benjinito

The girl wrote that she reached out to Amangiri last year and was declined because "Amangiri doesn't work with influencers", but that they later changed their mind and contacted her about a collaboration

BenjaminNicholas

It's all a little sad. None of the influencer crap would have flown if Adrian was still running the show.

That said, he's gone and the brand changes. I always hope for the best.

benjinito

The main hikes in Zion are The Narrows and Angels Landing. I personally would only overnight there if I have enough time to do either of those. If not, I would just drive through the park (12 miles), in which case there's no need to stay overnight.
I know you said you'd only spend the evening inside your hotel room in Las Vegas, but you would most likely do the same in Zion. There isn't much to do there after dark.
Personally, I'd recommend staying in Las Vegas and go to the Neon Museum the first night and perhaps drive one hour to Valley of Fire if you're looking for something to do before your flight. Both are outdoors. Unless you plan on visiting over the summer, in which case I'd avoid spending anytime outdoors in Las Vegas

ridefar

Easily one of the biggest understatements ever on FT.

offerendum

I double this. I did stay at the park gates once and drove through it a few times. The drive is stunning and shows you some highlights. Of course an additional full day at the park is always a good idea and you won't regret it, but the drive is a good compromise for the first time.

Pausanias

I do find this discussion about Amangiri's guests totally mystifying and depressing. Our culture now is way below rock bottom. Certain Amanresorts just look tacky and cheap to me nowadays and if you can put the finger of blame on anything it's undoubtedly social media which I regard as a baleful force in the world.

scbelle

We'll be there next month, so I'm doubting that heat will be an issue Whether or not we'll have time for one of the hikes y'all mentioned will largely depend on whether or not my husband is ready to leave Amangiri or I have to drag him out of there... I may reserve both and try to feel out his mood before the cancellation period runs out.

And THANK YOU for your advice!

BESVISOR

Haha, yup and what's more funny is that they stated doing an interview with the GM and will discuss why he had chosen not to work with influencers but has changed his mind. LoL. I can't wait to watch.

That being said, I do hate hypocrisy so I should clarify that I also document/film my travels/stays (although, rarely during times when other guests are around and use it to better advise clients) so I shouldn't be casting too much shade on them for doing something similar

benjinito

Just finished a lovely trip here.

Pros:

• Weather was lovely, low to mid 70s during the day. I would highly recommend a March trip. We though the weather was perfect for hiking
• The staff seemed genuinely nice and willing to accommodate
• The resort is very, very special and aesthetically stunning
• Food was decent. We had an excellent meal at Camp Sarika, but we didn't hate the food at Amangiri either.

Cons:

• I don't love that the 10% service charge is tacked onto EVERYTHING.
  • We brought our 2 small dogs and were charged $200/night cleaning fee. They also tacked on another 10% service charge here. Very unnecessary since $200/night is already wayyyy overpriced. In exchange, we did get a gift of 2 "I stayed at Amangiri" dog tags
  • We did Via Ferrata and the front desk girl told us the additional 10% would go to resort staff and the guide (who was a third party contractor) will not get any of it. We ended up leaving an extra tip for him. I'd understand charging a service fee on in-house activities (like the Sunset Trail), but I don't see why I should tip the resort staff $78 for merely booking the reservation and handing it off to someone else.
• The server recommended an off-menu cocktail to me that was DELICIOUS. I found out at check-out that it was $50
• We only got 1 Amangiri luggage tag and had 4 bags
• We were asked for our room number multiple times. To be fair, everyone is wearing a mask so it might have been a little difficult to tell who's who

SocialAdept

I'm hearing the discussion on Social Media and I think that we have to put this into the context on what the last 14+ months have been like. Hospitality is struggling, Aman and similar which have far higher standards and maintenance find themselves having to accept concessions they would not normally. We can hope that this goes back to normal as the world re-opens but until then it's better that properties just survive to get there.

scbelle

Trip Report!

