We were booked into Samode Haveli with our small tour group, but we were bumped and offered alternative accommodation at another of the proprietor's properties.

Location was the main problem - Gaj Kesri is 10 kilometres from Bikaner on the town bypass road (from the look of the developments pegged nearby, the town is expected to spread out there sometime in the future). The surrounding country held no appeal or interest.

It's a faux palace style place, and has a "flash" feel about it. It really seems to have been designed for business conventions and large tour groups - it's not an intimate environment, although it was clean and comfortable. It was brand spanking new when we stayed - so new, in fact, that the TVs still had not been installed.

We didn't like the way we were only able to have a set three course meal for dinner - there was hardly a handy nearby alternative if you wanted to eat light. In addition, the 30% service charge added when we got our bill on checkout actually made the meal quite expensive.

The staff were helpful enough - they outnumbered us because we seemed to be the only people there on the two nights we stayed. It was so quiet, it was like a mausoleum with all that marble in the halls. For the moment, I would give them the benefit of the doubt that it was empty because it was new.

However, I would NOT stay there again and would not recommend it to anybody looking for a well-located and characterful base for exploring Bikaner and its surrounds.