xracer

Thanks for taking the time to share all of the pictures. I'm glad that Amanzoe has such a different 'feel' than Amanruya.

I am very eager to hear what you have to say about the service at the resort. But of course, first and foremost - enjoy your holiday!

nicolas75

Are all the customers dead or did you take the pictures VERY early?

The pavilion pool is great.

Ed Tuttle has a design vocabulary which is quite limited.

Pierre&Cédric

All 38 pavilions are not finished yet, and between yesterday (Sunday) and today it seems a lot of guests left. And indeed I tried to take pictures no later than 9am as I didn't want to bother other guests.

I have not been to many hotels designed by Ed Tuttle but for sure there are similarities between Park Hyatt Vendôme & Amanzoé. Personally I love it!

Musken

Thanks a lot again. And enjoy.

vuittonsofstyle

Me too. Ed's architecture is monumental, like Amanjena and Amankila. The staff at Amanzo'e have nicknamed it The Acropolis.

One thing to mention - the beach club is a work in progress - so if it looks a little stark right now, that's because it is not entirely finished. They want to see how guests use it before they decide on the finished thing, which is sensible, I think.

xracer

I'm not trying to be difficult here (and would like to go on record as saying that I LIKE the way the beach club looks), but really, how many ways are there to 'use' a beach club?

One sits by the beach or pool and swims in either the ocean or the pool and maybe eats at the restaurant. It all seems pretty straightforward to me, so I'm not certain why the designers felt like they had to wait to make decisions and/or finish construction.

My hunch is that they didn’t want to postpone the opening of the resort because the beach club was not 100% complete. And I think that’s perfectly fine as long as the remaining beach club work isn’t too distracting to the guests.

The one thing that I think the beach club could use (well, apart from having some vegetation grow) is to have some ‘lounging areas’ other than just the chaise longues.

zigzag

Thank you for all your pictures and information you have provided. This is just another example of why this forum is so valuble to me. Where else could you get all this information so fast and so unbiased, not even the Amanresorts website has as much information as we do here!

nicolas75

It is clear that construction work was not finished for the summer season, and the hotel did not want to postpone the opening.

I presume this is what we should call the power of the brand/marketing, which helps to let accept things other properties/brands may not be able to let accept.

I am waiting for the argument: "Oh, and we decided to have some villas under construction, and offer you this view over the construction work as an experience. A kind of symbol to be shared with our guests of the collapse of the Greek econony".

vuittonsofstyle

It's not as simple as that. Aman is wondering if they may need a lager pool area, so there was a thought to build a third pool (OK 4th if you count the kid's pool) so that nobody would feel crowded. They are looking at how people use the beach club, and how crowded it gets before they decide, which I think is pretty sensible. Also, Ed Tuttle didn't like the sand and was having it changed - that's Aman for you!

Pierre&Cédric

It is indeed what we were told (possibilty of extension with additional pool).

Pierre is very sensitive to the sun and can be burn very easily so we like to go to the Beach Club in the morning much earlier than other guests when there is plenty of shade and we leave at 2pm maximum when there is too much sun. This morning we were told that the Beach Club restaurant would open one hour earlier. I guess it is not for us only, but it shows how they are adjusting. It is really great service. We will leave tomorrow, I am not such a good reporter as Musken and others () but I will give more comments when we are back.

Mark345

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/3d757728-f...#axzz26XwsGwvK

AmanZoe piece, with uk prices. Subscription usually waived at the weekend but i've copied for convenience:


Greece resorts to luxury

By Claire Wrathall
A lavish €900-a-night hotel launches in the crisis-hit country – a crass mistake or a vote of confidence?
View from the terrace of one of the guest pavilions at Amanzoe, close to Porto Heli on the east coast of the Peloponnese

View from the terrace of one of the guest pavilions at Amanzoe, close to Porto Heli on the east coast of the Peloponnese

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Head west from Athens airport towards the Peloponnese on the E94 highway and you can’t help but be struck that all the roadside hoardings are blank. Either no one in Greece can afford to advertise any more or there’s simply no point in trying to sell to a population with no money. It was only once we’d crossed the Corinth canal, heading south down the Argolid Peninsula towards Amanzoe, the latest addition to Aman Resorts’ portfolio, that we passed the odd poster, almost all of them for a local beer called, somehow appropriately, Fix.

