Amangiri Trip Reports (combined threads)
Jan 28, 2019, 6:47 pm
(1) Service and service recovery here are as strong as I’ve seen anywhere with Aman. A very disruptive group caused us and our friends some problems, and the Assistant GM Manpreet comp’d both of us a night of our stay. Very generous.
(2) This is an extraordinary Aman team. Considering how the hotel was at 100% occupancy for 2 of our 4 nights, that’s saying something. Everyone was wonderful. Not perfect, but truly authentic and impressive. I don’t think we ever heard “no” throughout our stay, and everyone bent over backward to try to help us, see if we might like anything else, ask us how we were doing, etc. Heck, one server remembered us from when he served us at Mukul exactly 4 years ago. That was crazy!
(3) Food and beverage is really good, even better and more refined than on our last visit. My bday dinner was extraordinary. The chef’s table menu was perhaps even better. We did have a few weak dishes and the menu isn’t huge. But they also encouraged us to ask for anything we wanted off menu—and then delivered. Remember that room rates include FULL BOARD.
(4) Activiites continue to be outrageously priced. We did the public tour of Upper Antelope for a mere $60/person...vs about $240/person through Aman. Of course, if you’ve never been to Upper and it’s the busier season, I actually still think the private Aman 3 Canyon tour is a prudent investment even at the higher price. (We also did Lower Antelope, which you cant do via Aman, for only $50/person. We might have liked that even more, believe it or not.)
(5) I vastly prefer visiting in the less crowded winter. Room rates are substantially less and there are far fewer people at the sights. Usually, apparently, Amangiri isn’t as full in Jan or most non-holiday winter weekends.
(6) It was confirmed numerous times for us that Aman Tokyo has the highest average occupancy of all Amans...followed by Amangiri. They were surprised when I told them how much better their service was than at Aman Tokyo.
(7) Even at full occupancy, I love this hotel.
(8) The hiking around property was a lot more fun in the cooler weather.
(9) I never even turned on the air con. We had to ask them to turn off the underfloor heating for me. And then we just opened the doors a bit and it cooled to 60 F within 10 min! We actually slept the last 2 nights with the door slight ajar but the curtains drawn to allow continuous cold air to placate me. It was bliss.
(10) The property is starting to see more dogs and has plans to offer more activities for dogs. We hiked around with our dog a lot and had a fabulous time.
(11) Flying a private charter into PGA was worth every penny for us.
(12) This time we had Desert View. It isn’t really any different to us than Mesa View. Just a bit cheaper. (Dogs have to be on the Desert wing,)
(13) At $1550 with full board, we think Amangiri is worth every penny.
(14) I can’t wait to return for our 3rd stay. This is the only Aman to which we’ve thus far returned.
(15) There are rumors of a glamping tent experience on site. We saw it and the construction zone. I think it’s for real and will become available sometime in the near future.
glad to hear food was good; same chef as last visit or new? Did they charge you corkage for opening your wine (I assume you brought your own)
god its it’s gorgeous there; our stay was in March and I can’t inagine going any later than that as I loved the temperature it was. Plus, it’s the most perfectly heated pool I’ve ever experienced. We did public Antelope canyons tours as well; given the cost that Amangiri wanted.
Glanmping... interesting.
I would return. It’s so peaceful out there. Sounds like a great time and happy birthday.
Fdw
just to confirm though they got rid of the Keurigs right?
Jan 28, 2019, 7:05 pm
Assistant GM came to us to offer service recovery without me asking...after our friends first spoke with him and let him know how disruptive the group had been. Didn’t press at all.
We brought our own wine, had 5 of our 6 bottles. Charged $25 corkage for each. Very fair. I also brought a bottle of Glenfiddich 30 for myself...and had several drinks with friends in the lobby/restaurant/public spaces. Not an issue at all.
My husband had a massage, said it was top 10 ever. Our girlfriend has a massage and another treatment, said it was the best spa experience she’d ever had.
Jan 28, 2019, 9:51 pm
Jan 28, 2019, 10:22 pm
Here is somevdetail on Contour flights:
https://horseshoebend.com/scheduled-air-service/
We would enjoy having a dog or two about the premises.
