The incident involving Russian tourists at the "Bodomzor" hotel in the capital attracted widespread public attention, resulting in the cancellation of the contract between the hotel management and the major tour operator Ozon Travel. This was reported by Upl.uz.
One of the reasons for the conflict was the discovery of bedbugs in the room booked by a family from Russia. This situation led to serious discussions and financial consequences.
The Russian Yuliya and her family had chosen the "Bodomzor" hotel in the capital for their vacation. After checking into the room booked online through Ozon Travel, they, including a small child, found traces and the presence of insects on the mattress.
Attempts to quickly contact the hotel management or owner were unsuccessful. As a result, they were forced to stay elsewhere.
The initial response from Ozon Travel was unexpected. When Yuliya filed a complaint, the company denied the allegations and expressed full trust in the hotel owner, Ahmad.
He emphasized that there were no insects in the hotel and that there had been no previous complaints of this kind. The money paid for the stay was not refunded, which sparked widespread discussion on social media.
After increased public and media attention, the situation changed drastically. In an official statement, Ozon Travel said the incident was "completely unacceptable."
The company announced that incorrect information had been provided by the hotel. The tour operator stated that the paid money had been refunded and an apology was issued to the customer.
Additionally, it was announced that cooperation with the "Bodomzor" hotel had been completely terminated. Ozon Travel plans to strengthen quality control of services provided by partners and develop new algorithms for hotel inspections.
For this purpose, cooperation with the Russian quality agency is envisaged. The Tourism Committee conducted an investigation following the Russian citizen's complaint and found that the "Bodomzor" hotel was not officially registered in the Yunusabad district and was operating illegally.
Documents related to this case were sent to the Tax Committee and the Sanitary-Epidemiological Safety Committee. Despite the unpleasant situation, the tourists noted that their overall impression of the trip to Uzbekistan was not negatively affected and that they managed to try the famous Uzbek cuisine – plov.
According to data from the Statistics Agency under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, more than 7 million foreign tourists visited the country in 2024. This indicates the growing popularity of Uzbekistan in the tourism sector.
