It was supposed to demonstrate the sort of luxury a successful communist dictator can lavish upon anyone lucky enough to visit his utopian state.

But instead Ryanggang Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital, has been described by its guests as “old and cold” and more akin to a military training camp than high-end holiday accommodation.

The Ryanggang Hotel's welcoming facade Credit: TripAdvisor/Sophia Lin

The scathing reports of what is described as a “first class” establishment, built by Kim Jong-un to impress tourists, have been published on the review website TripAdvisor.

“Concrete, cold water showers, rock hard beds and power cuts are all to be expected at this Soviet retro hotel,” wrote one visitor from Abu Dhabi. “None of the light switches worked and what was that crazy enigma machine between the beds?”

Breakfast? Maybe Credit: TripAdvisor/uspn

Another reviewer from the Netherlands gave Ryanggang - which boasts a Ryanggang can boast a billiard room, a library, and a revolving restaurant on its top floor - two marks out of five. “My bed did not have a mattress - it was a plank with some cushioning on top, which made it very hard,” the review read. “Soviet style, dark hallways.”

One visitor from one of the country’s supposed allies, China, said: “Dirty, cold and hideous. Western prisons are more welcoming. So awful. And so much brain-washing. I really hated this hotel.”

Commenting on breakfast, another said: “I did witness one tourist getting chastised for taking too many eggs. Once by the server, and again by a supervisor who came out to wave her finger at him.”

Some visitors took a slightly more sympathetic view. “There is nothing to compare North Korea with the rest of the world,” wrote a tourist from London. “That’s why you go there, so enjoy it. There is no service, padlocks on the fire escapes, no showers, no water or electricity most days - but who cares, you’ll be out in a week if you behave yourself.”

A standard room a the North Korean hotel Credit: TripAdvisor/uspn

Despite the less-than glowing reviews, the hotel emerges with an average rating of 2.5 our of five, with the majority of reviewers marking it average or poor, rather than terrible. It does not have any “excellent” scores.

TripAdvisor does not make entirely grim reading for Kim Jong-un. The best-rated hotel in the country on the website, Yanggakdo Hotel, has a rating of 3.5 and comes with relatively mundane indictments like “poor by global standards” and “dated but comfortable”.