Even so, I was informed there had been Greeks among the 50 or so European, American, Brazilian and Asian guests staying at Amanzoe the week of its opening on September 1, a capacity crowd given that not all the projected 38 “pavilions” are open yet.

Some arrived in the Aman helicopter, an 18-minute hop from Athens. Those up for roughing it took the hydrofoil, an old Russian vessel that used to ply the Volga, from Piraeus to Porto Heli. But most travelled by car, as I did, driven by self-effacing Yannis, one of the hotel’s personable staff drivers. Educated at university in the UK, he’d been a top-level basketball coach, working in China and Qatar, then a sports presenter on Greek television. But that was then. Now 34, with a young family in Athens, he was grateful for a regular wage. In any case, he said, he enjoyed the work: his colleagues were mostly highly educated (one senses there was a high-calibre pool to recruit from); Aman was a good employer; and he got to meet “many very interesting guests”.

If the idea of a hotel costing €900 or so a night (once VAT, a modest 6.5 per cent, and a sensational breakfast of yoghurt, honeycomb, figs and more are factored in) opening in Greece at a time of acute austerity seemed somehow insensitive or just wrong, our conversation over the 200km drive convinced me otherwise. Greece needs euros, Greeks need jobs, and Aman Resorts’ devoted followers tend to have money to spend.

Designed by Ed Tuttle, the doyen of Aman architects, Amanzoe has been configured as a hillside “acropolis” of standalone stone houses, with flat roofs planted with lavender, rosemary and other fragrant Mediterranean shrubs, and their own infinity pools. At the top of the hill, 183m above sea level, stand a couple of imposing buildings containing the restaurant and other public areas. These evoke, just a little preposterously, the Parthenon as the Greek-born Italian artist Giorgio di Chirico might have painted it. Indeed, the whole site conjures a style you might call neo-neoclassical, with its colonnades of not-quite Doric columns – 566 of them – and acres of pale marble. They’re certainly striking but redolent not so much of the Enkoimeterion and amphitheatre at Epidaurus (45 minutes away by car), the Treasury of Atreus at Mycenae or the Temple of Hera at Argos (both about an hour’s drive) as of the fascist interpretations of classicism you find in Rome, though on a less aggrandising scale.
The hillside ‘acropolis’

The hillside ‘acropolis’

As places to stay, however, the pavilions are superb. Mine, in the least expensive category, was as pleasing and perfectly configured as any hotel room I’ve slept in. Its cool, calm, contemporary interior had a floor of polished veiny grey marble, a lofty oak ceiling and sufficient furniture, upholstered in greige yet somehow sumptuous Jim Thompson textiles. It was also beautifully lit, with wooden louvres and sliding screens across its wall of glass, and panels of translucent marble in the doors to filter the sunlight. At 100 sq m, the wraparound terrace was as big as the room itself, its view a sublime panorama of ultramarine Aegean, the islands of Spetses and Spetsopoula and the myth-rich mountains of Arkhadia beyond.

Amanzoe feels like a proper sanctuary. There’s a well-stocked library; a little amphitheatre for live performances; a couple of very good unpretentious restaurants; and an outstanding spa where every treatment room has its own steam room, bathroom and, because this is an all-year resort, fireplace. There are free daily Pilates, yoga and stretch classes, and a couple of substantial pools lined in viridian marble, one set aside for children.

