xracer

Well, now I feel bad.

Musken, apologies if I offended you or worded things too harshly. Now that I read your response, I completely see what you were trying to communicate.

Kagehitokiri

BENLEE gets back to specifics - where exactly was lerasp taken on tour. (compared to others.)

there are GMs who want to address problems that they can address.

and people might be able to use information in the context of their stay at same or other properties.

less feeling bad, more communication, save strong stuff for when most appropriate.

whether we are talking about on topic issues or off topic issues or whatever, there is often missing context, that has not been specifically raised in the immediate discussion.

i would hope the forum can respond to the negative responses, because negative reports are incredibly important as you said. even if one does not want to be specific. but i realize this does not really get into addressing reasons someone may or may not post something.

Musken

No problem whatsoever! ^ I totally see your point and think it is a good one. Having participated at a number of different internet forums, I am fully aware that a written comment is not the same as when people talk face to face, so I try to understand the essence rather than looking to much at specific wording.

lerasp

sorry, i don't know how to quote different posts in one reply. but a few comments:

"When I was staying at Amankila, I did not specifically request for any "cultural activities" but the staff was always very keen to introduce about their local culture. We went on a hiking tour for exercise purpose and it include walking through a local village and I got to have a glimpse of their local way of life and the guide was also very knowledgeable to brief me on the villagers local customs and their way of life. It was a very memorable and interesting experience for me."

THIS is exactly why we decided to go with Aman and this is the kind of experience we were hoping for. Someone above asked if we raised issues with management. Regarding our bad experience with a guide, you are in a difficult position because while I didn't get the expericen i was hoping for, I don't want to be responsible for this person being fired or disciplined. He was as very nice, kind man and I erred on the side of his well-being. Perhaps this was wrong of me.
For example, one of the places we went is a local village. His only comment that it was very old. Ok. Later as I was reading books on Bali, I learned that this village is one of the oldest in Bali and is a center of pre-Hindu practices. It would have been great to actually learn about them on-site.

"was the following missing for lerasp?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Musken
there was water all the time and we got fruit, ice cream, cold drinks and towels and of course the wonderful cookies and cakes at tea time. Plus someone came around to polish sun glasses.

We had music every single day (also low season"

Yes, most of the above was missing. At Amankila, they had sunscreen in the bales and water. At Amanusa, the attendant brough water and towerls with initial setup, but not refresh of either (i suppose we could have asked). No offer of fruits, ice cream, sunglass polishing or sunscreen.
Amankila had tea at the library at 4pm (not the beach - unclear in the above post which one you refer to). It wasn't cookies and cakes, but a more like a small piece of sweet bread (banana, i think?) and tea. Amanusa had nothing like that. Also surprising that at Amanusa there were no water sports except a kayak. Amankila had paddleboard, small sailboat (hobycats?), kayaks and i think a few other things. At Amanusa, the Novotel beach club next to us had all the water sports equipment (paddleboards, small sailboats, etc) and we were looking at it longingly.

re: management - we met Tracy at Amankila. I *think* she was the GM? She's lovely and we had a good chat when we arrived, but didn't see her again. That first night, i expressed our interest in learning about culture and people of Bali and asked what's the best way to do so. She confirmed that the East Bali tour we had scheduled for the next day was the best way to go. At Amanusa, I don't think we met any management (that we could figure out - it's hard to know who you are speaking with since no one introduces themselves by title/function and there are no nametags wtih titles, just a first name).

I didn't mean to start a blow-by-blow account, just wanted to share my general impressions. I appreciate seeing everyone's comments and experiences.

FlyerEC

There should have been a welcome card from each GM & Aman team in your suite.
It's now Claudia at Kila .
Tea time snacks by the library / top tier pool vary daily & are at least 2 items .. a local cake / sweet plus perhaps brownies , cookies ..

In low season , the water sports are restricted for safety reasons . Aman does not ' flaunt ' , & if dangerous e.g. undertow or currents; invisible pollution - the beach boys will know. They will skipper the hobie cats , etc if you just want to be crew if winds / tides / currents are ok.
Culturally , the locals are likely ' shy ' on how to let you know especially if they think you will not understand them ( or their local customs which can even differ from village to village !).
To put it another way, they are a peaceable lot , likely not wanting to offend their guests . They may not be able to stop an ' action '( if the guests does something possibly innocuous but offensive during a festival period ) .

FYI , tropical fruits are seasonal. If they are deemed not good/sweet enough , are not served either. Personal experience - at all Indon Amans .
Probably on high alert when certain Amanjunkies show !

If anyone reading this is at Kila now , Claudia is off site for another 3 weeks.
Sean F should be back at Nusa next week

Kagehitokiri

lerasp, thanks for all the details.

but when there are communication problems there is no way to know what kind of service failure it is, or whether the situation is not really a service failure.

a prior unknown situation >

lerasp

For a luxury hotel, communications problems are already a failure. As a customer, we speak fluent English, made our wishes known and available for discussion. It is then hotel's responsibility to ensure all needs are met and that there isn't communication problems. Not once anyone approached us to ask if everything was going ok, if we had any concerns or issues. When I'm staying at a $10/night local b&b, I expect to fend for myself and assume there will be difficulty communicating. When I'm paying over $1k/ night, expectations are vastly different.
Explain to me that mangoes are not in season (although don't think that was the case as the ones we got were perfect), tell me that beach is too dangerous for water sports, apologize that your best guide is on vacation and someone less qualified is filling in ( or better yet, hire an outside guide, there's no shortage of great guides in Bali). This would go a long way.
Back to my original point, I think at the price point aman has chosen in Bali, they didn't deliver the value compared to other options available. This may not be always true and i know others have had different experiences, but in this case they have lost potentially a life-long customer.

Kagehitokiri

i agree, that is exactly what i meant

-