I ended up staying in this hotel on its second day of operation, and was slightly nervous to walk into the foyer and see a bit of building work going on. They were finishing the bar in the bottom; but the receptionist was pleased enough to see me, chatted to me as I checked in, told me it was their second day opening, and then said: "Would you like a drink? Water? Juice? Beer?"

Beer?

"It's free," she added.

Cool.

A glass of Becks in hand, I ascended the little elevator to the fifth floor, and walked into possibly the oddest room I've ever stayed in. Nice twin beds, an odd table thing with a seat in front of the window, and no bathroom. I found a shower (which is nearly in the bedroom), a sink, and couldn't find the loo at all. It turns out that what I imagined was a wardrobe was actually the loo. Cool.

There's a DVD player in the room, hiding behind the heavy felt curtains that look very nice now but I'd be very interested to see it when it's been used a bit.

The television, a 4:3 flat-screen, is halfway up the wall (English content is limited to CNN International and BBC World News). On channel 13 (lucky for some) was one of those channels which shows barely-clothed women dancing about in front of the camera talking to hapless souls that call in. Concerningly, these barely-clothed women were there at 5pm, there again at midnight, and at 8am were still there, apparently quite happy at still prancing around the camera. Parental control is as simple as removing the remote control...

There's free internet (yay!) and even a natty mobile phone holder to charge your phone in.

The hotel's on a fairly traffic-heavy street but isn't very loud; the bed warm and comfortable; the receptionist quite pleasant. The room was pretty tiny, which is why I've only given four stars; and the decor is possibly a little overly, er, eccentric for some; but quite a nice place, all things considered.

I hope they keep giving people beer as a welcome.