We stayed for 3 nights in a base/desert suite after spending 3 nights at L'Auberge de Sedona. And WOW what a difference. Sedona itself was lovely, but while L'Auberge's creekside location is lovely, I felt that it both missed out on the gorgeous rock views that Sedona is known for and that the resort itself wasn't quite all it was cracked up to be. Amangiri, however... Was much better than expected. I always have a moment of trepidation about booking at Aman given the pricing, but the level of service was certainly in a different league from L'Auberge. You'll be happy to note that I didn't notice any influencers! Guests were quite variable--some families with children from 6-12, a couple of parents with college kids for "spring break", "girl groups', individual couples, some couples travelling together, an occasional single travel... it pretty much ran the gamut. They told us that both Amangiri and Sarika were "full" at 80% capacity + any children that shared rooms with their parents. Oh--there were also two small, friendly dogs travelling with one couple

Front end work with concierge was very good--we booked a spa appointment, via ferratas, and riding off site in advance. I had scheduled the Grounding Journey--which was a Body Polish, Wrap, and Massage. At normal spas I stick with just the massage, but I wanted to just dive into the whole experience at Amangiri, and I'm glad that I did. The session was performed in a large suite that would accommodate a couple. The room was gorgeous--wood paneling everywhere with huge panels that opened to allow in fresh air and the desert rock so close you could almost touch it. The shower and bath were en suite for an easy transition btw wrap and massage. Massage was excellent. Very nice experience. I scheduled it at the beginning of the trip, but while it was, as predicted, an excellent way to kick off the aman experience, I wish I'd scheduled it after the via ferrata! (My husband is loathe for me to abandon him twice in one trip for massages, which he does not enjoy).

We did the "easiest" via ferrata, Hoo Doo. It was a FANTASTIC experience for me, though my husband is less fond of heights and would rather have passed. I really loved it--though it did require a bit of muscle in a few spots. I may or may not have been sore a for a couple of days later! For reference, I'm in pretty average shape. I can hike for miles pretty easily and only get sore feet, not legs, with occasional huffing and puffing on strong inclines and a little tenderness on the downhill for my joints. After this, my thighs were screaming and arms, shoulders were sore for a just a bit. That said--the climbs are super fun, and the view at the top is very much worth it! Though we only scheduled one route for this trip, they have three routes running and a fourth completed but not available to guests yet.

To our great surprise, it was raining on our riding day, so we cancelled that experience. One would think it would put a damper on things, but we very much enjoyed watching the rain's effects on the desert scape. The usually almost bleached looking hoo doos took on a crazy array of browns, tans, greens, and almost blues--it looked like an entirely different place. We also spent an hour or so in the Water Pavillion. It felt a bit strange to use steam/sauna as this was the first place we've been during Covid that allowed use of such facilties, but they allow access to only 2 parties at a time and we actually had it mostly to ourselves. We spent most of our time at the WP pool, which is heated to 98* (main pool is 86*) and is in a cozy snug of one of the rock formations. Super relaxing.

We also hiked around the property a good bit. The "comp" hike to Broken Arrow was fun and easy. We also enjoyed hiking over to Camp Sarika and checking out that property. If we'd had more time/better weather, there were numerous other hikes to take. If the Navajo Tribal Lands had been open, we would have wanted to stay at least another night or two to check out some of those attractions as well.

Food was mostly very good. For breakfast, don't miss the "pancake"--which was not your normal pancake but more of a thick pan fried cake--crispy outside, eggy bread on the inside. I wish I'd discovered these the first day! We had a lunch at Camp Sarika that was pretty good, though the steak was very aggressively cooked! Fries were great. The chips and dips in both locations made for a good snack. We had dinner only at Amangiri, and everything was very good. They were able to accommodate all sorts of special requests--my husband was "over" a southwestern flavor profile, so they altered dishes to leave out those spices... I'm allergic to shell fish so they made a plain cacio e pepe for me... We sometimes weren't that hungry and asked for smaller or split portions... I really loved the blueberry spritzer I had by the pool. My only true gripe came over the wine list. Basically, take the retail price of a bottle and move the decimal. Charging $200 for a $20 is obnoxious, but fine, I get it, you've got a captive audience. Charging $2000 for a $200 bottle? That's obscene.

And seems like bad business. On vacation, we regularly will drink 2 decent bottles over a leisurely dinner (travelling without kids!!!). I was so annoyed by the pricing that I restricted myself to a glass or two of wine or beer (so did my husband). Dumb math on their part.... Let's say they'd just tripled the wine prices on a decent bottle... So two $100 retail bottles would have been 2 $300 bottles, or a $600 sale.... Instead, they were getting 4 glasses of wine or beer, lets say at $20 a pop? That's an $80 sale... To me this is a classic case of pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered, but I guess if there are enough people willing to pay a 10x charge, folks like me don't matter!

