"Someone has been sleeping in my bed!" wailed a distraught journalist, finally checking into his Sochi hotel room after a long journey only to find the bed already slept in, presumably by construction workers who were still rushing to complete the rest of the hotel. He might also have accused them of eating his porridge but for the fact that the hotel kitchen was not yet in any fit state to be making it.

The hotel, which is meant to house hundreds of journalists covering the games, is really a sprawling complex of apartment blocks that serve as the one of the main venues for media at the 2014 Winter Olympics

With numbered blocks and room fixtures still being put in place, the complex is far from ready, though the games are to start this weekend.

"Your room is still under construction," said a harried receptionist Tuesday lunchtime. "They are literally finishing, the keys are literally coming now."

A palm tree planted in an otherwise barren garden at the Ekaterininskiy Kvartal media accomodation complex in Sochi. Photograph: Barbara Walton/EPA

Those lucky enough to get a room "literally" immediately were, however, forced to endure techno music played at an ear-splitting volume from a stage in a courtyard surrounded by several hotels. It drove one Canadian, trying to sleep off jet lag from a 24-hour journey, to the verge of tears as he beseeched the staff to turn the music down. Unsuccessfully.

Russia has spent $51bn (£31bn) on the Winter Olympics in Sochi, but that sum did not stretch to getting all hotels built on time.

Workers at the Gorky Gorod 960 hotel on Monday. Photograph: Julian Finney/Getty Images

As media from across the world streamed into the Black Sea city, wWith just 72 hours left until the Olympic torch is lit and the Games officially open, construction work that should have been completed months ago was still underway. On Monday, Sochi organisers said 97% of rooms were finished and the remaining 3% were getting a final cleaning". The delays do not affect athletes' accommodation, and the army of volunteers manning Sochi airport and every road intersection are polite and helpful.

But all around the media hotel area, and inside the main Olympic zone, construction continues apace. The airport, train station and main venues are sparkling and ready, but just a few minutes' walk from the main venues, labourers daub cement on half-finished constructions.

Three hours after delivering heart-felt assurances that progress in the pursuit of a completed hotel room was imminent, the same receptionist admitted defeat.

Men work against the clock in the shadow of the media centre for the Sochi Winter Olympics. Photograph: Maria Plotnikova/Demotix/Corbis

In the meantime she offered a room with no heating, a single bed, and permeated with the odour of industrial glue. On another floor an American photographer was given a room where the heating worked overtime and could not be turned off. Workers attached towel racks and lightbulbs as the guests unpacked their suitcases.

As the pack of international media settled down to work, the same receptionist was asked for a Wi-Fi password by those hoping to file their stories. She looked alarmed: "We have plans for the introduction of Wi-Fi in the rooms in the foreseeable future."