Originally Posted by
scented
A family emergency, if it can be proven through a doctor's letter or comparable, is something that can be insured easily -- in that case the insurance will refund you up to 100% of your stay, including flight rebooking or cancellation fees. If you have such an insurance, which really does make sense, you should try to file a case with them to get your money back.
On a different note, Aman should have been more empathic to your situation. Many factors really -- are you a frequent guest at Kila or Aman in general, your relationship with the team / the new GM in this case and of course... company / "corporate" policy, which ... let's face it... these days is: grab as much money as you can. So I am not entirely surprised. I think a few GMs would have reacted differently, namely the ones that I know and would visit but new / greener ones favoured with VD.... you'll hit a wall. I cannot blame them, this is what most hotel companies do these days... and Aman used to be this exception, as they favoured long term business and relationships, REAL hospitality, over cold business. Think that's gone...
Hope aside from the financial aspect, everything is alright.
I have replied and expressed my disappointment. CC'd in the ops execs. Will see what happens.
FS cancelled my reservations and refunded the deposit, no questions asked. It's not about the money, though. I can absorb the cost if needs be (though I'd rather not), it's about the lack of empathy. Not only did the GM just bat my email off to the reservations manager, but the reservations manager broke down the cancellation policy in detail as his rationale for only offering a refund of one night out of four unused. Just feels extremely cold and impersonal, and is a slap in the face when I had to throw everything in my suitcase and rush to the airport to make the next available flight.
So much for the brand reputation.