valextraofstyle

If Aman were doing their job properly, I would not be lying awake right now at 2am in one of their beautifully restored village cottages unable to sleep due to horrendous noise disturbance! Until today, our first Aman experience has been a largely idyllic one: the island has been restored and modernised with painstaking attention to detail and, with a couple of significant exceptions, the service has lived up to the Aman reputation for discretion and almost clairvoyant attentiveness. However, our much-needed peaceful break has rapidly become a holiday disaster of the kind that we are fortunate never to have experienced as yet: we consider ourselves careful and risk-averse in choosing hotels and destinations, researching options extremely thoroughly and preferring not to travel somewhere rather than settle for a compromise in any aspect of our stay, and we have not been disappointed, in almost all cases choosing to return to the same places and to one particular hotel every year. When we first arrived we thought that Aman Sveti Stefan would live up to our expectations and have been only too pleased to pass on our delight to the staff we have encountered and to GM Kevin Brooke. We can still find nothing in English at least online about the event that has turned our holiday into a nightmare and it had never crossed our minds to check ahead of our arrival to ask whether this supposedly enchanting and peaceful resort would turn into Ibiza during our stay!

The overwhelming noise that is keeping us awake is coming from a one-night, .open-air nightclub with live bands slightly down the coast that staff here have referred to as the Montenegrin "spring break". This is admittedly a one-off event beyond the direct control of Aman, but how they have responded to it has left much to be desired, but also, worryingly, resonates with the response to other less than satisfactory situations that have emerged while we were here. In hindsight, the first warning came upon our arrival when the Assistant GM Henry invited us with a recommendation to attend a night of "local live music", a special event not organised by the hotel, although it is unclear whether this was in fact in reference to another only slightly less noisy event taking place in close proximity to the one with the deafening electronic dance music right now. In essence, going might have been the only answer as it is impossible to avoid from our deluxe terrace cottage near the centre/top of the island.

The noise started at midday and staff suggested that it will go on until 5am. Other than a few slightly half-hearted remarks hoping that we might get some sleep from the staff at dinner at the piazza, there has been no formal effort to deal with this huge disturbance which will have gone on for nearly 18 hours and will completely deprive us of any sleep. When we made enquires this afternoon with one of the friendly waitstaff, they initially thought it might be coming from their own cliff bar, but we assured him it was not because we had just been there to brace ourselves for a quick swim in the chilly (unheated) pool (it turns out that the main pool slated to open next year will also be unheated and smaller than planned due to the discovery of a fourth church buried by the communist authorities). He then remembered that this "spring break" event was on, but did not react as if it would be a series night-long problem.

Our phone request for earplugs a couple of hours ago was met with a rather unhelpful and unsympathetic sorry, but there's nothing we can do. The customary knock on the door two minutes after a request has not been forthcoming and a follow-up call a couple of minutes ago to see if they might have some headphones was a little more apologetic and understanding, but still with no offer of any slight attempted remedy.

Personally, we feel that most of the hotel is unfit for purpose tonight, but it doesn't look as if the extent of the problem will be recognised when we speak to the GM in the morning. We appreciate that it is not within Aman's power to stop the event, but management has clearly been aware of this and any other luxury hotel, let alone a chain seeking to retain the reputation that Aman enjoys, would have done something to address the concerns of guests and these are the kinds of risks and eventualities that Aman should be well used to dealing with in a satisfactory way to meet the expectations of its particular client base. .The island and the restaurant seemed deserted tonight, so perhaps other guests had managed to find out about it and avoid tonight or took matters into their own hands earlier when the noise started. The management of other hotels at which we stay would have been in touch as soon as they knew about it, if not known at time of booking, to inform us and discuss the option of rearranging our stay for different dates, which would have been easily possible. At the very least, the matter would have been raised in a transparent way upon arrival perhaps with an offer to accommodate us in a room in a more sheltered location on the far side of the island or perhaps in the Villa Milocer if the sounds travels less around the bay than across the water.

In general, the staff here, despite their warmth and well-meaning intentions, seem unprepared to deal with anything than does not go according to plan. On out first full day here, we returned to our room to find that there was no longer any water. They seemed unaware if any issue when we called to raise it. They agreed to send someone straight away and we left the room and no attempt was made to update us. A couple of hours later, after some time on the beach, we stopped to enquire after the washrooms at Villa Milocer and were escorted there to find used, but unflushed toilets and no running water, but nothing was said until we asked again. At that point the guest assistant admitted sheepishly that the whole of Budva had been cut off, but that water should be restored by mid-evening. We had to recommend they use buckets with sea/bottled water to flush out the toilets. As far we can tell from talking to other guests, no effort was made to notify us of the situation except in response to direct enquiries.

We also feel that it is helpful to add that the island is not yet finished (15 rooms, plus various amenities still to go). This in itself is not a big problem; the noise from ongoing works is minimal and kept out of view. The noise from other local construction is much more problematic: the otherwise charming Queen's Beach, recommended on another thread, is currently spoilt by noisy construction just behind, for example, leaving only one stretch of private sand (well, I should say pretty pink pebbles). The attendant recommended we locate to the end nearest Villa Millocer, but is was still far from tranquil.

There is much to commend Aman Sveti Stefan and, until tonight we were contemplating returning to see the resort fully open. As relatively young travellers, we had also hoped that this would be the start of a lifetime of Aman experiences, but this one has left us cautious and wondering whether it might not be worth the risk. The lovely added touches (that everyone knows your name, housekeeping that comes unseen like a toothfairy to neatly arrange your toner and moisturiser, the extra mile with weighty custom-designed furniture etc.) do not do enough to offset a failure to address much more critical problems. With its recent spate of European properties, Aman should realise that competition is stiffer in this market and its target audience perhaps more discerning.

Here's to hoping we get some sleep soon!