Last edited by KatW; Jan 28, 2019 at 10:33 pm
Jan 28, 2019, 10:32 pm
Jan 29, 2019, 3:13 pm
While I adore Aman-i-Khás, I never really understood "glamping"... and Beverly Wilshire really took the cake with the tent on their roof top suite. What idiocy.
Interesting Girl now jumping on the bandwagon.
Jan 29, 2019, 4:07 pm
giri owner considered doing another dunton on giri site
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/luxu...l#post20264668
New Aman - Southern Utah
(also planned / considered not opening dunton to public)
sep 2010 quote re tents , giri opened oct 2009
https://web.archive.org/web/20100915...-an-interview/
"But there is one more experience we are adding and will be ready to use in May. And those are the TENTS! You see, we have over 600 acres still on the Amangiri property. So, we have between five and six areas where we are discreetly placing these high end, rustic,luxurious, two bedroom tents. We think the tent experience will be wonderful for couples, families, anyone who would want to feel far from civilization and nearer to the stars."
location is lovely and very unique
this is at the very top of my list of US resorts
Climb the rocks behind the hotel, this is a really good way to see the resort from a different angle...great views of the resort from atop the rocks just beyond the swimming pool.
Walk into the desert at night and star gaze. On a clear night this is an incredible experience.
zecha's eye for location (amangiri pool) is tough to replace
if occupancy really is that high, rates could be a lot worse
details on how giri came to be >
web.archive.org/web/20111127225251/http://globalista.co.uk/feature/amangiri-utah-by-bella-pollen
Amanresorts Thread 2013 (Started by Amanjunkie)
and >
archeyes.com/amangiri-resort-marwan-al-sayed-wendell-burnette-and-rick-joy/
Last edited by Kagehitokiri; Nov 26, 2022 at 1:52 pm
Feb 1, 2019, 7:36 am
Feb 2, 2019, 6:32 am
Mar 4, 2019, 6:45 pm
AMANGIRI
1 Kayenta Road Utah, UT US 84741-285
Another tremendous stay (45 Photos)
AMANGIRI
With apologies for my delay in posting this, we enjoyed our second amazing stay at Amangiri in almost 5 years in late January 2019 to celebrate my 49th birthday. As it turns out, this place is a perfect place for me to visit in the cooler/colder season!
We were meeting friends from Sydney here, and it was that wife's second visit, too.
With daytime temps around the low 50s and evening temps dropping to high 20s/low 30s, the King of Air Con was in heaven.
On our first stay in April 2015, we had Great Lakes Airlines and a very easy and cheap return flights via LAX-IGM-PGA. With Great Lakes first ending the LAX segment and then going bankrupt in 2018, we knew this would be our likely first shot at private aviation. While Contour Airlines now serves PGA to LAS and PHX, that wasn't looking so certain when we were planning our trip,
So with our dog, Macallan, in tow, we enjoyed our first private "jet" (turbo prop) air travel via SNA-PGA and back. It was glorious. But very pricey.
Landing in Page:
On landing, a complimentary SUV and driver was waiting on the tarmac to pick us up for the 20 min drive to Amangiri. We never even touched our luggage until they were in our suite.
The property is as beautifully situated and as spectacularly blended into the scenery as any we've ever enjoyed.
Bliss.
A quick overview of the property:
While technically dogs are not supposed to hang out in the main building, Macallan is a diva (like his mother) who always wants to be where we are. With gracious permission, we were able to hang with him on the reception side of the lounge, where Macallan curled up whenever we had drinks or played Mexican Train and Wizards. It helps that Ridgebacks are a great breed that don't bark and just want to lounge.
Check In
We were greeted by the Assist GM Manpreet Sidhu and some of the staff, including some who remembered us from almost 5 years ago. (I was stunned that there were that many people who still were here in such a remote locale for such a long duration, to be honest!)
Within a few minutes, we were on our way to Desert View Suite 12.
(Dogs currently are only allowed on the Desert wing. The separate entrance/exit on that side made it quite obvious why this might be preferable, along with not having dogs traipsing through the central kitchen/dining/pool building.)
