How Jerusalem’s ‘PLO Hotel’ became Israeli tourists’ favorite spot

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If location is everything, there could hardly be a less probable destination for Israeli summer vacationers.

Just a few months ago, this was the epicenter of the violence that threatened to escalate to full-blown war in the Middle East. Clashes that began in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah – triggered by the threatened eviction of a group of Palestinian families from their homes – had sparked a wave of rioting that ripped through Israel’s mixed Jewish-Arab cities and set off the latest round of fighting between Israel and Hamas before a cease-fire was declared 11 days later. Sheikh Jarrah has since emerged as an international symbol of the Palestinian solidarity movement.

Yet barely a few blocks away from where all the action started in May, a small, 120-year-old luxury hotel has become a popular getaway for Israelis seeking rest and relaxation – or what many of the guests here describe as that feeling of being “out of the country” without having to board a plane.

The American Colony Hotel would once have been considered taboo for most Israelis. Not only because of its location in Arab East Jerusalem, a part of the city Jewish Israelis tend to avoid – whether out of safety concerns or because they don’t feel welcome here – but also because of its well-known reputation in the past as a hub for the top brass of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Indeed, the American Colony used to be known among Israeli officials as the “PLO hotel.”

But all that changed this summer. After being shuttered for 14 months because of the coronavirus pandemic – for the first time in its history – the American Colony reopened in June with a reduced staff. In rehiring workers who had been let go more than a year earlier, recounts Guy Lindt, the Swiss-born general manager, he assumed that occupancy would be relatively low – about 30 percent in June, and 40 percent in both July and August.

An aerial view of the pool at the American Colony Hotel in East Jerusalem.
Daniel Tchetchik

“But suddenly, reservations start pouring in, I guess because many Israelis had decided to forego travel abroad this summer,” he says. “The result was far beyond our expectations.”

In June, the 92-room hotel was 35 percent full, in July 68 percent, and in August, based on current reservations, it will be 80 percent full. “When you consider that before COVID, [during] most summers, we were typically between 40 and 50 percent full – that’s pretty amazing,” Lindt says.

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Before the pandemic, he adds, Israelis accounted for somewhere between 5 and 8 percent of the hotel’s guests, the vast majority of them coming from the United States and Europe. “Right now, Israelis make up 99.9 percent.”

The fact that Israelis are increasingly reluctant to travel abroad, given new quarantine requirements and the long list of destinations now off-limits, definitely explains why the American Colony may suddenly be popping up on their radar. But another factor behind the dramatic change in the composition of the clientele is the fact that foreigners, with rare exceptions, have been barred from Israel since the global pandemic hit.

It is safe to say that the American Colony Hotel is unlike any other in Jerusalem.
Daniel Tchetchik

Brushing up their Hebrew

Almost all staff at the American Colony are Palestinian, the vast majority from East Jerusalem. Many speak Hebrew, says Lindt, but to help those interested in brushing up on the language so that they can communicate better with the brand-new category of guests arriving this summer, the hotel is helping fund their Hebrew lessons.

Rana Ghishan, who has been working as a waitress at the American Colony for the past 17 years, hopes to start studying Hebrew next month. “Meanwhile, I’ve been picking up many of the words I need for work,” says the resident of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina. “For example, I now know how to say mazleg [fork], kar [cold], ham [hot], bevakasha [please] and toda [thanks].”

When asked if she senses any tension in the hotel between the Palestinian staff and the Israeli guests, Ghishan replies: “Of course not. The people in this hotel get along just fine. It’s between their governments that the tensions exist.”

During one recent visit, Israelis could be seen lounging around the American Colony pool, absorbed in their books and cellphones or in quiet conversation. If in the past they might have hesitated to speak Hebrew or read material in Hebrew, so as not to give away their nationality, that was clearly no longer the case.

Manager Guy Lindt at the American Colony Hotel in East Jerusalem.
Daniel Tchetchik

Few seemed aware that Sheikh Jarrah had once again that same day captured the world’s attention, with Israel’s Supreme Court due to issue its verdict within hours on the evictions. (Instead of ruling in the case, the court ended up proposing a compromise, yet to be approved, that would provide the Palestinian families with protected tenant status and allow them to remain in their homes.) As they rubbed themselves with sunscreen and ordered drinks from the bar, these Israeli vacationers seemed determined not to allow breaking international news – some of it happening, literally, in their backyard – to mar their summer holiday.

But the following morning, when a series of loud explosions disrupted their peace and calm, some appeared to wonder whether vacationing in a neighborhood that has become one of the latest flash points in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was a wise decision after all.

“What was that?” asked a startled swimmer, as she lifted her head from the water following the first big boom. The other guests seated around the pool seemed equally confounded.

