FlyerEC

[/QUOTE Ericka ]
.. Nothing went horribly wrong on this trip, but there were some annoyances that could be brought up to Aman standards.
- Guest assistants and restaurant staff had to regularly ask someone ..[/QUOTE]

Thank you Ericka ! Lovely photos too .
Hope when you return & rest of us go , these kinks will have been ironed out ..

Ericka

We aren't foodies, but hopefully you will like it too.
As for special dinners, I know there are many possible locations but we didn't see any of them. Keep the weather in mind. It was cold and windy in November, especially in the evenings.
And happy anniversary!

offerendum

Interesting! Food was our biggest issue at Amangiri. But finger crossed.....

farbster

Very nice TR. Thanks for taking the time.

mike_la_jolla

No so sure. During our stay in July '12, we had many of the same issues and more. It does look like they fixed the food and beverage issues. At the time we were there, they had a consulting head chef. The food was better than our recent stay at Amangani (July'14), but but nowhere near the quality it should be.

Also, the air conditioning didn't work in our suite and, at full occupancy, there was nothing they could or would do.

I don't recommend 'Giri during the summer. The heat limits the activities severely. And I still think that AZ should have built this place a few feet higher. The lack of privacy is a serious issue.

KatW

Enjoyed this report, thank you Ericka.

SanDiego1K

Wonderful report about a property that interests me. The pictures of the outdoors were mesmerizing. I, too, chuckled about the chicken mcnuggets. That's a story you'll still tell when he is an adult.

xracer

Concur with all of this. I think Amangiri gets a lot of free passes here because the area is so spectacular. But issues similar to what I experienced when I was there (and clearly what mike_la_jolla experienced) are still happening. This makes them systemic problems and not individual 'kinks' that will be worked out 'some time in the future'.

Having said all of this, thanks for the report and the pictures Ericka, and I am glad you had a good time. It's a nice resort in an amazing location. Certainly worth a visit - just don't expect an Aman.

bhrubin

I am very curious to see in April 2015 what Amangiri has to deliver. But I must confess that Amangiri seems to be taking a beating in regard to its service/amenities.

In my experience at 8 Aman properties thus far, not all of them have been perfect--we've certainly had a few service and amenity glitches along the way. To me, it is quite rare that any hotel stay has no issues, even at this high-luxe level. The more luxe and expensive a property is, the more anticipation and expectation we typically place upon the stay.

For me, what consistently has set Aman apart from every other luxury hotel "chain/brand" (except for Peninsula) is the manner in which they rebound from the various glitches or service issues. To me, luxury service is not just about handling you extremely well but also handling issues and mistakes extremely well when they inevitably occur. From what I've read here on FT, most don't seem to consider or include that perspective in evaluations of Aman service.

We've had issues at Aman, but they always come through in amazing ways:

(1) When booking our first trip to Indonesia with 4 Aman stays, the new Singapore reservations office screwed up so many times that I considered not even staying at the Aman properties at all. After complaining up the chain, a very helpful manager promised me they would look after us...and offered us a free "day" stay and comp'd lunch at Amanusa (the one Indonesia property we weren't visiting) for our 6 hour layover in Denpasar before flying to Yogya to reach Amanjiwo. Nice touch.

(2) When staying at Amankila on that same trip, our pool villa had a open window in the wall that permitted people to see into our private pool deck area (where we often were naked). While taking a bike excursion, we asked the GM if she might cover it with a sarong or something to prevent the intrusion. On our return, she told us she didn't like the way the covering looked, so she upgraded the new visitors at the adjacent villa and closed off that villa so we'd not have the issue. We were quite impressed.

(3) While at Amanwana on the same trip, I had guaranteed that the tent would reach at comfortable 19 C for me at night. On arrival, they had pre-cooled 2 tents for us to choose. While not cool enough, it was daytime. At night, it still was 26 C in the tent, so I called for the GM. He apologized, acknowledged that I had been promised 19 C, and brought in fans for the night but insisted he would remedy the issue the next day. That next day while diving, they had flown in 2 brand new a/c units from Lombok which cooled it down to 23 C, even during the heat of the day. Not satisfied, they bought a portable a/c unit from Bali, had it flown over that same day, and installed it (even cutting out a hole in the window for the exhaust port), and it brought the temp down to 20 C. While not exactly what I was promised, I was incredulous at the effort.

