Amangiri (Utah)

Old Dec 30, 2014, 4:43 pm
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Amangiri (Utah)

AMANGIRI

Map| 12 Reviews | 42% Recommended

AMANGIRI

1 Kayenta Road Utah, UT US 84741-285

Amangiri (Utah) (0 Photo)

AMANGIRI

My partner and I just returned from a five night stay at Amangiri. As others have posted more complete trip reports, I plan just include my overall impressions of the place.

As others have stated, the location is amazing. Its a clich to say the pictures do not do it justice, but that really IS true here. Just hiking around the extensive trails on the expansive property is amazing, as you are very quickly out of sight of the resort and almost everything else man made and alone on the trails. Its an amazing experience.

Based on some of the pictures Id seen I was a little concerned that the resort made an overly liberal use of concrete, but when you are there, you see that it really works well with the environment. It did not feel at all cold to me and seem to be very appropriate for the surroundings.

Room

We were booked into a Terrace Pool Suite for all five nights but were upgraded to the Girijaala suite for the last two. As has been noted previously, the only differences between suite types are location, pools, outdoor space and bathroom sizes. Booking either of the top two suites will not get you any additional indoor living area. Overall, I liked the overall design of the rooms I could nitpick little details, but most of them have already been mentioned. It probably pays to note again, however that if you get a pool suite (not one of the top two named suites) you will have no view of anything from your pool, as it will be surrounded by walls on three sides (and the fourth side will face the interior of the room). Further, the pools are located near the entrance to the room and therefore are right next to the resorts main walkway. While in your pool (at least during the day), you will hear (and to a lesser extent, see) guests and staff walking by pretty consistently.

Of course, the outdoor layout of the Girijaala suite is very different, with a much larger courtyard and more extensive outdoor seating areas. The pool here is very large and is completely open to the desert landscape. Hanging out in the pool or in one of the outdoor areas was spectacular and very private. The only time the privacy was broken was when our neighbors decided to come over and peek in to our area (an irritant that I will discuss below).

Service

Service at the resort was good solid five star stuff. I would say it is a notch down from service at top tier Four Seasons resorts in Asia (but is better than service Ive received anywhere else in N. America with maybe the exception of the Inn at Palmetto Bluff or the BT Mayakoba). Was it anticipatory, was it special? I would have to say mostly not there was nothing done here that was outside of my experiences at FS resorts in Asia - and many of the nicer service touches that we encountered were equally offset by some service misses as well. (As an aside, I have previously been to two Amans and both times left less than 24 hours into the stay because of horrible service issues. Given this, I have not been to the flagship Amans in Indonesia, so cannot compare service at this resort with those.) Since I was not expecting anticipatory or special service I was not in the least disappointed. Service is very casual and (I guess) American, but as an American myself, this mostly didnt bother me. Everyone clearly knew who we were and always greeted us, but never by name (which isnt a big deal to me but is outside of what Ive experienced in Asia and may be a big deal to some). Everyone was friendly, competent and willing to help in any way possible. Like I said, good standard five star service. Management was constantly around and was accessible, friendly and helpful.

Dining

The food was of good quality; however the menus were pretty limited and not very appealing to us. This wasnt a big deal as the chefs were willing and able to cook off menu. I think I maybe ordered one thing from the menu during our stay and pretty much worked with the chef for the rest of my dinner meals. They have what they call a breakfast table where, again the food is of decent quality, but the selection is very small and uninspiring (granola, fruit, plain yogurt, mediocre pastries and non-homemade bagels). I didnt much care because our Virtuoso booking (thanks David O) included breakfast, but if I had to pay for the breakfast table, I would be irked. You could also order a la carte. Service, for breakfast, lunch and dinner was always very good to excellent and, as the service at the rest of the resort, very casual.

Location

The overall design of the resort is, I think, causing some issues. The designers made some assumptions on what the clientele would be and how they would act. Notably, the resort was designed to be a quiet retreat for couples. And as long as that is who is there and it is not too occupied, I think it is fine. But the resort also seems to be attracting a large number of families with children. The rooms are not designed to accommodate additional beds. The resort currently has to wedge a cot or cots between the side of the bed and the wall, which blocks access around the room. There are no facilities for children. Only one room connects to another room. I actually heard horror stories (from both the staff and management) of Easter Weekend when there were over 30 children at the resort and they literally tore the cushions off the chairs by the main pool to use as float toys. Given this, I am told that the resort is trying to work with potential guests to steer those who are looking for quiet to book when there are less children at the resort.

Even with the child issue aside, its easy to see how the design might not be the best if occupancy levels are on the high side. The suites are right next to each other (in most cases they share walls). If you are in your desert lounge you can easily hear your neighbors talking if they are in theirs. That and the fact that one can easily walk out from the desert lounge about five feet and see into every room (this actually happened to us on three occasions as one of our neighbors decided to walk over and look into our terrace pool suite while we were changing in the room and neighbors from both sides decided to come over and look into our girijaala suite while we were in the pool). Given the amount of land the resort has, I honestly dont know why they chose to create suites instead of stand alone villas, which would have afforded more privacy.

The central area is also a mixed bag in my opinion. On one hand, I love the openness of the place. On the other, its a bit too open, containing the only dining areas, the library, the front desk, the wine cellar, the lounge and the kitchen. In addition, this is the main thoroughfare for anyone going from one side of the resort to the other or for those going out to the pool. Given this, I can totally see how some people would say the area is too loud and busy while others dont have this experience at all - it really would depend on the occupancy.

Spa / Gym

The spa was lovely. I had two treatments, one of which was very mediocre and one of which rivaled anything Ive had in Asia. The spa is one area where I thought the service could be a little more formal. I like a little ritual with my massage give me some tea and a nice place to relax both before and after and I appreciate my massage a lot more. This spa had a very get em in and get em out feel to it, which I thought was not really in keeping with the spirit of the resort. Facilities at the spa (steam, sauna, hot and cold plunge, mens and womens changing rooms) were all there and very well done. The gym was quite nice.

We didnt really partake of any of the activities that were on offer. There were quite a number of them, but nothing really cultural. I thought the prices were a bit high. And honestly, we are not huge activities people just hiking around the property was good enough for us.

Overall

All and all, it was a good trip. As I said, the location is lovely and very unique and the service was fine. Im still not certain that I have had an Aman experience, but it was a heck of a lot better than my last two Aman stays. I would certainly return, but would definitely check to see what that occupancy levels are and what the guest makeup is before I commit to a stay.

Oh, and I was told that the tents are currently on hold. My impression was that the resort was going to attempt to build some more facilities and/or suites with families in mind. Ive no time frame for any of this, however.

Amangiri (Utah)

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