Ah, the joys of Pesach! The Seder plate. The choroset. Gotta love a good choroset. So many great recipes. Then, there’s the star of the show: the telling of the story of the Exodus. The 10 plagues. The splitting of the Red Sea. Rabbi Akiva telling the story all night long in Bnei Brak. It’s so awesome!
But before all that can begin, there’s the biggest job of Passover, and for many families, one of the biggest jobs of the year: Passover cleaning. It’s not easy. Do you have a blow torch to kasher your oven? Where do you get one anyway? Should you get a carpet cleaner this year? How many loads of laundry are you thinking? Six or more? Probably more.
It’s not easy. Which is why so many families and singles are opting for Passover resort vacations these days. You don’t have to get a blow torch. But it does bring up another Pesach tradition: the four questions (of Pesach vacations). Which Passover vacation should you choose? Should you stay local or go for the gold overseas? Should you choose a resort by the beach, or something more off the beaten track? And perhaps most importantly: How do you choose? By that, I mean, how can you be sure you’re making the best choice?
The best answer to these questions is to look at one of the Jewish travel websites. Unfortunately, until now, they’ve been mostly just advertisements. There hasn’t ever been any customer feedback. This year, one site is changing all that. Passoverlistings.com now includes user reviews.
Finally! It’s crazy that it’s taken this long to read real reviews from Passover vacation goers. Especially considering how long Yelp and Expedia have been around. How can you make an intelligent decision without looking at user reviews? Sounds impossible.
Don’t worry. On Passoverlistings, there are real, live user reviews of Passover resorts. You can finally look at what actual vacationers really thought. What was the food like? How were the rooms? What did they do well, and what needs more work? Finally there’s a website that gives this vital information.
The search features are excellent too. Want to search by geographic region? No problem. Looking for a beach experience? You got it. Want to compare amenities? Checkeroo. There are even blog postings, so you can dive into a longer read.
Suppose you’re a foodie, and you read this review about a Passover vacation in South Florida? “Breakfast had all the best freshest fishes, salads, cheeses, yogurts, cereals and egg/omelet stations. Afternoon pool side BBQ was amazing, run by the backyard BBQ pit boss. Besides the usual franks, sausages, hamburgers, and chicken, they rotated ribs, steaks, veal and lamb.” Getting hungry yet?
If you’re interested, that review is about the Kosherica Pesach Program at the Bonaventure Resort in Fort Lauderdale.
What if you’re looking to find a great vacation in the New York area? You might be interested to read about the FFH Events Callicoon Passover Program in New York, rumored to be the best value of any program out there. One vacationer kvelled about it: “From the meals that were out of this world…… to the inspiring shiurim……the overall Yom Tov spirit…..the achdus of the guests from near and far….the activities….the service….the ambiance…. I didn’t want to go home, I was having such a wonderful time.”
Sounds more helpful than just ad copy, doesn’t it?
Perhaps most importantly, if a resort has some sort of problem, from the bed service to the kashrut, odds are someone’s complained about it.
It looks like users really appreciate the service so far. One vacationer wrote: “I decided to use Passover listings as opposed to other Jewish websites because it was updated to the most recent information on all the hotels under one website so I could compare without having to do a ton of research that would take me weeks!”
Another wrote: “Thank God for Passover Listings! I’ve been to many Passover Resorts. My family loves it, and they’ve mostly been great. But a few years ago, we picked the wrong place. You don’t even want to know. It just wasn’t good. Now, with this service, I’m confident I’ll never have to deal with that again. I’m really looking forward to Passover now!”
The owners of the resorts appreciate their services too.
Michal, of Kosher Tours in Cyprus, said: “Our experience with Passover Listings has been great. It gives us the opportunity to advertise to a greater audience, and makes it easy for customers to get in touch with us. Listing our Program on Passover Listings has put us in touch with a great number of people!”
That program, incidentally, is at the spectacular Sentido Cypria Bay right by the sparkling blue water in Cyprus, Greece, and their food will be overseen by world-renowned Israeli Chef Or Golan. Just a heads up.
Avi Lasko of Lasko Getaways at the JW Marriot Turnberry Miami Resort & Spa, said, “We could not be more happy with our experience so far. Passover Listings has brought a steady stream of inquiries to us and Doni and his team have been an absolute pleasure to deal with. Their customer service is second to none.”
This resort is right by the water in Miami, and features the super-fun Tidal Cove Waterpark, which has the only Triple Flow Surf Rider in the USA. They also have day camp with infant care, to help with the little ones.
So, if you’re looking to avoid the carpet cleaners and you’re scared of blow torches, you might just want to check out Passover Listings this year. Do a search. Read about the rabbis, the food and the amenities. And above all, check out the reviews. PassoverListings.com might just be the difference maker you’re looking for.
By Matt Aaron
