Hotel Grand Samarkand Superior - B

Spent couple of nights here, whilst visiting Samarkand. It is a bit out of the way, in quiet street, but as we had transport wasn’t a problem. We had a nice spacious room, comfortable and clean, there was a small lift but we were only up one flight of stairs, so didnt need to use. We had dinner one evening, usual Uzbek food, which was good, breakfast was self service, good choice of dishes. The dining room is quite small, fortunately always managed to find a table. Hotel has an old fashioned look about It, but gives it character. Didn’t use any other facilities as we were out until late every day.

The hotel, located in the newer part of the city and supposedly one of the city’s best, was unusually located, in a quiet side street off a major avenue, but there was nothing commercial within 300 meters. Even stranger, there were two Grand Superior hotels facing each other – I guess they called them A and B. We were told that the owner wanted to expand but couldn’t buy the adjacent lot so he did the next best thing – buy the lot across the street. So even our tour leader wasn’t sure which side we were booked at and he had to ask. But more problematic, breakfast would be served alternately between the two locations. Which meant that for a two night stay, chances are you had to cross the street in the morning then cross it again after breakfast, at least once. My wife and I were going to be given a two bed guest room but when we asked for a king bed, they moved us to a ground floor room that had a tiny window. The hallways were decorated with nice artifacts. The room was fully carpeted and sufficiently large, so we had space on the floor to lay both our luggage fully opened. We appreciated the desk and bed lamps, including bedside reading lights. There were enough power outlets for our devices; they even had a power ***** available, which we didn’t see anywhere else. But we couldn’t get the TV to work. There were a couple of odd pieces of wood furniture, including a wardrobe cabinet which wasn’t deep enough so the hangers had to slant sideways. The bathroom was on the small side, with what seems to be a standard for Uzbekistan – a 30 inch by 30 inch shower stall. Breakfast was the best we’ve seen in the three Central Asian countries we’ve visited so far – there seemed to be enough of most everything. There was an elder gentleman who greeted all the breakfast guests and who made sure the staff were on top of everything. We loved the attention. Dinner was at the same location – they served good soup, salad, and beef stroganoff on a bed of mashed potatoes – nice. Again, the same elderly gent oversaw the dinner operations.

Very nice staff and comfortable ( if dated rooms). When we were there pool, restaurant and bar all closed so services limited. Breakfast was poor for a 4* hotel with instant coffee- unbelievable. Needs to raise its game to be really good.