Hotel Hayat Samarkand

We booked four days at Hayat Samarkand Hotel and arranged an airport pickup in advance. The driver was there on time, and the hotel is only seven minutes from the airport. There’s also a good supermarket next door that stays open until midnight. Getting to the tourist sites takes a 10-15 minute taxi ride. Communication was difficult because the staff spoke only the local language, so we had to use phone translators. The owner was helpful with getting us a SIM card, exchanging currency, connecting us to the taxi app, and suggesting places and restaurants. He couldn’t help with my request for a partial refund, though. We booked a Lux room, but on arrival found there was no jet spray in the bathroom. Reception said no rooms had one, which shocked us, especially in a Muslim country. We asked to check out the next morning because having one was important to us. They then offered to install it in 20 minutes, and we agreed. It took more than three hours, leaving us unable to use the bathroom from our arrival at 4am until 5.30pm that evening. We lost a day of our trip. On the third night, the installed spray broke and flooded the room. Staff quickly got the water out, but said they’d fix it at 8am the next morning. Nobody came until 2pm, after we asked for help, and the plumber took over two hours to finish. We were allowed to use the bathroom in the next room, which was bigger, despite being told ours was the biggest Lux room. While we were there, they shut off the water without telling us. We’d been in that room for no more than 10 minutes. This problem wasted our last day too. Two of our four days were ruined. Housekeeping had to be requested. They didn’t refill the water or replace used towels, and I had to ask for water bottles every day. The sheets weren’t changed at all, the carpets weren’t vacuumed, and the room heater worked only on the first day. Breakfast was a mixed bag. There were several cheeses, but none tasted good to us. The boiled eggs still had uncooked yolks, while the sausages were good. There wasn’t much variety.