Back from a 4 night stay at Aman New York and just booked my return for Aman NY next week.

Thought I'd share a few thoughts...

One of my favorite/best NY stays to date. Was it PERFECTION? No. Do I ever get remotely close to perfection in NY? NO.
Do I expect perfection in NY? I actually never expect perfection anywhere, anymore. I still get perfect stays here and there but I no longer set myself up for huge disappointments.
I do think guests have the right to expect perfection at a very high price point. I just know the reality is different these days (esp in NY / North America) and my goal is to come away from a trip happy not receving perfection.

Hard products:
It's my favorite in NY by a long shot. In mid town, I think Baccarat and Aman NY are my favorite two hard products. Very different but I enjoy both very much. You couldn't get me to stay for free at MO, Pen, St. Regis, RC.
The terrace is unreal to have in NY and during my stay, weather was amazing (so this was just a bit of luck) and sitting out on the terrace having coffee and catching up with friends was a treat.
Gym, pool, spa are all the best I've seen to date in NY. One could argue equinox has a better gym but I think you'd have to kill me to drag me to stay at Equinox. Not saying others shouldn't love it but I don't find it luxe.
Location wise, I don't necessarily love being in mid-town (prefer downtown more) but it also doesn't bother me much. I'm fine to Uber around. But I'll happily keep staying in mid-town to be at Aman.
I stayed in the Grand Suite ($7K++ - $10k++ per night) and the Corner Suite ($15k++/night) so my suites were pretty stunning. But the entry rooms are very much a standout as well. As they should be at the price point. I spend a few hours in the entry room before my room was ready and found it very nice.
Typically, hotels' entry rooms have a watered down feel/finish to it compared to the higher rooms/suites, not the case at Aman NY. The Grand Suite, Corner Suite, Aman Suite will all be larger, with even more features but the same high quality finishes/details are extended in the entry rooms as well. Again, as they should be at this price point.

Service:
Day 1 of my service was amazing. For transparency, hotel manager (Petar) and Nicolas (GM at Puri and Managing Director over Asia) were both there to kindly meet me on arrival as they are dear friends and I was with them pretty much the entire first day. Of course service was flawless anywhere we spent time. So I'm not going to count day 1 in my analysis.
Day 2 - 4: Service was a bit inconsistent as I anticipated. When the property was busy, things got slow at the restaurant and lounge. And it got very busy at times due to the buzz of the opening. When the traffic was slower, service was great for NY standards. Staff actively spoke with us and smiled (important trait I look for and enjoy). We had one very odd and rude server at breakfast one morning. Not sure what the deal was. I guess I just had a hate-able face to her. I brought up the encounter to Aman management, to which they apologized and said they will address. There was an incorrect charge on my bill (There just happens to be another Hao Tang staying while I was there, never happened before, lol) and they apologized and fixed it immediately.
Aside from that, service was actually very good for us and we were happy throughout. The BEST groups of staff I encounter were the housekeeping team and the staff at NAMA (Japanese res. on site). I enjoyed Nama so much that we dined 2 nights during the stay and I've rebooked for next week's stay as well. Did I run into housekeeping? Yes. Is this just normal at an Aman city hotel? Yes!
I expected pretty sub-par services given that the hotel was only 6 weeks old and it's not been an easy year to staff in 2022, and walked away pretty happy.
There were some A-listers on site when I was and I fully anticipated the chance of being treated like a second class citizen but I was not. Again, it could be that I have a great relationship with Aman but I'm not sure that it mattered because the staff clearly didn't know me as they graciously asked for my name/room number, most of the time. I wasn't expecting them to remember me/room number (I had the right expectations from Aman Tokyo stays). On a few occasions, someone did remember and addressed me by name which was appreciated.

One huge positive I'd like to point out is that, at no point, was anyone a snob or pretentious to us. I dressed very unassuming. T-shirt, jeans and even shorts on a hot day. No logos - except for Saint Laurent on sneakers that one can't really see. I probably looked like a bum
My wife was pregnant and in 3rd trimester and dressed for max comfort and not for style. But no one treated us like we didn't belong. I bring this up as I've definitely encountered this at other luxe city hotels.

I'm heading back to Aman Tokyo in 2 weeks for my 5th or 6th stay, so I've long adjusted to the city concept of Aman and I'm happy with it. I didn't initially love Aman Tokyo. Took a couple tries and mental adjustments and now I love it.
Yes, Aman city hotels aren't exactly like the Aman resorts, but if I can't find a better alternative, then I'll happily take Aman's concept of one.
I book a lot of Aman Tokyo for clients and many are repeat stays. So I think it's just about having the right expectations. It works for many people.

Pricing:
This is the elephant in the suite.
I do think $3,200 - $5,000++/night for regular rooms are high. But that's not a surprise given it's Aman's flagship city property. Top Aman residence also sold for over $180Million.
Entry rooms/suites is where I find it more difficult to advise my clients. While their entry rooms (775sqft - 850sqft) are larger than many of the full suites at other properties, due to not having true separation of living and bed rooms, it just doesn't feel like a suite.
So much of the room's space is allocated to the bathroom and a gorgeous bathroom it is. I have no problem spending time in their lower rooms and you can see no expenses were spared but I just wouldn't call it a true suite.
For someone who's budget is $2k++/night in NY, I wouldn't want to encourage them to stretch their budget for Aman. Just too big of a jump and I'm not sure they will appreciate the details enough to justify it. I don't think this is Aman NY's target market.
During my stay, I've never seen more billionaires under one single roof at once. At one point, I counted over $200Billion in the lounge at the same time.
For clients who typically spends bout $3k - $5k at other hotels in suites, I would make an argument that it's better to be in a "room" of 775sqft - 850sqft at Aman than an old sub par suite elsewhere in mid-town.
Not only is the finish/quality way higher at Aman, you also get the terrace, pool, spa.
Here's the interesting realization for me...for my clients who do spend $10K-$30K++ per night, I for sure would encourage them to book Aman NY over others. Baccarat's top suite is $25k++/night, MO is $20k and up, even Park Hyatt is $25k++. All these are rack rates of course, I usually then negotiate discounts. But for comparison sake, it's apples to apples.
The top suites at Aman are brand new and done well for my and many of my clients' taste but the no brainer part is because with Aman, you get all the other hotel facilities/amenities that MO, Pen, PH, Baccarat, just don't have.

This property clearly is meant for the ultra high networth and price isn't their 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th priority when deciding on where to stay. They just want the best product in a given market.
Aman NY isn't a property I can afford to stay every time I go to the city. So I'll likely split time between Aman NY and Baccarat in mid-town. And FS or Greenwich for times I need to be in lower Manhattan.

I have another set of clients leaving tomorrow and I'll get their feedback.

At this time, when I speak with my clients who are interested in going to Aman NY, I've shared that only book it if they are okay with the idea of paying for the best hard product in mid-town (maybe all of NY) but expect average service for NY. Hopefully they will be surpsied to the upside on the service front like I was. But best to be realistic and avoid disappointments.
I do think it will be similar to Aman Tokyo in that it will take a year or more for them to really polish out the service and operation. But I've had way worst service at other NY luxe hotels, so I don't see a better alternative on that front.

For now, those are my thoughts...let's see how it goes next week.