A friend and I stayed at the Atlas Hotel in Dushanbe. After a long day, she was alone in her room and went to take a shower. As she came out of the bathroom and had no clothes on, she found a stranger going through her belongings. When she screamed, he quickly ran from the room.

After this crime was reported to the front desk, they were less than helpful. The police were not called. They did not try to check the key card system to see how someone could have gotten in or whose card was used. They told her that she could not change rooms. In short, they ignored her and treated her as a bother rather than as a crime victim.

Superficially, the rooms look beautiful. It is easy to show up at a hotel, quietly spend the night, and then leave. However, a true measure of a place is how you are treated when you do need their help. In this regard, the Atlas Hotel is a failure.

We stayed only two nights, however the hotel was the best out of all 11 different hotels we stayed during our travel through four Central Asia Stans. Room was large, bed king size, very comfortable, room nicely designed, very well equipped and maintained, extremely clean. Buffet breakfast with wide variety of choices and very very good. Every single staff member we encountered was extremely courteous, friendly and willing to help which really solidified the entire stay. Really really happy with our stay.

Had two nights here on a whistle stop tour of the Stans (et al) and I'd wholeheartedly recommend it..forget your Hiltons and all those posh brands, this is the place to stay in the Tajik capital..a great starting point for exploring this endearing capital city and the staff are superb, sorting out any issue that arose in double quick time. The breakfast buffet is to die for and supplies you with a great start to the day. The room I had was outstanding with panoramic views of the city and it's impossible to find fault with this first class location.