I stayed at this 4-star hotel for 6 nights when I was training in Jakarta in 2005. Even though this is not a review about Jakarta itself, I'll start with a little bit of Jakarta which I believe is important for you when deciding to go there.

Jakarta is the capitol city of the Republic of Indonesia (Indonesian: Republik Indonesia), the world's largest archipelagic state, located in Southeast Asia, a country on the ring of fire. The whole country consists of more than 15,000 islands (around 6,000 are inhabited) lying along the equator, from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, and has more than 200 millions of population, the world's fourth most populous country and the most populous Muslim-majority nation. Jakarta is located on the northwest coast of the Java Island, at the mouth of the Ciliwung River on a Bay which bears the same name as the city. The northern part of Jakarta is constituted on a plain land but the southern part is constituted on 13 hills.

There is not much to say about Jakarta's climate since it is located next to the equator. Jakarta has a hot and humid equatorial/tropical climate (Af) according to the Köppen climate classification system. Humidity is generally high, averaging about 80%. The city is humid throughout the year with daily temperature range of 25°C to 38°C; Absolute maximum is 43.8°C and absolute minimum is 21.5°C.

The hotel location

On the other side of the road, it is one of the biggest shopping mall in Jakarta named 'Pasaraya Grande'. In this huge 2-wing building, you can find many stairs filled with stuffs to buy, including 1st floor of native products, this is a perfectly place to find souvenirs. It took me 1 hour and a half to travel from Soekarno-Hatta Jakarta International Airport, which is located north of Jakarta, to the hotel by taxi.

However, the hotel is located in the Southern part of the city. It took me too long to travel north to tourist attractions.

I was stayed in deluxe room and found these in the room; a Queen Bed, TV, telephones (in bedroom and bathroom), water boiler (for coffee / tea), Bath tub, bathroom amenities, hair drier, internet connection (pay per use), writing desk, mini bar, refrigerator and safe box, all of them are in fine condition except the bed which I found too soft. I have got back pain throughout the week.

The hotel has a swimming pool and fitness centre but I did not use them because of the lacking of the information provided by the organiser of the training. One big mistake I have found from hotel service is that the hotel staffs could not provide visitors with the map of Jakarta; they have only the map of surrounding areas. For me, a map is vital for visiting a town or city. Since I could not get one from the airport, I looked forward to ask for one from the hotel, and I was very disappointed.

Environment around the hotel

I also found that the department stores within the walking distant from the hotel are strictly guarded. All of them are surrounded with high fence and very difficult to enter or exit. Visitors are asked to open their luggage. Cars' doors are opened for observation. Even though, I understand that these measures are to ensure the safety of visitors inside but it made me feel uncomfortable. It also referred to me that it was not safe in the area.