If there’s an apparent snag, it’s that the beach is 6km away by road, though there are complimentary Mercedes SUVs on call to drive you there. Alternatively, a dusty path wends cross country and takes half an hour on foot (though they don’t recommend it in hot weather, and warned me about some fierce farmer’s dogs). But the beach is worth the trip. The sand is the colour and texture of demerara sugar and there’s shingle at the waterline, but it’s a perfect secluded bay, with two super-stylish 25m pools, sunloungers on the surrounding decking, wi-fi, a restaurant and access to the hotel’s two swank powerboats, a Pershing 62 and a Wally One.

There are plans to put a spa on the beach, for the opening of Amanzoe is only the first phase of a series of developments in the area by the hotel’s owner, Dolphin Capital Investors, which intends to build up to 36 villas on the Aman site, a Jack Nicklaus golf course and two further hotels at nearby Porto Heli. One, Nikki Beach, will be the second hotel venture by the brash Miami-based beach-club brand. The other, in contrast, will be a Chedi, run by GHM, the slightly less illustrious hotel management company of which Adrian Zecha, Aman’s founder and chief executive, is also a director.
An interior view of Amanzoe

An interior view of Amanzoe

It’s a vote of confidence in the potential for tourism of this part of Greece from the man who might be described as godfather of the whole “design hotel” trend and who has probably exerted greater influence on luxury hotel-keeping than anyone since Cesar Ritz. Zecha’s first minimalist masterpiece, Amanpuri, which opened in 1988 in Phuket, Thailand, had begun as a plan for a holiday home but became a blueprint for what he envisaged as an ideal hotel: a place where privacy was paramount, there were no formal check-in procedures, you never had to sign for anything, minibar contents were complimentary, and the staff would anticipate – not merely respond to – requests, and remember your name, too.

Those tenets endure across the 26 Aman Resorts – about one-third of them owned by the brand, the rest under management contract – that exist in 17 countries from Bhutan to the US, via Cambodia, Montenegro and French Polynesia. But Zecha retains only a fractional stake in the company, 97 per cent of which was acquired by the Indian real estate conglomerate DLF in 2007 for $400m. And for all the brand’s prestige, these are uncertain times for the company, which has been for sale since 2010, when DLF, which is carrying debts of more than $4bn, approached Goldman Sachs to find a buyer. Interest has been expressed by LVMH, the Malaysian government’s investment fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad, Qatar Holding LLC and China’s HNA Group, but no deal has yet been sealed.

I hope Aman finds a sympathetic new owner soon, not least because the 190 staff at Amanzoe deserve a secure future. As do the local farmers, fishermen, beekeepers and bakers who supply its restaurants and are credited by name on the menu. It’s a restorative, responsible place, and being there made me long to see it in winter in the snow and again in springtime, when the countryside is full of flowers and the landscaping has matured. In Greece, at least, there is nowhere like it, nor likely to be for some time.

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Tourism and the economy: Cautious optimism is the new Grecian formula

A record 16.5m foreign visitors travelled to Greece last year, a 9 per cent rise on 2010. But by May this year, forecasts for 2012 were gloomy in the extreme, with Andreas Andreadis, president of the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises, predicting a drop of “something like 10 to 15 per cent” after the first of this year’s elections was won by the anti-bailout party Syriza.

Even this seemed optimistic. In the first quarter of 2012, tourism receipts from EU visitors had fallen 28 per cent year-on-year. In June, the UK magazine Travel Weekly reported the closure of 17 hotels on Corfu. According to the Trivago Hotel Price Index, the average cost of a room in Athens fell by 19 per cent from £78 in May to £63 in August.

But things have picked up since Antonis Samaras, of the New Democracy party, became prime minister in June, says Andreadis. “Greece lost at least 1m bookings between the two elections, so our targets were revised down, but things have improved dramatically, and we’ve had an excellent second half of the season.” Income is still expected to fall to about €10bn, compared with €10.5bn in 2011, but Andreadis remains positive. His own hotels have seen an 8 per cent rise in turnover this summer. Eurozone business may have fallen by about a quarter but, according to the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet, the number of Turkish visitors has doubled this year since Greece relaxed its visa requirements. The Russian market has grown by 30 per cent, and the UK market is up 15 per cent.

