The first room (402) was very dirty with ants all over the room. When we compalined several times they trasfered us to a different room (420) that had a very strong smell from the drainage so we did not sleep all night. When we complained about it in the morning they did nothing and did not even apologized.

Before we left we talked with the manager who did not seem to care and did not even apologized.

We travel a lot around the world and have been in many hotels and this by far was the worst. We have no intention of ever going back there.

This is our favorite hotel in all of Israel. We have stayed there 4 times.The grounds, rooms, main areas are all superb. The food, which is all grown or made onsite, is wonderful and tasty. We enjoyed the hottubs, pools and spa's also. The service is friendly and everyone speaks english. I consider this place to be a paradise!

On arrival we went to our room to find the rooms next door were being refubished and the paint fumes met us as we approached, inside the room we found not only could we hear the work in progress next door but above us they had a team of workmen building (Drilling, hammering etc). We went to reception and asked for the duty manager (Eti) who came and told us in 5 minutes the workmen would be finished this was at 12:30 at 18:00 the work men left for the day!
The following day the work men were back with gusto and so were we at the rececption desk, Eti informed us they were finishing off and then the project would be done - her attitude was disgusting she was simply not interested! At 16:00 we returned to reception and spoke with a lady by the name of Osnat she was extremelly helpful and brought the General manager to speak with us he apologised and removed the workers immediately.
Basically we were extremelly dissapointed this spa is part of the Relais & Chateux which is amazing as the standards are not what you would expect, the rooms are tired and shabby, the bathroom door did not close, the shower head attachment was broken so you have to hold the shower head in your hand - not exactly a power shower! In the bathroom you could clearly hear the neighbours conversation / sanitary movements!!!
The pool area has a table tennis table and as you lay on your lounger you are constantly bothered by either the racket of the players or the rustling under the lounger for the stray ball!!! The non smoking policy is a joke everywhere outside they have ashtrays. The outside pool area is extremelly crampt and people have to climb over each other to get to the rare empty lounger.
Children of young ages are present at the spa as guests, and on several occasions we were drenched whilst lying on the sun loungers as the children had decided to dive bomb into the pool!! The restaurant breakfasts - their are an awful lot of cheeses which is ok but after the 3rd day of the same breakfast it begins to be waring!! Dinner is slightly bland and the variety is extremelly limited. In your room you receive some nice pastries, a plate of organic fruit (mostly rotten) and a bottle of water which is ok. Service within the hotel is brief and not particullary friendly.
The Spa staff who book the treatments are not in the slightest bit interested in your requirements we booked a 1 hour Swedish massage and received a 45 min massage which was not exactly what we would class a Swediish massage basically alot of oil rubbed into the skin.
The hotel did offer 1 free spa treatment each for our troubles but as we were checking out the following day this was not exactly useful!!!! Yes the hotel is set in a lovely organic orchard but that is all I can say positive.

I had heard nothing but great things about this Israeli spa-getaway, but my experience proved to be very different from the word on the street.

There are two very popular spa resorts in Israel these days - Ya'arot Hacarmel and Mitze Hayamim. All I can say is - choose the other one. I've never met anyone who's ever been disappoint with Ya'arot Hacarmel.

Our first room (a mini suite) at Mitzpe was run down and stuffy, with a dirty rug, bug screen that didn't quite seal the window, and A/C that wasn't working. We were told to "understand that we are nestled in a natural surrounding" so we tried to suck it up until we found multiple spiders (which I caught and released) and then later a mouse - yes, that's right - a mouse in our room. We were moved to another indoor entry-room, but it was a downgrade as they were "all our of equivalent rooms."

The massage services were disappointing, as as the "gym," which is really just a shoddy fitness room. The food, though organic, was decent at best compared to any other spa I've ever been to, and although the resort claims to be a non-smoking resort and cell-phone free, there were astrays galore on the outdoor tables, and many folks inside were on their phones.

I will say that the guest lecturers were all great and interesting, as was the Friday night sing-along. However, service leaves much to be desired. This resort is trying to play in a field for which it is unqualified, as they do not know how to cater to the discerning traveler, and given their prices, they should urgently improve the quality of the accomodations, food, and most of all customer service.