Anisa- Hostel in Dushanbe

We initially felt positive about this stay because we were “upgraded” into an en-suite room, rather than a double room with a separate toilet. We quickly realised that this “upgrade” wasn’t a genuine act but clearly and simply poor management. Our new room had no windows, other than a tiny one in the bathroom, allowing for no ventilation, and had no AC, which in summertime in Tajikistan is simply not manageable. Our room was additionally a mess. Despite it being supposedly clean, there was sawdust and dust all over the bed side tables and floor, left overs from prior guests in the bathroom (dirty razors, sock, soap), and stained bedding and towels (our towel had what we believe to be faecal stains, and our bedding blood). Online this hostel boasts views and WiFi - there are no views to brag about and the WiFi is appalling with no reach into our allocated room (a whole building away from the reception area). Following our check in, the next day we had to ask for a key to our bedroom which we felt was odd. We had also asked the front desk if we could keep a drink in the fridge, they said yes - our drink was then stolen by a staff member and left half emptied on the side. The main receptionist is incredibly rude and quite frankly a poor excuse for a bully. We had asked him if we could maybe swap rooms after our second sleepless night here, he said no, despite there being empty beds in some of the dorms. He told us to wait until evening to see if we could move - we received no updates. It was clear that nonexistent potential guests were being prioritised. The hostel shouldn’t advertise a private double room if they’re not ready nor fit for purpose, especially when it’s so hot. It’s evident that they’re doing works around and that our room was half way done.

Additionally, we asked if we could put a laundry on, as this is an amenity offered by the hostel on request. We asked at 8am, and gave our dirty laundry. By 5pm the same day our clothes still hadn’t been washed or put out to dry. We complained and asked if we could please have our clothes cleaned as soon as possible as we were leaving the following morning. My partner was met with aggression and dismissiveness - he said “what is your problem bro”. After several interactions our clothes were washed and put out to dry, by this time the sun was going down but this member of staff was adamant that the clothes would be dry in time for the evening. At around 11pm my partner went outside to retrieve our clothes, some of which were still damp. He saw my partner and asked “are they still wet”, to which he replied “yes”. He was then met with “too bad bro”. Shortly after I went outside myself double checking we had everything - he saw me and quickly asked if I wanted to pay for the laundry now. We said no considering the hassle, aggression and poor customer service. This same man was also clearly agitated by the fact we’d contacted the owner regarding a draining issue with our shower after having been ignored by him online. The service here is unprofessional, lazy and unnecessarily confrontational. To make matters worse, the hostel was hard to find, goes by a different name in person and is unsafe with rusty nails, metal, building material and wood flung around the place. In spite of all of this, some members of staff, though few, were kind, smiley and helpful. The cleaning lady who worked in our section of the hostel was lovely. All in all, this place is an embarrassment to tajik hospitality and we wouldn’t recommend anyone to come here. We stayed here a few months ago, and have experienced hospitality and hostels across Asia - this is by far the worst we’ve encountered.

Do not recommend!!
We were told on our second night that we had been given the “wrong room,” and the man at the front desk came knocking twice (after 10 pm) insisting we pay extra even after we refused the first time. How can you demand money from guests when it was your mistake in the first place?? Later, another staff member repeatedly messaged my phone about the same issue. It felt highly unprofessional and very uncomfortable! On top of that, the location is quite far from the city center. Overall, I would NOT stay here again.

I had a reservation and announced that due to flight schedule I will arrive 2 am, but nobody wanted to open for 25 minutes! Later the front desk lady wanted to charge the DOBLE of confirmed reservation price! As I protested, she wanted to give me a more simple room without air conditions. Later she didn't find the key of the room and finally she gave me a different room, not the reserved and confirmed one. They confuse tourists with a different name of the hostal: Anisa Hostel. Dishonest owner and staff! Hostel is not bad, but management horrible!

It started with the wrong foot when during payment the owner tried to fool us on the exchange rate. We had ourselves to ask her to show us the source and then she admitted she was overcharging. With that solved, they told us the room we had booked was not available because a previous guest had decided to stay an extra night (typical hostel scam attempt). They put us, who had booked a couple room, in a dormitory with 4 beds. The smoke smell was intense. We asked to have our money back and had to haggle for a 10% decrease in price once that we didn't want to go elsewhere at that time.
They tried us to compromise not to review them in exchange of this, but of course we're doing it to let others know how much of a scam goes in this hostel. As we are experienced travellers, we played the game, but people who are not experienced might fall for these tricks.

When we were paying, the owner tried to charge us more thank the actual price on the booking, saying that the exchange rate from the Tajik bank was different than the official rate. We asked to see and she was lying so we managed to pay the agreed upon amount.

After this, they told us the room we had booked was not available, because a previous guest had decided to stay an extra night so they gave this guest our room, which is extremely unprofissional (and a typical scam in hostels). Instead of a double bedroom, they gave us a 4-bed dormitory, that reaked like smoke. We asked to have our money back, at least partially. There was a lot of back and forth and they said they would only do it if we canceled our booking (which we couldn't because it was after the canceling deadline by Booking.com). Finaly they agreed to give us a 10% discount if we didn't give a bad review, but we had to because the experience was terrible.