A recent stay for two nights over Christmas 2007 at Jayakarta, Jakarta, for which I paid nothing, was a rather 'strange' experience.

Requesting a non-smoking room, I was given a room where the curtains obviously had not been washed in years and certainly smelled heavily of smoke. Never mind the carpet which was full of all sorts of 'crumbs'.

Most disappointing was the fact that in the evening and early morning there is not hot water. The person who booked the place for me had a lengthy conversation with reception - the hot water is turned off at around 6 pm because there are only few guests and they want to save money. With severe insistence it was turned on again at 8pm that day, raising the temperature from luke warm to bearable. By 11pm it was luke warm again.

The next day, facing the same problem in the evening, I talked to reception myself and was left with the promise to turn it on again - it did not happen.

It should be mentioned that the person who put me into the hotel regularly places many people in the Jayakarta. I certainly did not have the same impact at reception as my contact had. When my contact relayed this problem back to the marketing person in the Jayakarta hotel, we were told they apparently have had not other complaints.

Contrasting, the air-conditioning in the Jayakarta was far to cold for comfort. Sure it had a thermostat control - which had no apparent effect. So the choice was stuffy air or feeling cold. The fact that the drinking water provided in a pitcher tasted as if it was tap water (Jakarta quality which needs long boiling before being drinkable) is minor in comparison.

What to say? Room not well maintained, failing to provide basic service (hot water) and sheer refusal to react to customer requests by reception is more than disappointing.

Oh yes, even if there had been hot water in the evening - taking a bath in the bathtub is not recommended, it's unclean and worn.

Conclusion: Sure I paid nothing and am grateful so I had a great deal. But I would not pay money for it. So, stay away.