It really just felt tacky, which is a shame, because everything else was so elegant and effortless. I get that plenty of people are happy to splash around that kind of cash, but I don't want to spend that kind of money on something I already have in my cellar. I forgot to inquire about the corkage, but next time I would either bring my own or plan the vacation as a detox and not drink at all.

But to end the dining review on a happier note, I absolutely LOVED the Navajo Fry Bread dessert. oh! And they knew we were leaving the resort to go to Zion, and they gave us a wonderful "takeaway" lunch menu and had everything packed for us in our car when we left. That was a pleasant surprise and saved us from fast food on the road!

The common areas of the resort were beautiful, comfortable, and well spaced out, but we still have a bit of the covid heebie jeebies and spent what little downtime we had lounging in our room. We found it very comfortable, despite all of the concrete! They provided a yoga mat, which I put to good use, though I couldn't do some twisting poses because of a lack of room. The coffee table weighed a million pounds so I couldn't be bothered to drag it around to make room. I loved the closeting, though a few more drawers would have been niced. But all of the hooks around the room were great for hiking gear/hats/jackets. The bathroom was very nice, with a few caveats. The bath is one of those super long ones, so unless you want to bath japanese style sitting up, it's hard to lounge in the tub. But what a view! And it's the perfect size to lounge if someone joins you. The showers are great--excellent pressure--but I do wish there were a door of some sort for the shower/bath area, as it was COLD once the water was off. Housekeeping was above and beyond--I swear they were somehow in their tidying every single time we left the room, not just for morning and turndown. We noticed that they didn't have a tea kettle when we arrived, and they provided a whole set up with an electric kettle, tea pots, cups, and a choice of teas. They took away our pots and cups the second day without replacing, but after we requested it be replaced, it was subsequently replaced every time. We also requested the stargazing kit for our room, which was fun. The bed itself was quite comfortable, though I do agree with folks about the vicious nature of that concrete surround. Forewarned, I just draped the throw blanket and a bathrobe over it overnight--not very elegant, but it saved my shins Our bedtime gifts were a dream catcher, navajo tea, and chocolates.

We also enjoyed the Navajo programming. We went to Sarika one night for a story teller and saw the tail end of the hoop dancing at Amangiri. We did not have an individualized ceremony the way we did at Amansara or Amantaka and like some have described here, but that could have been because of Covid or because we left sooner than they had expected on our last day--not sure on this. I did kind of miss having that experience! As others mentioned, we were also only given one luggage tag rather than one for each bag, which also made me a little sad. Alas.

All in all, it was a great stay. We will definitely go back when we return to the area with the kiddos to do the national parks, though unless international travel continues to be restricted, I don't think it will be a destination in and of itself for us again.

As a post script--my uncle lives in vegas and warned us that they had increased hotel capacity to 80% and that the strip was packed, so we cancelled the Vegas reservations and went forward with the Zion trip. We left Amangiri at about 9 and made it to Zion (in the new time zone) around 1 and hiked the half mile to the grotto with our Amangiri packed lunch. Fantastic. We then hiked all of the emerald pool trails--water was low still, so the views were prettier than the pools themselves. And they were gorgeous views. After checking into the lodge and dumping our stuff, we took the shuttle up to the Temple of Sinawa (much of the park is closed right now. there have been major rockslides, so the only shuttle stops available were 1,5,6,8 and 9) and walked the riverside trail up to where the Narrows begins. Beautiful. The red rock grill has reopened with limited seating capacity inside and out, so we had a couple of beers and not-great cheeseburgers that were nevertheless satisfying, given that we didn't have to drive anywhere. In the morning, we woke up before dawn, snagged parking on the other side of the tunnel, and made the hike up the Canyon Overlook Trail. Simply gorgeous. We couldn't stay as long as I would have liked because of our flight out of Vegas, but my guess is the really pretty light hits the canyon around 45 minutes after technical sunrise. Even without the glow, it is still a stunning view.

Thanks to all for your input on this forum!

Livetotell

Scbelle,

Thanks for the trip report! If you ever go back to Sedona, consider the Enchantment resort. I think it has more of what you were looking for.

scbelle

Thanks for the tip!

benjinito

Looks like Amangiri raise their rate again? Went last year for $2,600++ (which was already high compared to pre-pandemic) and now it's $4,000++

Aventine

I'm honestly surprised it hasn't hit $5000 yet.