By Chloe Arnold BBC correspondent in the Caucasus

Mini bars, jacuzzi-style bathtubs, 30 satellite television channels - when Pope John Paul II comes to the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan on Wednesday, he can expect all of this and more.

Staff have been sprucing up the rooms in preparation

Usually, the 82-year-old pontiff stays in local Catholic churches on foreign visits.

But as a mostly Muslim country, Azerbaijan has nothing suitable to offer him.

This will be the first time in his 24-year papacy that the Pope puts his feet up in a hotel.

'Huge responsibility'

Ilgar Nuri, the administrator of the Irshad Hotel in central Baku, said he is aware of the huge responsibility his establishment has taken on.

"The Pope hasn't stayed in a hotel for many years," he said.

"That is why we are trying to make it as comfortable for him as possible."

For the last few weeks, staff at the Irshad have been sprucing up their best rooms - numbers 51 and 61 - as it has not yet been decided which room the Pope will stay in.

Both have balconies with views over the Caspian Sea, en suite living rooms, deluxe bathrooms and fridges packed with crisps, soft drinks and miniature bottles of vodka.

Lack of luxury

It is an odd choice of hotel.

Visitors to Baku of the Pope's calibre tend to stay at one of the city's luxury internationals: the Hyatt, the Radisson or the Grand Hotel Europe, who are more than a little put out to have been snubbed by the Vatican.

The Pope is due to visit Bulgaria on the last leg of his tour

But when the closest papal representative to Azerbaijan - the one in Georgia - came to Baku to sort out the arrangements, he shunned the five-star hotels and settled instead on the Irshad.

It may have helped that Irshad in the Azeri language means "spiritual guide" and that religious trinkets are for sale in its gift shop.

The Irshad's founder, Rafiq Aliyev, has since become Chairman of the State Committee for Religious Affairs, but the hotel's management insisted he had no hand in the Vatican's choice of hotel.

Busy schedule

Since becoming head of the Religious Affairs Committee he is no longer connected to the Irshad, Mr Aliyev said.

The hotel's management would not disclose whether or not the Pope and his entourage would be given a discount - rooms at the hotel can cost $110 (�70) a night, including breakfast.

But the Pope may not have time to indulge in the many available satellite television channels or the jacuzzi-style bath.

He has a busy schedule ahead.

On Thursday, he will say high mass in Baku's Handball Palace and meet the Muslim leader of the Caucasus, the local Orthodox bishop and the head of the Jewish community, before travelling on to the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, for the last leg of his tour.