this post? (Ynetnews.com)
Why would anyone expect otherwise? If you stay till after Shabbos you should expect to pay for that night; how do you expect the hotel to sell the room at 9 or 10 pm? If you don’t want to pay for the extra night, I don’t see what’s the problem with leaving the room at the normal check-out time, and leaving your luggage with the front desk until after Shabbos.
If you know that you have to stay until motze shabbos, you pay for the extra hours when you check in.
No one is asking you to be mechallel shabbos.
If the hotel has a policy that you have to check out during the day, book it for two nights!!
this is a practice of hotels around the world. In similar situations i have simply paid the hotel extra to remain until after shabbos. They have checkout times so their next guests can come in.