I tried checking into the Orzo hotel this morning.
Out of the past two weeks, I have two days in which I didn't stay anywhere and wasn't registered.
The hotel refused to give me a room.
They said they were recently punished for allowing foreigners to stay without complete documentation.
Hopefully, the difficulties you experienced may be limited to the Orzu and Grand Orzu Hotels. Both are part of the Dolores Tour Group.
We stayed in the Orzu's sister hotel the Grand Orzu between 12th and 15th May and on reflection was the most rule bound of all the hotels we stayed in during our entire stay in Uzbekistan. In our case, although the Room Rate and Airport Transfer were originally quoted to us in US dollars they insisted that the rule was that we MUST pay them in Sum. The next rule, fortunately, was that they MUST use the official Bank of Uzbekistan Rate for the conversion. The third rule was that we MUST pay our bill in full at check-in and not on departure. This meant that at about 9:30am and after a long journey from the UK our first task in Tashkent was to immediately go and exchange enough US$s on the black market to pay our hotel bill.
Every other hotel and B&B we stayed in Uzbekistan was happy to accept US$s and we could pay when it suited us. Although they took our passports for registration purposes not one hotel asked to see the Registration Slips from the other hotels we had stayed in.
On 25th May on our departure from Uzbekistan via Tashkent Airport’s International Terminal, we were surprised that Passport Control didn’t even ask for our hotel registration slips.
We found that independent travel in Uzbekistan was much easier and the rules more relaxed than the guide-books would suggest and the operating procedures of the likes of the Orzu and Grand Orzu Hotels are lagging behind the times.
Going to press with the new edition soon. Would be interested in hearing more reports as it would surprise me if this policy extended beyond the Orzu.
Incidentally all hotels (the exception being budget guesthouses like Mirzo and Gulnara) in Tashkent are obligated to take som using the official rate, so it behooves one to pay in som (exchanged on the black market, of course) not dollars.
I stayed at Hotel Grand Tashkent. They also wanted payment in sum and the slips from other hotels. I was missing 3 nights but they didnt say anything about that. In 3 weeks they were the only hotel to ask for payment in sum and the other slips, all other hotels and B &B's were paid in US$.
We stayed at the Rovshan Hotel from May 28 to 29. They also asked for the Registration slips; we had a complete set; so we do not know what had happened if not. We handed them only the set of 1 person, they did not ask for mine. It was also the only place they asked for this registration when checking in.
We were booking all our Tashkent Hotels (at arrival we stayed in Grand Orzu) through visit-uzbekistan.com. Good service, very reliable- they tell you the price in US$ and you pay in US$. We also booked a flight (Tash - Nukus) with them
New guidebook due out in October.
Private B&Bs in Bukhara, Samarkand and Khiva accept dollars or som, but if you pay in som they convert at the black market rate, so it makes no difference whether you pay in dollars or som (provided you do your money changing on the black market).
On the other hand, state hotels in the above mentioned cities, and ALL hotels in Tashkent (the exception being backpacker joints like Gulnara and Mirzo) usually quote prices in either dollars or som, but accept only som even if they quote prices in dollars. If they do quote in dollars (say $40), you'll pay the som equivalent converted at the official rate (1550S to the dollar), thus 62,000 som or so.
This is GREAT for the traveller, as you can buy 62,000 som for about $30 on the black market. So the REAL price of the room is only $30 (unless you make the mistake of buying som at the official rate or paying by credit card!).
That is ominous news about hotels requesting reg slips. It may be that the gov't will begin pressuring hotels to deny rooms to people who lack reg slips. But the reality is that officially you do NOT need a reg slip for every night you stay in Uzbekistan. Technically you only need a reg slip if you are in a given town for 3 or more nights. But hotels may not realize that. It will be interesting to see how this evolves.