Aventine

They only seem to come out on top when you put the highest Mandarin Grand room vs. the Aman deluxe standard (non smoking) room. The 6000 yen difference isn't much to me and I would rather be at MO anyway. Their maids are like ninjas - get in, do their job well and get out. One time, we came back when they were inside and they discreetly stopped, apologized intensely and came back when we were gone.

MO

ROOM TYPE
Mandarin Grand Room
RATE TYPE
Best Available Rate
Room Total JPY 152,000
Service Charge JPY 22,800
Consumption Tax JPY 13,984
Accommodation Tax JPY 800
Total JPY 189,584

Saturday, June 06, 2015 JPY 85,000
Sunday, June 07, 2015 JPY 67,000

Aman

2 Nights
Room Type
Deluxe Room - King (non-smoking)
Booked Rate
Standard Daily Rate
Guests
2 Adults
Room ChargesJPY 150,000
TaxJPY 33,060
FeesJPY 800
Total Rate JPY 183,860

Kagehitokiri

as long as aman tokyo does not have dynamic rates like other hotels, there will be dates when (huge) aman rooms could be cheaper than (smallest) rooms elsewhere. remains to be seen what new owners of amanresorts do with rates in future, after removing the ratecards from the website.

"laugh it off as a casual blip" does not sound good, even if there was a misunderstanding.

odd that GM posted response to first blog post >
http://missspaist.com/2015/02/05/wha...-non-response/
(noticed via http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Alerts ?)

and >
(both of which are good to see.)

but no response/email following blog post after you had treatment and spoke to him about it?
http://missspaist.com/2015/02/28/my-...unar-new-year/
maybe trying to say that it is difficult for them to obtain 'honest [negative] feedback' from many/initial Japanese guests? not sure. my first reaction was that part did not sound good, even if there was a misunderstanding. and even if that is what they were saying, opinions on that will probably vary. (both subject and being said.)

sounds like GM followed up after CEO was in touch with GM.

re service recovery - what has your experience been in terms of service recovery after similar problems?

re service delivery - have there been situations where you did not pay for something? (could be 'no'/'yes')

ive been wondering if a thread on those kinds of issues would be of interest here. with recovery not being limited to compensation. it seems like something that gets somewhat less discussion here, comparatively. clearly privacy and discretion are factors. but in my opinion, even if discussion is very general/vague/nonspecific, it is still very useful information, as it is part of what differentiates quality/luxury service.

5khours

Just a few points...

1. Running an urban hotel is a lot different than a resort and requires different skills.

2. My impression of Jeffrey was quite positive. Seems like the right guy for the job.

3. The labor market in Tokyo for hospitality is not an easy one. Very hard to hire and train the right people. Workers often very litigious. It will take a while.

4. Maybe Aman should have made an arrangement to pick up people from the Okura which is shutting down for renovations. Okura IMHO had by far the best service of any city hotel anywhere in the world.

RodHK

Thank you for these details. When I look the pictures, I have to say I agree with you that rooms and suites should have a bit more decoration because it is very very zen. However, I think I'll try the experience of Aman in a building... Views look gorgeous and I'm sure all the service issues will be soon settled. It will be fantastic when the Aman in Shima will be opened and even more when the one in Kyoto will be confirmed... because it will be in the middle of the Golden Temple...

Kagehitokiri

this might be location >
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=takag...re,+Japan&z=19
see these posts >
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/luxur...l#post22849032
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/luxur...l#post22296627

main/north building (only) closing august 31 for 3.5 years
800 rooms total now, adding 150 means 950 rooms - wow
http://www.hotelokura.co.jp/tokyo/en...al/300project/ >
http://www.hotelokura.co.jp/tokyo/en...20150420_b.pdf

RodHK

Thank you Kage. If the construction shown on the google map should be Aman? If yes, it seems to be a fabulous location.... Can't wait...

chinmoylad

Do we know dates for the other two Japan openings? I havent' been to Japan yet, and might do a quick Tokyo only tour over a weekend, but I want to do a circle of Amans if I'm there, and spend longer in Tokyo and Kyoto and a bunch of other places.

Aventine

I would fully support a thread like that in the luxury hotels forum.

