Hotel Indonesia Kempinski Jakarta

"When it opened in 1962, the Hotel Indonesia was a 14-story marvel of modernism that became the preferred address for visiting foreign dignitaries, movie companies, and journalists, even playing a prominent role in The Year of Living Dangerously. By the time it closed for renovations in 2004, H.I. (as it is familiarly known) was a run-down wreck in the shadow, literally and figuratively, of contemporary luxury hotels. Renovated—"reinvented" might be more apt—by the Kempinski chain, the hotel once again makes a strong bid to become the city’s top choice. Standard rooms are big (475 square feet) and are designed in a relaxed mix of traditional motifs and contemporary plushness. They come technologically equipped: Wi-Fi, a long-range cordless phone that rings at the pool or the coffee shop, and a toilet with more options than you want to read about. The excellent Signatures restaurant, presided over by life-size photos of Indonesia’s flamboyant first president, Sukarno, with Marilyn Monroe and JFK, is fitting in a city where extravagant hotel buffets are de rigueur. Guests also have signing privileges at eateries in the adjoining mega-luxe Grand Indonesia Mall."