We walk in to Zafarbek late at night, and was greeted with a friendly staff, unfortunately with limited English. ||Was shown 2 rooms which we declined, but was promised a better one when we check in tmrw.||Zafarbek looks really impressive on the outside, with new wing extension. We talked to the boss on phone, and he asked me how much my current stay cost (usd30) and wanted to charge us at this price, even tho the prices they had for better newer rooms are much lesser. Eventually we did get a little discount for staying 3 nights, assuming we will be getting a good room. ||The room we check in to next day was really basic, the beds are horrible spring beds that shouldn't be used anymore. But rooms are rather clean, which is good. ||Talked to the boss of changing the room, he said all the new ones are full but he will change us to that tmrw. I checked availability via booking.com and they are available. ||However he changed us into another very old room with 4 single beds and all of them are just as bad! ||He even try to short-change our payment by wanting to pay the difference back in somm with 8000 v 1 USD, when the official is 8420. ||Despite all these, the great thing are the staffs. They are attentive and friendly. Always smiling, and cleaning. Breakfast service is great as well. ||The problem with this place is the boss, and how he runs the place. He isn't giving his great staffs the tools to make the guest house good. |
Beautiful inner courtyard with table and chairs to use and relax. A staircase leads to an outside balcony and onto the rooms.||Bedrooms are spacious and very quiet though a little bit dated.||The breakfast was typically uzbek, making us discover new taste and flavours.||Sherzod, the owner, was very accommodating, booking us a taxi at very short notice. He also apologised for the power cut in the morning (just a hour) even if it was not his fault.||The hotel is in a good location within the walls of Ichon Qala where you can walk from yo the sights in minutes.
The location, within the city walls, is really good. Within minutes you are everywhere and it's also close to one of the gates in case you want to wander outside. The bed was comfortable. Staff was polite.||However... The wifi was very spotty. The breakfast wasn't good. Maybe it was because the guesthouse was pretty much empty when we were there, I'm not sure if anyone else was actually staying there at the same time. The bread was stale, there was no coffee (not even instant) and there also was no hot water so that I could use my own instant coffee. The water pressure in the shower was not that good. In comparison to other places within this region I was really not impressed. That being said, it was in no way a horrible stay, maybe during high season it would be better, with staff more present and better breakfast etc. If I was coming back to Khiva, I would choose a different place though.||||Oh and I have to add that communication with the hotel was somewhat confusing. Maybe it was due to the fact that they did not speak much English but I tried contacting them through booking.com to find out about transport to the hotel and they did answer, however, I wasn't able to agree with them on anything per email. So the morning of arrival (we were going to arrive late at night) I called the hotel. The guy I was on the phone with couldn't have the conversation in English so I tried with my Russian and I did not get far either. Not because the guy did not speak any Russian but he just didn't seem very helpful on giving me much information on how to get to the hotel. (I should mention that we were coming in from the Nukus airport, not Khiva - which is a 3 hour drive). But I have experienced totally different levels of hospitality and helpfulness in other hostels and guest houses in the country.
The first impression was great: the manager himself came to greet me, he is the only one in the property who speaks English. I was taken to the immense room and was very happy with the size and decoration. I've told him I would talk to him later to pay for the room and also would need his help to book a train ticket. That was it.||||Then, it turns out that there is no toilet paper in the bedroom, the toilet flush doesn't work and no one is around to solve the problem. The owner disappeared the whole day and I had to solve my train ticket situation by myself, gladly a nice receptionist in a nearby hotel told me where to buy train tickets. The next morning, the toilet flush decided to work. The owner claimed he was in the hospital. When finally showed his face, he came to almost beg that I gave him a positive review. No, thanks. Let me not forget: breakfast was unimpressive and wifi slow, but that is all over the country.
The location is good, but both mattresses in my twin room were unusable: dirty and with broken springs, probably more than 10 years old. I worried about damaging my back so I slept on the floor. This arrangement left no room to move around. The owner promised to replace the mattresses at some unspecified date in the future. It didn't occur to him to offer me a discount or move me to another room. I left with a feeling that the owner was more interested in money than in providing a good service. Despite friendly and hard working staff I wouldn't bother with this place again.
Good things: Nice, careful and very respectful personnel. Breakfasts are served. Big room and bathroom. Clean. Comfortable beds. You may ask for tea or water into the room for free. Placed in the historical old town. ||||Things to improve: to air room on the eve. not to propose taxi service at very high price. To improve WiFi working.
this is a fairly new place and has clean, comfortable rooms. located within the walls of the old city, it's an easy 5 minute walk down to the main sights of Khiva. ||At some point I felt I was the only person staying here which wasn't necessarily comforting. But the staff made sure I was well-taken care of so that was a huge plus.
Staff not friendly.||Uncomfortable beds and dirty rooms.||The shower did not work for 3 days. The owner promised me to fix the problem but it never did.||The breakfast was so bad that we asked not to have the 2 next breakfasts and to have a discount. The owner only proposed a ridiculous discount. We paid 23€ rather than 25€ for two persons.||||I would really recommend you to avoid this place, despite it looks good from the outside.
Nice, cozy place inside the town wall close to the one of gates. Fine twin rooms with bathrooms and wide square around.||Owner is helpful, give some tips and could organize for you nice fish meal or transport to some interesting places.||I leave my luggage after packing in hurry, he also help me with this case and send it to my next destination. Thanks for that!
We stayed at Zafarbek for 2 nights at $30/night.||We had a spacious twin bedroom with attached bathroom. The beds were ok. The toilet did not flush regularly and water was only hot. No wifi. TV with a few channels, but most likely you won't watch tv while in Khiva.||The winner for this place was its big breakfast. ||The staff was friendly with smiles, but extremely limited english. They would call the manager to speak with us which worked most of the time except when he was unreachable. Several times we gave up on attempts because communication was too difficult.||Zafarbek was our 3rd choice; the others weren't open or were renovating. I would probably keep it as a second or third option as there seems to be lots of accommodation available.
