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How Do I Choose the Best Kosher Hotel?

Lainie Petersen

Last Modified Date: February 20, 2024

When choosing a kosher hotel, it is important to consider the standards of its kitchen, its location, and its other amenities. In addition, you will also want to consider the price of the hotel and its convenience to transportation and the places that you would like to visit while on your trip. Finally, you will also want to understand how well the kosher hotel maintains observance of the Sabbath and other laws and traditions.

Individuals who adhere to a kosher diet may have difficulty finding a hotel that serves food that meets appropriate standards. For this reason, kosher hotels go through a very long process in preparing their kitchen for the preparation of kosher foods. The hotel must then hire a mashgiach, someone who is responsible for overseeing adherence to kosher standards, to work in the kitchen and inspect all food shipments that arrive to ensure that they are kosher. If adherence to kosher dietary laws is extremely important to you, you may wish to ask the hotel for information on how it maintains its kitchen.

If other forms of Jewish observance are important to you, ask about what the kosher hotel does to observe the Sabbath. Some hotels are rather lenient about labor performed during the Sabbath, while others are much more observant. For example, some hotels will not permit check-in or check-out on the Sabbath. They may also sharply restrict activities within the hotel and may even prepare food to be served to guests during the Sabbath so that no cooking is ever done on that day.

Other considerations include logistical matters. You should look at the location of the kosher hotel on a map see how close it is to airports or other transportation centers so that you can have an idea of how long a commute you will have between transportation and hotel. If you'll be visiting family on your trip, it is often convenient to have your hotel near to where they live. Business travelers will want to select a hotel that is close to those locations where they'll be spending the most time.

For your own comfort, investigate the reputation of the hotel and ask for information about its amenities. If anyone in your party has a disability, you may wish to find out whether the kosher hotel is accessible to individuals with mobility issues. Children often appreciate playgrounds, swimming pools, and game rooms, and many adults likewise appreciate sports and recreational activities.

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Discussion Comments

hamje32

November 21, 2011

@nony - I think it’s hard to divide the kitchen between kosher and non kosher specialties. As I understand it, kosher is something that extends beyond the menu to the whole kitchen itself, the utensils, how food is prepared, the training of the chefs.

The article talks about a kosher hotel observing the Sabbath as well. Clearly the commitment here is to a way of life that is entirely Jewish, not just a few items on the menu. Honestly I think they would have to be all Jewish establishments in parts of the city with an extremely high Jewish population, like you said.

nony

November 20, 2011

I’ve never been to a kosher hotel but I am curious as to why a hotel has to be completely kosher to serve up kosher cuisine? Perhaps I am a little naïve but I see the kosher menu as perhaps a sub menu, something like the vegetarian menu which is prepared for people who don’t eat meat.

I would think that a restaurant would be able to serve up their regular menu and their kosher menu at the same time. It seems that it would be a big commitment to make the entire kitchen a kosher kitchen, unless you lived in an area with a large Jewish population and they were your clientele.