diff --git a/src/tashi/clustermanager/clustermanagerservice.py b/src/tashi/clustermanager/clustermanagerservice.py
index b4450be..ff14c3d 100644
--- a/src/tashi/clustermanager/clustermanagerservice.py
+++ b/src/tashi/clustermanager/clustermanagerservice.py
@@ -295,7 +295,12 @@
 
 				instance.decayed = True
 				self.log.debug('Fetching state on instance %s because it is decayed' % (instance.name))
-				if instance.hostId is None: raise AssertionError
+				if instance.hostId is None:
+					# XXXstroucki we should not have reached
+					# here. Log state of instance and raise
+					# an AssertionError
+					self.log.error("Assert failed: hostId is None with instance %s" % instance)
+					raise AssertionError
 
 				# XXXstroucki check if host is down?
 				host = self.data.getHost(instance.hostId)