As Rory Pilkington, managing director of British travel company Bailey Robinson, which offers a dozen top-tier hotels in Greece, says: “Before the elections people were wary but we’ve seen a lot of late bookings. There was a perception that Greece is facing bankruptcy and, therefore, there must be some really good deals, which was never the case, and that did deter some people. But hotels cost a lot to run – they can’t just give holidays away.”

.................................................. .....................

Details

Claire Wrathall was a guest of Bailey Robinson, which offers a week at Amanzoe from £3,000 per person, or £3,250 including flights from London. Double rooms at the hotel start from €883, room only

Kagehitokiri

zoe >
aman >
only one third owned by aman?? or is that not including silverlink, which is aman..?

Pierre&Cédric

We had a terrific stay at Amanzoe. You have already seen the pictures, common areas, pavilions, beach club, every detail is well thought and gorgeous. We had decided to rent a car from Athens airport. First 100km portion is highway, then the second half is a scenic mountain road. However the resort is extremely difficult to find and without the help of teenagers showing us the way on their motorbike from Kranidi we would still be lost.

The resort is partially open (not all 38 pavilions were occupied) and it will close in January to reopen by the end of March. But it was hard to believe that first guests arrived one month ago only and that everything is so new as we found the service friendly, efficient and attentive. Shall we compare with Sveti Stefan last year Amanzoe wins hands down. Perfect housekeeping (never visible). You never had to sign anything or to give your room number even on the first day. Attention to detail is just amazing. We sometimes laughed as it was like Big Brother: everybody knows what you did and remember what you ate the previous days.

One week stay was perfect as choice in restaurant is somewhat limited. For lunch you can go to the pool restaurant (great salads, sandwiches like roasted lamb with pita bread) or to the beach club restaurant (fish, salads, pizzas). For dinner the main restaurant serves a refined & more elaborate cuisine. The Chef is a nice guy who previously worked in Paris & London. His 20+ brigade will rethink the menu after the first operating months. Basically as indicated by Vuittons they are witnessing how guests 'use' the resort to adapt and adjust for the next season. For dinner for 2 starters, 2 main courses and 2 glasses of wine prices range from 120 to 140 Eur. For lunch 2 or 3 salads to share were about 50 Eur.

We went to the well equiped gym everyday. We saw 3 different trainers all very helping. We tried Pilates classes and had a lot of fun (there are 2 daily classes of Yoga / Stretching / Pilates).

The spa is beautiful, both Pierre and me had the best therapists we ever experienced. But all treatment rooms are not finished yet and Pierre had two massages in a pavilion turned temporarily into a treatment room. As a matter of fact it was quite positive as even if the real spa treatment rooms are nice they feel a bit secluded and there is no view at all. I had a haircut, they call a hair stylist from Kranidi who spent 15 years in Chicago. She was just as kind as Amanzoe own staff.^

The beach is nicer than what my pictures show. It is a pebble beach but after the first 5 meters it is a sand bedsea and in September the water temperature is at its best. Going there from the resort is still a 10 minutes drive with one of the Aman cars (Cayenne, ML, E-class, Mercedes mini-van). We booked the 'Aquazoe' for one day (Pershing 62), it is a great way to visit nearby islands like Spetses and Hydra.

We had very few issues and they were fixed in the minute after we named them. Mr & Mrs Gray are doing a fantastic job and considering its successful start I guess the resort will soon become a favorite destination!

Pavilion choice will depend on what you value most: view (to me best is 24/25/26/27/28 and 34/35/36/37/38), sunrise (1 to 13) or sunset, privacy, etc.

It was only our second Aman and for sure it makes us willing to try more!

Musken

Thanks for your review. I really really want to go, but still has some convincing to do as husband is not much of a Greece fan.

vuittonsofstyle

It's not like anything I have ever experienced in Greece. Don't forget, it's an AMAN!!!!