Imanta - Aman beauty with too many flaws

Airport transfer was done by a third-party provider, and we had an unpleasant ride with a surly driver who greeted us by telling us how tired he was, caused several unsafe driving situations with hard braking and did not increase a/c temperature although requested. No water or amenities in the car. Arriving at the resort, a homemade lemonade and cold towels were offered and we were shown to our room, an Ocean Front Casa.

Imanta is in the Punta Mita area, an upscale resort area near Puerto Vallarta. From the airport it’s a driving time of around 45 minutes, with the last 10 minutes through the jungle, passing 2 huge wooden gates. It felt a bit like arriving at Jurassic Park. Located in the middle of jungle, the resort sits on its own in a bay with a 500 m stretch of beach. The exposure is to the West, making for beautiful sunset views. There are only 12 rooms in the resort. In the middle of the resort there is a main building, which was obviously designed as a multi-bedroom villa, and became public only after construction was finished. It reminded me of the former hilltop villa at Six Senses Yao Noi.

Footpaths from the main building lead to the rooms (no buggy access) and to the beach.

The first impression of the resort and the room was WOW! – a stunning, dramatic location, the jungle, the roaring ocean, the low lighting. A room from the Aman playbook, very symmetric, simple and timeless. There are only two Ocean Front Casas, which sit directly above the beach. They feature a huge deck with daybed, sunbeds and cocktail table, a private plunge pool, an outdoor shower; inside, first the bedroom with a desk and armchair, then the enormous bathroom with double vanities, walk-in shower, bathtub by a huge bay window overlooking the ocean, separate toilet and separate dressing room. A TV is hidden in a console at the end of the bed (didn’t look at it), unfortunately there was no music system.

A few interesting things to note: there are no room keys (you just close the sliding door when leaving), but rooms do lock from the inside; no do-not-disturb sign (which would be cool if they tracked your location in order to not disturb when in the room, but they still entered the terrace to set up/clear the sunbeds); complimentary minibar (just stocked with soft drinks); no shower gel (odd), but upon arrival they let you choose your favorites among 10 varieties of handmade soaps, which are then cut freshly and placed everywhere; bed sheets are changed every 4 days unless requested otherwise; laundry service is complimentary this was not advertised; hot water is a limited resource, the shower turns tepid when 2 people take a shower after one another.

Other than the architectural beauty, there were no personal touches. No fresh flowers, no welcome card or amenity. The guest directory is very, very basic (just a few pages with general information, in-room dining, activities and spa treatments) and only partially bilingual. Housekeeping is of course done twice daily, with no touch-ups in-between.

They do offer spa treatments in a jungle spa, which we did not use. In the guest directory, they offer a handful of activities on property, some of which are priced way above reason (USD 2500++ for a trip to their treehouse with margaritas and a surf & turf lunch for 2 pax!). We did try the Temazka experience, a shamanic ritual in the jungle involving fire, hot stones, steam, darkness and prayers, which was very well done, something you’d find at an Aman.

On our last day, we were lucky to take part in setting free a batch of baby turtles. On these occasions, they invite all guests to join this experience. 

Imanta sits on a completely private and secluded beach, surrounded by jungle. The sand is very fine and dark brown, with sprinkles of gold, quite unique actually. The ocean is safe for swimming, but the waves can be quite high. The water is clear, but dark. The waves go also up very far, so there are no sunbeds on the beach, only higher up at the level of the beach restaurant. I can’t comment on beach service as we spent our days in our Casa.

There is a larger pool up at the main building, and we’re not sure if it’s for everyone or just the guests of the rooms there. The pool in the Casa is heated, but it's more of a plunge pool.

In the restaurants and bar, the service was alright, but not very personal. They repeatedly asked for the name of our room, and we were never addressed by name, which should be possible in a 12-room hotel.

Communication between the different departments seems to be an issue. From the room, you would simply call “guest experience” for anything, but too often a call did not yield the desired result. Like ordering a coconut (never delivered), or to ask if the very competent and enthusiastic barman would be on duty (answer yes, only to find out that he was working at a private event in one of the villas), ask for laundry pick-up (didn’t happen), request a copy of the bill (didn’t happen). English skills are limited, it helped a lot that we speak a bit of Spanish.

We had a few separate issues that required informing guest experience: the transfer experience mentioned before, the water level of our pool dropping mysteriously, a strong stench of sewage/fecal matter in the room, and a big pile of number two by some animal (a coati if you’re interested) that has learned how to open closed sliding doors. Each time, they sent somebody to resolve the issue, but there was no follow-up of any kind.

There was no management presence at all, which to us seemed a bit odd. In a 12-room property, we’d have expected to meet or at least see the people in charge.

Breakfast and lunch are served at the beach restaurant, and service is S-L-O-W… We’re not people who need everything immediately, but it really was slow, like waiting 30+ minutes for coffee, granola and yoghurt. Even little things that you need urgently take forever. By the time the lime for the coke arrives, the ice cubes have melted…

Breakfast is below average, lunch is ok, not outstanding. Particularly the sweet breakfast items (French toast, pancakes, pastry basket) are poorly executed and presented. Lunch is very focused on tacos and ceviches, all good but not worth taking a picture.

Bread and pastries are the weakest point in their food offerings throughout and seem to be mostly out of the freezer. For breakfast, I’d be happy with a coffee and a muffin, but they couldn’t deliver on that: no croissants, no muffins - the “pastry basket” were 3 tiny puff pastries!

Dinner is served at Tukipa restaurant in the main building, the layout is very odd for a communal area. You’re supposed to order from an a-la-carte menu, with 2 daily specials. It’s maybe a bit too sophisticated for having the same menu every night, but well executed and nicely presented. Service is much quicker and efficient at dinner.

At the top of the building is the Observatorio bar with another small pool and daybeds. Imanta has a great barman, Gabriel, who creates excellent customized cocktails. If he’s not there (which unfortunately was more the rule than the exception), his substitute tries his best, but it’s nowhere near the same. Note that there is no cocktail list, and no drinks list either, and as there are no checks to sign you have no idea how much you’re paying. Wine prices are however acceptable for a resort of this standard (white wines USD 45-60, red wines USD 50 and up, champagne Ruinart Brut USD 150). Everything is +15% service charge.

Two things to note: there is no music anywhere, and as many guests chose to venture out for dinner, the restaurant is very quiet, and it felt a bit eerie; every day is the same, no special dinner or using the beach restaurant for a BBQ, no entertainment of any kind.

Imanta has the rooms, location and size to be one of the best resorts in the world. We’ve been to a lot of very nice resorts, but have rarely experienced such spectacular views and natural beauty (even more incredible considering that the large resorts of Punta Mita are just 15 minutes away).  Unfortunately, service is not at the level it should be at that price point, where a nice vacation with a reasonable amount spent on incidentals will set you back USD 2k per day. Some things they do seem like they have been scripted by somebody a couple of years ago and they still do 70% of them, but don’t really understand why. For instance, there is a guest book on display at the main building, where the last page was filled in late 2015.

Imanta in its current form is only a small part of a huge masterplan, which includes residential villas, additional rooms, a beach club, a main building with a tiered Amankila-style swimming pool (there is a scale model on display in the gift shop). However, the resort was opened 10 years ago and nothing has been added since the opening.

The staff is friendly and willing to please, but they need a lot of training and more supervision. With the right managerial oversight (maybe hire one of the ex-Aman GMs who have left the group), standards could be improved dramatically.

Would we return: Not until they add more facilities and improve service.

More photos on my Flickr account: https://flic.kr/s/aHsm8LekBk