Taking note of the panic on many faces, a friendly member of the hotel pool staff volunteered to calm down the crowd. What they were hearing, he explained in Hebrew, were fireworks set off by East Jerusalem students celebrating the successful completion of their high school graduation exams. It’s an annual ritual, he told them, a happy event. Reassured that they were not about to be caught in the cross fires of a new regional war, the Israeli guests quickly transitioned back into vacation mode.

Tourists relaxing by the pool at the American Colony Hotel. Staff have been surprised by how so many have opted to stay at the hotel all day.
Daniel Tchetchik

‘Totally charming’

Israelis who vacation at the American Colony are not particularly representative of the country’s Jewish population. As Lindt notes, it is the only five-star hotel in Jerusalem that is not kosher, which would immediately disqualify a relatively large segment of the public that observes kashrut.

Indeed, during several recent visits, no male guests wearing yarmulkes or women with the head-coverings commonly worn in Jewish religious circles could be seen on the premises. While there was no way to ascertain the political leanings of the clientele, it seemed safe to assume that Israelis who choose to vacation in the Arab part of the city would be of a more liberal bent. Moreover, based on random samplings of guests on recent visits, it would also seem that these days the hotel appeals much more to couples, particularly those seeking a romantic getaway, than to families.

Both in their 30s, Sergei and Maria Sherman say they were looking for a place to spend their first vacation alone since they became parents. “My preference was for a hotel that had a historic Jerusalem feel to it, and suddenly this place popped up during my search,” says the high-tech executive as he enjoys a light lunch with his wife at the hotel’s famous courtyard garden. He and Maria, a restaurateur, live in the central Israeli city of Givatayim and are expecting their second child.

Maria admits she did not know, however, that the American Colony was on the Arab side of the city. “I figured that out once we checked in,” she says.

They were planning to stay for one night, and so far, Sergei says, “I have no complaints. The place is totally charming.”

Tourists enjoying their meal at the American Colony Hotel in East Jerusalem.
Daniel Tchetchik

Ela Bauer and her husband Tal Berman, residents of Zichron Yaakov, were looking for a special place to celebrate his 60th birthday when they decided to fulfill a decades-old dream. “We almost never vacation in Israel,” says Bauer, a professor at the Seminar Hakibbutzim Teachers College. “And we never ever just go to a hotel for a vacation. We like to sail and hike and get out and around.”

Back in their undergrad days at the Hebrew University, she recounts, they often heard about the American Colony’s famed breakfast buffet and its English tea hour and promised themselves that one day, when they were no longer poor students, they would treat themselves to a night at the hotel so they could enjoy these culinary experiences.

“Because of the coronavirus, we’re not traveling abroad this year, so we figured this was our opportunity,” says Bauer. “If we don’t do it now, we won’t ever.” Despite having lived in Jerusalem for several years as students and another couple of years as a married couple, they never once stepped foot into the hotel until this summer. “My regret is that we only stayed one night,” Bauer says, summing up the experience.

Orly and Nati Fass, who live in a small community in the Hefer Valley, in the north, decided to splurge and spend two nights at the hotel to celebrate his 52nd birthday.

“We just got back from Italy two weeks ago, but we had our three kids with us so I wouldn’t exactly call it a vacation,” say Nati, vice principal of a school on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. “One of the reasons we chose this place was that we sensed it wouldn’t be full of families with kids.”

During the Passover holiday, Orly recounts, they visited East Jerusalem and felt perfectly comfortable in the Arab part of town. But that was before the area exploded in violence. “And it all started right here in Sheikh Jarrah,” the organizational consultant notes. “So I admit that when we walked around here last night, I did feel a bit nervous. The events of this past May really did take a toll on us.”

Alaa and Aline Sheheber, a young couple from Haifa, say they are probably not representative of most Israelis who come to this hotel. “We’re Arab,” volunteers Alaa, a high-tech executive.

Aline and Alaa Sheheber in the pool at the American Colony Hotel.
Daniel Tchetchik

He never even heard of the hotel, he says, until it popped up on a recent Hotels.com search. “We were looking for a place to celebrate my wife’s birthday, a small and intimate hotel, and when I saw the photos, I was completely sold.” Not knowing much when he checked in, Alaa admits he was a bit surprised to hear the staff speaking Arabic among themselves. “That really lifted my spirits, though I’m not sure that would necessarily be true for the other guests here,” he says.

Shachar Michael and his partner, who asked not to be named, are back at the American Colony for the second time in less than a month and a half. “Because we both have jobs that involve working with people, we didn’t want to fly abroad this summer and risk exposing ourselves to the coronavirus,” says Michael, a social worker. “We enjoyed our first stay so much that I decided this place, from now on, will be our official ‘house hotel.'”

