We had a fantastic trip. I highly recommend going to Uzbekistan. Turkmenistan was also interesting and provided the only near luxury hotel of the trip. But if time is at a premium, Uzbekistan is the country where focus should be given. The towns of the old Silk Road, Khiva, Bukhara, and Samarkand, have remarkable sites to visit. Overall, the quality of the hotels were very poor, not worthy of discussion in this or in fact almost any forum on FlyerTalk. It's really telling about what there is to see and do that despite the hotels I encourage you to go.

Let me talk about the hotels first.

Uzbekistan:

• Khiva - Asia Khiva - many told us this was the best hotel in town. Oh, dear. I think the furniture in our room was 40 years old. The mattress was broken. Literally. My husband was shown six different rooms where there was the same issue with the mattress. A new mattress was brought to the room for the second night. There were 5 two story buildings. Only the main building had internet in the lobby. The hotel had an idyllic setting facing the south wall and entrance. It took no advantage of it and had no outside cafe or lounge where one might enjoy the remarkable view.
• Bukhara - Amelia B&B - I have no idea why this is rated first on TripAdvisor. It had 11 rooms built across two merchant houses. Our "deluxe double" was an entry level room with little room beyond the bed. There were steps up and down of uneven height, sometimes with a railing, sometimes not. It had excellent service. Any request we made was enthusiastically met. Our room was so dismaying my husband set out hunting for somewhere better to stay. He toured 9 hotels with no success.
• Samarkand - Grand Samarkand - we had booked their grand "suite", actually a very large comfortable room. We liked it. Our guide said she liked the hotel best in town because of its modest size. There were very large hotels where she said service was non existent.
• Tashkent - Radisson Blu (stayed on points) - stayed at start and end of trip. At the start I considered it about a 3 star property. It's very telling that at the end of the trip, it had jumped at least one star if not two in my mind.

Turkmenistan

• Ashgabat - Oguzhent (formerly Sofitel; now managed by the government I believe. Nonexistent service would suggest it.) - The hard product is luxurious. We upgraded to a suite and loved it. We had a large bedroom, living room, and one and a half baths. Furniture quality was very good and the decor was tasteful. There was no service. Bellman didn't come outside to help with luggage and didn't help once we were inside. Front desk clerks did the minimum. Breakfast was good; lunch was adequate. We sought elsewhere for dinner.
• Mary - Hotel Mary - one year old and a decent hotel, the quality of a Hilton/Sheraton. Room was furnished comfortably and the lobby furniture was comfortable. Internet signal was strong enough in the lobby to be able to make skype calls.
• Turkmenabat - Jeyhun - avoid at all costs except you can't. It's the only hotel in town. The exterior looks very grand, all clad in marble. Despite having an entrance on the ground floor, it is locked and you have to walk up two flights of stairs carrying your luggage to get to the lobby. Rooms are horrible. Look at TripAdivsor and see how harshly folks rate it. It deserves the severe comments. There is no internet.

Why did I dislike the hotels so much? I've thought about it a lot and tried to come up with some answers.

• Furnishings tended to be very old.
• Low quality linens. Towels were stained and rough from line drying
• Toiletries were local and nothing you'd want to contact your body
• Service was poor to nonexistent in most places
• Hotels didn't have lounge or bar; no place to relax outside of room
• No gyms, no spas