We stayed in this hotel on 2 nights: one at the start of our tour in March 2005, and one at the end. I would prefer not to say the name of the tour company because the company is fine. But the hotel was very disappointing. We had no hot water, no airconditioning and the windows did not open, and the electricity was off for 2 hours in the entire hotel the first morning.

Since we had strict instructions from the tour to have bags out by 7:30 and be at the bus by 8:00, we just had to go without showers, shaves and hairdos. On our return we dreaded going back to the Crowne Plaza for the last night. Sure enough in the evening we had no power for an hour, but just in our room this time, after my husband plugged in a batttery charger. Once again the room was hot and the air conditioning wasn't working, but we had discovered that if you phoned the front desk they would send someone up to unlock the windows. You had to sign a waiver saying they weren't responsible if you fell out. Then, of course, being in the centre of the city, the street noise, ambulance sirens, and so forth did not make for a restful night.

The only thing good I can say is that the buffet was O.K. and plentiful in the dining room. The tour groups are not allowed to sit by the windows to see the much touted view of the city. This is too bad . The best tables were kept empty, but if they had other guests in the hotel, they didn't come to the dining room anyway. A sad comment on the dining room however was that the tour director had to warned us not to eat any salad or drink orange juice, because they washed fresh vegetables in unpurified water and mixed the orange juice with the same water.