The couple, who live in Tel Aviv, are taking advantage of the location to explore Jerusalem. “We generally like to go to hotels in big international cities where there’s stuff to do,” Michael says. “Most Tel Avivians turn up their noses when you mention Jerusalem, but what we’ve discovered is that there is so much to do here. It’s a fabulous city.”

This is not their first stay at the American Colony, but the last time Danielle Michlin and Nava Zeller were here must have been at least 25 years ago, they estimate. “We wanted to escape the humidity of Haifa and were looking for something different – not your typical modern hotel, but a place with ambience and charm,” says Michlin, when asked why the two pensioners chose the American Colony.

Noting that “Haifa is also a mixed city,” she says they were not the least bit hesitant to vacation in East Jerusalem.

Considering that foreigners aren’t allowed to enter Israel, the pair were not surprised to find the hotel full of Israelis. What did surprise them, pleasantly in fact, was the type of Israelis it drew. “They’re different,” says Michlin, offering no further explanation.

After spending a night here with his wife and three daughters, Oren Baron, a high-tech entrepreneur from Tel Aviv, is getting ready to check out. “We came to Jerusalem for three nights – two we spent on the western side of the city and one here because I thought it would be nice to experience some diversity,” he explains. Baron personally preferred the American Colony, noting that the Israelis at the hotel were “uncharacteristically subdued” – something he clearly considered to be a plus.

But his teenage daughter Noam says that walking around the eastern part of the city was uncomfortable for her, so she preferred the hotel on the western side of town. “It was strange to feel unsafe in my own country,” she says.

That is a sentiment probably shared by many Israelis given the precarious status of East Jerusalem. Although Israel did, indeed, annex this part of the city after it was captured in the 1967 Six-Day War, Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, for the most part, do not hold citizenship. And as far as most of the world is concerned, Sheikh Jarrah and all other Arab neighborhoods and communities beyond the Green Line remain occupied territory.

Noam Baron and her father Oren at the American Colony Hotel in East Jerusalem.
Daniel Tchetchik

Forget the sightseeing

Initially built as a palace for an Ottoman pasha and his four wives, the building that today houses the American Colony was purchased in the late 19th century by a group of devout Christians – Americans and Swedes – who had formed a commune in Jerusalem.

Their leaders were Horatio and Anna Spafford, a couple from Chicago, who had lost four young daughters in a shipwreck and had come to seek solace in the Holy City. While the daily management of the facility was handed over to the Swiss Gauer chain about 40 years ago, the hotel is still owned by descendants of the Spaffords, who remain closely involved in its operations.

The American Colony has long been the hotel of choice for foreign journalists covering Israel and the region, as well as a popular meeting place for Palestinian and Israeli officials. Indeed, some of the initial talks that eventually paved the way to the Oslo Accords in the early 1990s, and which were meant to lead to the establishment of an independent Palestinians state, were reportedly held here.

The hotel’s distinguished guests over the years have included T.E. Lawrence (aka Lawrence of Arabia), Winston Churchill, Bob Dylan and Philip Roth. John le Carre wrote one of his books while staying here, and Peter Ustinov filmed much of “Appointment with Death,” adapted from the Agatha Christie mystery novel, on the premises. Looking for a pleasant place to house guests in Jerusalem, Ustinov’s grandfather, a Jaffa-based hotelier, was the person who came up with the idea of turning the commune into a hotel right at the turn of the 20th century.

Jiries Fanous, the dining room manager who lives in the Old City, has worked at the American Colony for 16 years and speaks fluent Hebrew. But the Israeli guests flocking to the hotel this summer, he says, prefer to address him in English. “I guess it helps them feel that they’re really out of the country,” he surmises.

Fanous often gets asked whether it’s safe to walk to the Old City, which is just a short distance away from the hotel. “I always encourage our guests to walk rather than take a cab,” he says. “That’s because I really believe it’s the best way to get them to feel safe and secure in this part of the city.”

Much to his disappointment, though, most of the Israeli guests seem to have little interest in leaving the grounds. In fact, says Lindt, what has set this new crop of guests apart from the ones who frequented the hotel in pre-COVID times is not only that they all speak Hebrew, but that they also love being in the hotel all day.

“In the past, our guests would have breakfast here, then spend the rest of the day out sightseeing, before returning in the evening for dinner or drinks,” he relays. “Our guests this summer don’t want to leave, so it feels as if the hotel is even fuller than it actually is. Many of our Israeli guests see the hotel as a resort, and that’s forced us to adapt ourselves in terms of staff.”

Michlin and Zeller, the Haifa duo, are a case in point. The two haven’t left the hotel and say they have no intention of doing so during their two-day stay. “We’re not here to check off every box on the list of top things to do in Jerusalem,” declares Zeller. “We’re here to relax, and if you’ll excuse us, we have a massage appointment to get to.”

Danielle Michlin, left, and Nava Zeller at the American Colony Hotel in East Jerusalem.
Daniel Tchetchik