It doesn't need to be a refund, points, upgrades, etc for service recovery. I simply want to see some sort of sympathetic, concerted effort on their part, whether it be from Aman Tokyo or another luxury brand. Show me you care. Show me you want to make things right.

For example, if they had sent me an a spa invitation for another time - great.

I might use it next time or I might just garbage it.

The point is that they did SOMETHING. I would have respected that and probably wouldn't be typing this right now.

There wasn't any effort here from the time of the treatment with the spa director to the GM. Senior management has a responsibility to defuse, not escalate situations.

pricesquire

Couldn't agree more!

vuittonsofstyle

Why does everyone keep saying that they are sure "all the service issues will be soon settled" at Aman Tokyo. Why do we think that?

Aventine

Salut my friend haha.

pricesquire

lol. I ask myself this question quite often. As if 'service' is just a switch that has to be flipped.

offerendum

Because it´s an Aman or people love Aman and can´t live with a not perfect Aman I imagain it would be a St. Regis or MO......

vuittonsofstyle

But it is not the Aman that we know - it is the new model. That's like saying I love Rolls Royce, then a new owner comes along and puts spoilers on it!

mike_la_jolla

5 night stay for business in May 2015. I’ll start by saying that Aman Tokyo is not in the Virtuoso program, so there are no benefits. No free BK, no automatic upgrade, no spa credit etc. I was led to believe that the hotel had fully opened in April’15, so it is still very new. I've opened two hotels. One was a disaster and one was decent. This stay fell in the middle of the two.

Entrance is hard to find if you are arriving from the Tokyo station. I missed the discrete signs in the Otemachi building pointing to the *very* discreet ground floor reception level and stumbled around a bit, loaded with luggage. I was arriving from Tel Aviv. You have to go through double doors to get to the ground floor reception level. From the ground level, you take an elevator to floor 33 (?) which has the main hotel lobby. Once I found it, check in was quick and clean. If there were problems initially with the speed and placement of the elevators cars those issues have been fixed.

I’m not certain how this property will age but as new, the hard product is terrific. Just jaw dropping. I don’t like the lobby, a soaring structure prominently pictured in the PR. I found it cathedral-like, making it intimidating rather than comfortable. It makes you feel small and inconsequential as opposed to warm and fuzzy. It reminded me of passages from The Fountainhead. Every place in this hotel has unobstructed panoramas of Tokyo. Everywhere: bar, library, restaurant, fitness center, changing rooms. I don’t think it matters which side of the building you are on. The view of Tokyo looked good and unobstructed in all directions. I had relatively clear spring weather and Mt. Fuji was visible from my room when not shrouded in clouds:



Room
I not sure what category of room I was in. I normally book the lowest category in 5* places when I’m traveling alone and on business. I’ve used this cliché before: “If this was an upgrade, I’d hate to see the original room". It is applicable in the reverse here. I didn’t need to see or even want an upgrade. My room (211) was spacious. Rooms are zen-like and they do lack color. This didn’t bother me, but other posters have requested some color. There are two large closets with a large bench between them for luggage. The bathrooms had two sinks and included one of them-thar fancy automatic Japanese toilets. I had to get my reading glasses to figure out this complicated loo. It functioned, and functioned well once I figured out which buttons to press as there is a 12” control panel associated with it. The shower and the tub occupied nearly an entire room. I’d note that the bathroom blinds and partitions can be opened. My guess is you’d do this to soak in the tub and marvel at the view. It reminded me of the PH Seoul which has bathrooms that double as fish bowls, but the PH has no view and gawkers in the nearby high rises can see your equipment. At Aman Tokyo you are high enough that nobody can really see you. Desk was perfect. Sockets for charging various portable devices where everywhere. Unlike this train wreck, no furniture had to be moved to plug stuff in and the sockets worked. Internet was free and very crisp. Bed was quite comfortable. A/C was quiet and effective. Nonalcoholic drinks in the well-stocked mini bar are free. This is a nice touch, but I would have liked some munchies. I often crave carbs when I am traveling internationally and a snickers bars usually solves the problem.

