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Yossi Wircer welcomes Shimon Peres
To
the new Sheraton City Tower
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HERATON made a wise move in
opening Israel’s first “smart hotel” in Ramat Gan.
Instead of locating a new habitat on the traditional hotel row on the
Tel Aviv beach, congested as it is with tourists, Sheraton built a new
structure on the other side of the city, in the suburb of Ramat Gan.
“This particular area was
desolate,” said Yossi Wircer, Sheraton Moriah Israel area
manager. “There was nothing but garages here.”
The municipality decided to turn
this part of town into a viable commercial center. Tax incentives drew
business here. With new construction, the area evolved into the glittering
Diamond Exchange District. High tech facilities followed, including
software companies such as Check Point and John Brice. Even the South
Africa embassy moved in.
Three years ago, Sheraton and
Koor Industries launched Sheraton Israel with five hotels. (Today there
are 12 in the country.) Wircer helped develop new properties, including
the purchase of the Moriah chain and the building of City Tower of which
he is now general manager.
As the Diamond District developed
with additional commercial buildings, it became an exclusive complex that
attracted businessmen from around the globe. Wircer conceived of City
Tower as a home away from home for the traveling businessman. So it was
essential that his new hotel be a “smart hotel.”
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Yossi Wircer and waitress help
Nina
Boxer at breakfast buffet
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Hotels usually have a business
center where a guest may use the fax, copy machine or do other office
activity. A “smart hotel” makes every guest room a business center by
installing an all-in-one HP fax, copier, e-mail scanner, laser printer
plus an outlet for a computer. The large office desk has a two-line
speakerphone with built-in modem jack for easy laptop hookup.
This makes it so convenient
for the businessman on the road, who can communicate with his home office
at any time of the day or night – in his pajamas. You don’t have to
get dressed and come down to a business center.
You have the comforts of home and
the facilities of an office. Now that’s smart!
The hotel, opened last September,
has 168 rooms on the first 17 floors. There are seven conference rooms, a
health club, and the attractive Arugula restaurant overlooking the heated
outdoor pool and Jacuzzi. Many on the staff are young, outgoing and
enthusiastic.
Floors 18 to 46 are condos that
will be for sale starting in April. A one-bedroom suite will go for
$260,000. There is a separate lobby and elevators to the apartments. All
hotel services are available to the residents.
City Tower got off to a superb
start under the direction of Yossi Wircer. A Tel Aviv native, Wircer
served in the Special Forces, and then worked as a security officer with
EL AL. He stayed in the best hotels all over the world; that experience
serves him well today.
He recalls the time in 1970 when his platoon spent a month in Jordan hunting down
terrorists. His platoon took over the village of Safi & Fifi,
abandoned by the inhabitants fearful of terrorists.
“King Hussein knew of our
movements,” Wircer said. “He approved because he too felt threatened
by the terrorists.”
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Taking care of business
in a Sheraton Smart Room
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One night the guard on duty was
startled. He heard noises and began shooting. Then silence. In the morning
the soldiers found a dead horse. A newborn colt stood nearby.
“Apparently the horse made the
noise while giving birth,” Wircer said, “and that caused the guard to
open fire.”
The platoon was under strict
orders not to take anything from the village, not even an orange. But the
22-year-old commander wanted to take the baby horse home to his kibbutz in
the Galil. When Gen. Ariel Sharon, then head of the southern
command, came for a visit, the soldiers tried to hide the horse. Sharon
saw it and ordered them to leave it behind.
“We put the horse in a
vehicle, covered with tarpaulin, and drove back across the border,”
Wircer said with a large grin. “Moshe Dayan, and Chief of Staff Chaim
Bar Lev and Sharon were waiting to greet us. We managed to sneak that
horse right under their noses.”
To
make a reservation online for the Sheraton City Tower in Ramat Gan go to www.Sheraton.com.
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