GUWonder

Yes, at some but not all previous points, it may have been taken to grandfather in Zecha & Co.

mike_la_jolla

My goodness. The luxury hotel segment got interesting in the last week. First we had Dorchester's uhhh, 'trouble'. Now we have a rich Russian guy kicking out AZ from Aman. Looks like I need to s-list both chains until the situation improves and/or I get more info. What a soap opera in a bad, bad way.

I'm sure I won't be the only person here to remove Aman, permanently, from my travel list if I find they have treated AZ with anything less than the respect he richly deserves.

... And I was just making my travel plans for the next 6 months. Looks like Wakaya rather than 'Pulo. FS Jackson rather than 'Gani. Twin Farms rather than 'Giri ...

Pierre&Cédric

Are you serious?
I have no travel plan to any Dorchester property in the coming months but we are thinking about Amanpulo for early 2015 (yes I do make reservations a loooong time in advance ). Pierre already told me that he was not happy at all with the idea to go there considering the situation. I guess everything will calm down in the coming weeks/months.

mike_la_jolla

Yes. I am very serious. I won't return to Dorchester until the chain is sold. I simply cannot professionally or personally be associated with what is going down in Brunei.

I won't return to Aman until I get more info on the management changeover. The 'new' Aman has a PR problem. Not as bad as Dorchester, but still very bad. It would be a good time for Valdy to hire a crisis PR firm.

GUWonder

VD&Co have a PR crisis? Not really.

Corporate takeovers have ownership, management and staffing consequences and the benefits related to such are not static when sales happen; given the stay and F&B provision generosity, it was reasonable to expect that this would come and go based on how the cards were played or not played and not memorialized in written contract form.

5khours

I don't think it has anything to do with what is correct. It's just a question of taste and preference.

ridefar

Let me veer slightly off topic (from the most recent posts): does anybody know who are the GMs at ASP and Amanfayun these days? Ms. Ridefar and I are considering a quick trip this fall, but are a little concerned because these two properties seem to get more mixed reviews than any other two Aman properties, both here and on Trip Advisor (I know…). Anyway, quality GMs in place would go a long way to mitigating my worries; they do seem to make the difference.

mike_la_jolla

Ahhh, but this is different. We aren't talking about Kmart/Sears. There are intangibles here which need to be handled more delicately than they have so far. I argue it is reasonable for me to interpolate how they treat AZ now to how they will treat me as a guest in the future.

FS handled this sort of transition very delicately with Sharp. It was awhile before they fired the old guard. And FS, most assuredly, didn't tell IS to watch the door on the way out.

LuxuryRogue

I agree that my choice of words here is not ideal, but it was meant to prepare my case against the in-correct (in all languages) leaking of confidential business emails and email-adresses. After all, the Aman takeover is not a human rights scandal, where "whistleblowing" may be justified.

While it is indeed a question of taste and preference, it is also a question of exposure.

The Barvikha Hotel & Spa in Moscow is as close as it can get to a GHM, albeit more expensive.

The Serena and Hyatt Regency in Dushanbe are pretty amazing.

There are world-class luxury properties in Almaty, Astana and Baku.

If these hotels are not "according to the standards of this forum", well, then it is a loss for this forum, not for the hotels ...

5khours

Agree on the whistle blowing. Shouldn't be publishing private emails.

You should right about the other properties. Other FTers would benefit from it. Maybe some people would agree with you... some not. I think a lot of people just don't know about these properties.

LuxuryRogue

I will, step by step

aa213bb

Have to agree with this. Within most of the traveling world, this Aman sale/takeover has made not a ripple.

I do think we will see some changes, and ones that will not please more than a few on this forum.

But, for goodness sake it's just a collection of luxury properties. Life goes on ...

GUWonder

Waleed bin Talal and Doronin&Co have different ways of doing things compared to each other; and I know Waleed had a longer history of personally dealing with the Sharp family (thus enabling the kind of relationship that leads to relatively more stability).

Sharp and family's stay and F&B provisions at least as generous and as widely applicable across the FS props? Not sure yet at this point.

LuxuryRogue

Bravo ^

Baghoarder

+1. I suspect there is more than one regular poster here who doesn't currently bother posting about hotels outside the "standard" set to which this board is increasingly limited. Even for those who are happy with their current choices, a bit more diversity would make for much more interesting reading.