TRAVEL4VITALITY

"The cult resort chain that attracts high-spending customers without making a profit" - http://bit.ly/U1PSkZ

vuittonsofstyle

It will open in June 2013 - just heard this morning.

ngfan

I am narrowing it down to Pulo and Yara for a possible stay next July as Vinh Hy has no serious opening date yet. Although I am leaning towards beloved Pulo's dream island feel emotionally, judging by weather in July (no rain please) Yara seems to be the best choice along with its more modern pavilion style and the nice full board summer offer.

damaxer91

EDIT

Amankila is not the same without Tracy

Resort is being "run" without a GM until end of Jan when new GM takes over.

Suffice to say that the experience is not Amanlike when the hotel does not have single staff member that both understands and speaks English well.

Especially after a flawless stay at Amanjiwo, its concerning

FlyerEC

Hmm..
Although we missed Tracy during her absence when she was off- site , there was always someone around who knew what was going on even if their English wasn't perfect. Remember , many of the team have been around for a long time if not opening team.

However, it is different now as we really sense a void having become accustomed to her welcome presence & being around for what seems like ' forever '.

I look forward to welcoming pioneer Amanpuri team member Claudia S back to the Aman fold, she will be on board as GM soon

5khours

Beg to differ. Still superb.

damaxer91

Spent a half hour at the Concierge trying to explain what we wanted to do and see. He called over 2 other staff members yet none could understand us and when we ultimately booked the trip it was the wrong one

I'm not saying that Amankila should be avoided, just that one would expect them to bring in an interim GM for 2 months, especially during peak holiday season

FlyerEC

Hmm, were they being the usual Balinese ' polite ' & not wanting to tell you ' no '? & disappoint you - that what you requested was unavailable this season for whatever reason?
e.g. One year , the original bale up the hill was destroyed due to a very recent storm & initially some of them did not tell us but suggested alternatives, this was even after knowing us for years. The resident / assistant managers then told us what had sadly happened.
If you are still at Kila , have them call Chrissie or Sean at Nusa for you & speak with them.
Really unusual that no one was able to assist you.
The locals know the ins & outs better!!

Hope other aspects of your stay are going well though.

Looking forward to catching up with Claudia in early Feb - she'll have lots to do

damaxer91

The real barrier was the language. Was there for a few days and it didn't really get much better. I have spent enough time at Luxury SE Asia properties to be able to realize when someone has no clue what you are saying and just keeps nodding their head

behuman

Very sad to read this - I always loved Amankila.

Regarding the language this is not uncommon around Asia and worst in Thailand. Did you try to speak "plain" English slowly without American accent? I noticed often that my German accented slower English is better understood by non native English speakers.

damaxer91

Tried pretty much everything

Realized at the end, the best method was writing all instructions down clearly so if they got it wrong we could point it out.

I'll reiterate that I still would have no calms about going to Amankila, just thought that this was surprising and something that could be improved upon.

Amanjiwo's staff is almost all local and they have less exposure to English yet they were consistently better trained to speak and understand the language IMHO. No issues there whatsoever. In fact it was as flawless a stay as we've had. Anywhere

BENLEE

Strange... Looks like more than the GM was missing at this resort for them to be so clueless. I was at Amankila earlier this year and although the then GM Tracy was away due to a medical issue, all the staff including the assistant Manager have no problem understanding my English ( although I also speak Bahasa ) and I think their English standard is quite good.

Suffice to say, so far from my limited experience with Aman resorts, service standard is usually far better when the GM is around to oversee things. At Amankila, the GM was not in and service is good to moderately great, but nothing to sing praises about. On the our hand, at the Amanjiwo, the GM Mark Swinton was at hand to ensure everything runs smooth and service is head and shoulders above any other resorts I have been to so far.

vuittonsofstyle

Best thing is to speak with Sean Flakelar as he is regional VP for Indonesian Amans. I think Tracy took her eye off the ball these past few months as she knew she was leaving. Things should definitely improve when the new GM arrives. I know we don't expect anything to go wrong at an Aman, but human beings are human beings, even at Aman!

5khours

Just spent 4 days at Kila and have to disagree with the posts. We had a bunch of special requests and they were amazing at responding. E.g. we mentioned in passing that it would be interested to hear someone speak about Balinese culture and religion. 30 minutes later, that AGM came up and said that they had contacted a University in Dempasar and could arrange for a Professor to come up that afternoon and give a private lecture. Special meal orders.... no problem.... cocktail bar set up in one of the villas no problems...early morning hike....no problem. Just think you need to be a little patient in speaking and listening.

mrakant

Today I recived email for my reservation with WRONG name for Pulo. The AMAN agent is operating out of Sri Lanka I did not expect this from Aman.

Can anyone recomend good outside agent so i can be sure that I am getting what I want? Thanks in advance.