Service
Service was very weak. There were all kinds of issues coming from all corners of the hotel. In my first 2.5 days, I ran afoul of the maids 4 separate times. They clearly are not tracking your movements yet and take a fair amount of time to straighten the room out.

Shoes?
I never did figure out the shoe policy. I think you are supposed to remove your shoes when entering to room. I didn’t. An attendant stopped me going into the fitness center and pointed at my shoes. “No”, I said. “I’m going to the fitness center. I need to keep my shoes on to run on the treadmill.” I think you need to take your shoes off when entering the change rooms. I made that mistake once to the horror of the locker room attendant who came running after me, acting frantic. (Very un-Aman.) I had at least three cross encounters with hotel personnel over this issue. I’m more irritated by this than is perhaps rational. As an American, I do not understand the stupid rules, don’t like them, and frankly don’t care. Explain them to me or remove the requirement.

Engrish
Engrish was a problem everywhere. Some examples:

- Locker room attendant didn't know the engrish word “robe”.
- I wanted a glass of wine and asked for it by saying “house Syrah”. I remember saying it three times. I knew that there was a mediocre one on the menu. I got something orange with Bacardi.

Food & Beverage
Every bartender and server acted as if everything he/she did was for the first time. When I ordered food, the bartender had to study the menu to see what I had ordered. The mixed drinks at the bar always seemed warm to me and poorly mixed. I watched in horror as one bartender mixed, rather than shook, my martini. Haven’t they seen a James Bond movie here? They were using specially made large ice cubes that needed to be hacked to fit into the glasses and perhaps that is an issue. Food, after a lengthy wait, was often served cold. The food selection on the bar menu is small. The menu from the main restaurant was mostly fixed, limiting the choices. I was not willing to go off menu given the lack of engrish. The bartenders and servers learned quickly that I didn’t speak Japanese, so they ran and hid after I ordered. It made it difficult to order dessert since nobody was around. I often left hungry. I did get dessert once. But the green tea ice cream was an inedible rock; the raw ice jarring one of crowns. Food, overall, was forgettable.

Breakfast, not included, was relatively poor. Eggs were a bizarre shade of dark yellow and not very tasty. There was something on the menu about ‘free range’. Again, everything seemed cold to me. Bacon and ham appear to be the same meat in Japan. The sausage tasted as if the chef had broken the salt shaker on it. I asked if there was a juice of the day and got blank stares. Coffee was decent, but cold. And they made the coffee cup by cup, so it was difficult and slow to get refills. I gave up paying for BK after the first two days.

Fitness Center
Generally OK. Not the best I have seen but decent. I’d give it maybe a 5-6 on a scale of 10. ‘10’ on my scale would be FS Hualalai, the best workout facility I have ever seen anywhere. Views from the fitness center were terrific. The locker room, once I got past the attendant who was blocking my way (shoes?), has a Jacuzzi and stream but no sauna and no cold pool. I’m not a spa person, so I can’t comment on the various treatments. After being ruthlessly humiliated at the spa at this train wreck, I was too insecure to ask for a tour or an overview.

The Aman thing …
I was asked 5 times for my name and room number during the five night stay. The first time was unnecessarily dramatic. The bartender had gone hiding as I had mention before. As an Aman regular I know that there is no check, so I just left. I almost got to the elevator before they realized they didn't know who I was and a bus boy chased me down, frantically and breathlessly asking my name and room number. No Aman style points there. By the third night everybody knew who I was, sort-of. Incidentally, the no-check thing means that you have no real way to verify that your final bill is correct. I suspect I was significantly under charged for my food and beverage.

Jeffrey GM did chase me down on the second day and we had a 10 minute conversation. I was in the library waiting for the maids to finish servicing the room. He is a decent guy. He is clearly having issues staffing the place and he told me that is why the opening was delayed. This might be partially true but the gossip here points elsewhere. I couldn’t get him to open up and the conversation was a little stiff and formal. I wish him luck. Having Vlad in the way can’t be helpful. He cares and he is trying.

Can, should, will, this become a full ‘Aman’ in substance, style, and feel? My opinion before checking it out in person was ‘no’. Now, I think is might be possible. It will be a different vibe since it is urban and much larger than the other properties. But they might be able to pull it off. I'm just not sure how much I will be willing to pay for it.