SeamasterLux

- Plaza Athénée Paris: Appalling and obnoxious service, horrible crowd made of Fashion staff, spoiled Russian brats and Middle-Eastern show-offs

- Ritz London: worn out rooms, slow service, overpriced

farbster

Seems like many people here are disappointed by the a bunch of the Aman properties. I wonder if that is a function of people having unreasonable expectations because it is an Aman hotel. I've not stayed at one, but I would have very, very high expectations based on the Amanjunkies here.

spylaw4

Certain Aman properties are simply marvellous, others very less so. I suppose it depends on the GM and also the staff at the time.

As far as Amanjiwo goes - well - it was a little less than stellar during our visit. Possible this was due to there being few staying there at the time and also a problem with the room air-con. We were moved twice to try and improve it with only very partial success, gave up in the end.
Shame as IMO it's a dramatic hotel.

Londonjetsetter

I loved the setting and the activities at Amanjiwo and found the service to be excellent. Everything is very well organised and Ian is a truly great GM. I thought the rooms looked quite dated with all the orange-y shiny wood. Not sure I would rush back for a while as there are other places I would like to see first and better places for a lazy break.

cruisr

Screaming kids all around the pool. Many groups there so that I was not able to partake in any activities except one (a nighttime desert ride and walk on dunes) because the groups had taken all the spaces.

No pool service i.e. Chilled towels or water bottles. The breakfast was nice but if you dined outside and left your seat it was as if Alfred Hitchcock cued the birds to attack the table. I know it sounds crazy but there should have been signs warning guests that you may not want to dine outdoors due to this. And the reason I had to leave my seat was there were no staff to get me a knife when I accidentally dropped mine.

At night there was virtually no lighting on the many cobbled walk ways. I had to use my iPhone flash light to walk from my room to the lobby.

I can go on but I won't. I was very disappointed

SanDiego1K

I didn't care for Qasr al Sarab either. The best thing there were their activities, which were very well done. Otherwise, I far preferred the much more intimate and private Al Maha.

Cityflyer10

Staying at first aman soon...will update it in this thread if it makes the unwowed list

scented

Hopefully not!

BENLEE

Interesting thread. For me, the biggest disappointment will be the Four Seasons George V. One of the most expensive hotel room I ever paid for, the hype around this property particularly in this forum was hyper before my stay. Perhaps expectations was rammed up to unreasonably high standards so it falls flat on the face. A huge disappointment. Recovery was good though. They actually waived off the cost of the stay. Never been back again but then I don't often goto Paris.

The other major disappointment would be the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo. Other than the view ( which I admit is stunning ), it has nothing much. Not service, not the hardware. Huge let down.

I am generally very unforgiving of hotels that have disappointed me, even those I used to stay regularly.. It can take years before I re-try a property.

SanDiego1K

The very first time I paid for a luxury hotel, I had a bad experience. I was put off paying for luxury hotels for years afterwards. This was 20 years ago. I had a night in Geneva at the end of a business trip. I had been to Geneva several times, knew about several luxury hotels, and knew the company expense report wouldn't cover them. But hotels that were covered weren't great. I decided to go for luxury, submit the amount the company was willing to cover, and pay the delta. I believe I chose Le Richemond, though can't promise that was it. I saw the pictures on the website of views from the hotel of the fountain in the lake. I paid $500 of which $200 was being covered. I was given a room on the side of the hotel. The king bed almost filled the room. I could barely walk around the bed. The view was of the building across the street. I walked out onto the deck and could see the fountain from it. But the deck was filthy, lots of bird droppings. I spoke to the manager on duty and someone came and cleaned the balcony. I was really sad that I paid so much for so little. This experience soured me for a long time on paying for a "luxury" hotel.

instyleprincess

Peninsula BKK - went for NYE, service just not that good when the hotel is full

Amankila - I think my FS Sayan stay was better

mike_la_jolla

Le Richemond might be my worst luxury hotel stay ever. I was 'upgraded' to the back as you were. Most of the rooms do not have views even though this hotel is lakefront. My suite view was to the alley and into the next building, which cannot be more than 30ft away. I could literally read the cookie recipe of the woman in the next building as she was baking.

UPDATE: No. My worst stay ever was Intercontinental David Tel Aviv. I actively try to repress that memory.

grumbler

Four Seasons Maui
MO NY
Plaza NY
Dorchester
Park Hyatt Zurich

luxury

For me:

Plaza Athenee Paris -- absolutely horrible service. They simply did not care....

Le Bristol Paris -- it was okay. Our room was so plain, no decorations, nothing at all like any of the other rooms. I have always found the service to be indifferent here.

Oriental Bangkok -- more "don't care one bit" service

Dorchester -- I think the hotel staff were snootier than the clientele

To be clear, I stayed at these properties on my own dime before I became a TA. Due to my TA at the time, the Bristol did recover well. However, I just don't feel at home at Le Bristol.

The Plaza Athenee, Oriental and Dorchester were immediately before I had start working with my own TA back then. Service recovery was non-existent.

obscure2k

Had good stays at the Gritti Palace in Venice when I traveled with my husband. The last time I was there, I was alone and they treated me like dirt. My room was a tiny rabbit warren that looked like part of the attic. I was scheduled to stay a few days. When I said that I was moving to another hotel, they called a taxi and charged me about $100 to go a short distance to the Monaco and Grand Canal. The Gritti was not busy and I was not there on points. It was shortly after 9/11 and the city was nearly devoid of American tourists. I went for a few days to escape television news and lose myself in the city of Venice.
The other hotel which did not impress me is the Four Seasons HUalali No beach, crowded pools, mediocre food, with the exception of breakfast and not enough chaise lounges.