Room
On our last stay, we paid up for the Mesa View. This time, we had to have the Desert View since we brought our dog. To be honest, we couldn't much tell a difference. They're both spectacular views. From now on, we'd feel quite comfortable being on the Desert side. (Heck, if the Amangiri Suite is on the end of the Desert side, how bad can it be?)
We had some welcome amenities:
They also had some hats for us as returning Amanjunkies. Nice touch. Not my favorite hat, though!
And Macallan felt right at home almost immediately.
Service
Service was very impressive. While not perfect, it was darn close--even with service recovery when a very disruptive group caused quite a stir for everyone on premises.
First, this is an extraordinary Aman team. Considering how the hotel was at 100% occupancy for 2 of our 4 nights, that’s saying something. Everyone was wonderful. Not perfect, but truly authentic and impressive. I don’t think we ever heard “no” throughout our stay, and everyone bent over backward to try to help us, see if we might like anything else, ask us how we were doing, etc. Heck, one server remembered us from when he served us at Mukul exactly 4 years ago. That was crazy!
Second, staff constantly looked out for us while never feeling intrusive. While food/beverage service sometimes could be slow, the manager was never far to take care of it.
Third, we really connected again with some of the staff. The food/beverage team are awesome and hilarious. The activities team is also quite fun. The management is also very friendly and very helpful.
Finally, the disruptive group. Wow, a bunch of total jerks from LA caused issues for everyone--guests and staff alike. They were rude to staff, and rude to other guests, leaving cigarette butts everywhere, walking in front of the property where guests are not allowed so the views are not disturbed, playing loud music into the wee hours of the night, etc. We've never seen any group anywhere be so rude and unapologetically inconsiderate. Even after you knew the staff had tried to get them to behave, they misbehaved.
Fortunately, Asst GM Manpreet Sidhu took care of us and comp'd one of our four nights (and did the same for our friends) and offered free massage treatments to us all. (I gave mine to my husband.) We all felt that was more than generous. We actually suggested they charge our lost 2 nights revenue to the group of jerks!
I know some think the Asian Amans have the best service, but again we felt that Amangiri lived up to Aman easily as well. And at full occupancy, no less. Sorry, but the Asian Amans rarely are full except for Tokyo--and we know all too well the service failings there.
To me, this is one of the most impressive Amans for service, even with it being imperfect here and there. We just always felt so comfortable, so looked after, so right at home in the middle of nowhere. Kudos.
Dining
Dining was a highlight--though it did have its uneven moments. We all felt that dining had improved from our last stays--and we all enjoyed the dining then, too! But the F&B team now is even better.
I leave it to moderators to delete my food photos, but since this property is full board and since that is a critical element for our stay, I am posting some photos of our food.
First, I asked the chef to prepare a special birthday dinner for us. We had it on our second night in the private dining room across from the kitchen, just as we'd had our anniversary dinner there in 2015. It was a glorious dinner!
The entire meal was delicious. But that celebration strawberry shortcake dessert was just too good. I was dining on that for dessert for several other meals!
Our other meals were great. My husband did have a fish meal he thought was a bit overcooked once, and our friends had a beef dish another night they thought overcooked. Those were quickly replaced when the miss was mentioned, to their credit. But my meals were almost always spectacularly good.
Some other highlights:
And for our last evening, they really went crazy for us:
Turns out that F&B was a total highlight of our stay. Sublime! Kudos again!
Location
'Nuff said.
Horsehoe Bend.
On property.
Upper Antelope Canyon.
Lower Antelope Canyon--our first time, and we loved it.
Forgot to mention that we used the loaner BMW for our last day exploring Lower Antelope Canyon. You get use of the car for up to 4 hours, and we used it for just about that duration. The team clearly went out of its way to make sure we had the use of this after we'd inquired about it earlier in our stay.
Overall
We loved it--again. We already are talking about when we can go back. Probably not until 2021...but I'm not sure I want to wait that long.
Mar 4, 2019, 6:52 pm
We were sad to have missed joining the trip.