Amanpuri going downhill?
I am an Amanjunkie (have several tee-shirts) but over the past few years, I have been quite disappointed by some, especially Amanpuri, which I first stayed at when it opened back in the 1980s. The management there does not seem to care any more and although the architecture is beautiful and they maintain everything well, there is an arrogance now that did not used to be there. The other disaster, of course, is Amanwella in Sri Lanka, which is a hopeless design and has never run properly (apart from when Francois Richli was there).
In fact, Aman do not own all their properties. Most are owned by investment groups or even, as is the case with Amanyara, Turks & Caicos, and Amangani, by one investment group - Canyon Equity.
It will be interesting to see how Aman do running city hotels (Delhi, Bangkok, Beijing) as when they ran Carcosa Seri Negara (now GHM), and The Strand Myanmar (also now GHM) the feeling was that they were out of their depth. GHM tends to be better at it.
I also wonder what Aman will do about its spas now that their spa director has quit. Adrian Zecha is notoriously disinterested, which is probably why the spas never really impressed.