(4) Also at Amanwana, we didn't have great diving, and I was dying from the heat with the ocean water temp near 30 C. So we asked the GM if we might cancel our final night there and spend our last night at Amanusa instead. Within 30 min, he had it arranged--and for us to stay at the best Amanusa suite. Seamless and impressive.

(5) At Aman Summer Palace in Beijing on a separate trip, we had an epic breakfast disaster on our first morning. I complained to the front desk before leaving for our excursion that day, and returned to find the GM waiting for us. She apologized, comp'd us one night of our 3 night stay, and offered us a pre-fixe meal in their French/Asian restaurant with a bottle of wine of our choice on her. Talk about over-doing it, even! We actually tried to turn down the free dinner as we felt the one night comp was WAY MORE than appropriate. She wouldn't budge--and then gave my husband a free massage, to boot. Amazing.

Things do go wrong--even at the best hotels. We find it most useful to travel in shoulder or lower seasons so that hotels are a bit less expensive but mostly to avoid crowds (and higher heat usually). That also allows hotels to offer better service and better chances to redeem themselves when things go wrong. But NO hotel group redeems themselves better than Aman, IMO.

I wonder how many people with Aman or comparable luxe hotel gripes bother to ask for the GM or some senior manager with the ability to fix a problem. If one doesn't complain, then one can't expect better follow-up service or to be suitably compensated for the mistake--and shouldn't gripe here after the fact in a passive-aggressive manner. I also wonder how many people with such gripes visit during the height of season when these properties are at capacity--over the holidays and such. At such times, if you expect perfection from ANY property, you're setting yourself up for disappointment and to some degree deserve the disappointment IMO.

This is not to discredit the Amans where we've had near-perfect stays. Amanjiwo, Amangani, and Amansara all have given us what we consider to be flawless stays--and Amangani has done it several times. (So has the Peninsula Shanghai--wow.)

So we look forward to our Amangiri stay in April 2015. We know it might not be perfect, but we also know that (1) there are no luxe alternatives at all, (2) it is an incredibly remote locale, and (3) Amangiri and its staff will go to great lengths to try and resolve a problem if we LET THEM KNOW that we are disappointed in any realistic way. I am quite demanding, but when I allow a luxury hotel or top restaurant to remedy a problem, they usually come through in spades. That certainly has been our experience with Aman!

NYBanker

Thanks for posting. Overall sounds promising.

aa213bb

This all jibes with my experience there early last year (trip report here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/luxur...ip-report.html).

No, the food is not amazing (though we DID have a couple of really nice dishes), and yes, service is well-intended but not "typical Aman".

However, I am in absolute love with the design, location, and Spa.

And I would HIGHLY recommend going in the winter, when I personally feel the desert is most magical (and, conveniently, occupation rates will be much lower). Win/Win to me.

FlyerEC

Generally concur with what bhrubin has posted . The S ' pore reservations / call cente did improve thankfully unlike Sri Lanka , good thing I hear that it is being moved back .
Anyway , at Wana when Kevin B was GM , he made an effort to put in extra portable AC units for us & in new tent with new AC since we prefer a comfortable temp of 16 C .

Pity about the food at Gani , it was good when Monty B was the new GM .
Don't think service at Amans outside Asia is as they should be , sort of better if they have more seasoned team members who have come from Asian Amans like Pulo , etc .

Sure hope Giri & Gani also better on this front when we next visit .

For me , am at Amans when it is cooler but this plan backfired for Ruya which I had to miss as was intending to stay early Nov & I forgot that some Amans are seasonal .

FlyingDoctorwu

Just re-read this report. Between this and the recent report, I am strongly feeling the urge to visit Amangiri. Thanks for all the detail and stunning photography!

FDW

aa213bb

You're certainly welcome, and as you've been before, you know what a lovely property it is.

I think, generally, the most important thing one can do is temper service expectations. This is not SE Asia.

pricesquire

Same here. Haven't really done a domestic trip in 4-5 years....this may be what sends me over the edge. (That or Amangani.) At this point, trying to figure out how to combine this Utah property with a property in Arizona (Mii Amo maybe). Hell will freeze over before I go to Vegas.

Thanks for the TR aa213bb!