Musken

Agreed. Never met Fred at Puri. The only GM at an Aman who did not even care to say hello. Also never answered emails. Says it all.

Harish is wonderful!!

Aventine

Aman Tokyo afternoon tea is booked until end of November. The choice for Tokyo ladies who lunch.

MacMyDay

Wow. It did get very busy at lunch time's at the main restaurant, to the point they sometimes could not get us a table. It must be the view they're there for, as I can't imagine the tea/food is any better than what we experienced.

Aventine

And to be seen. Allegedly, the hottest place to be for tea according to my Tokyoite colleagues.

Groombridge

I agree with Musken entirely: Fred was the the most absent and forgettable Aman GM ever.

alpinecow

Stayed at Aman Tokyo in Sep 2015 w/wife and infant daughter. Experience was good on most points, but there was one big service miss (already posted a review on TripAdvisor, but thought this forum might be interested in more details). Having stayed at Jiwo, Yara, and Sveti Stefan, I would put Tokyo near the bottom of the pack for Amans, and at the top of the pack for price.

Room: Stayed in an Aman Suite with bedroom and kitchen/living room and views to the north (Akihabara area of Tokyo) and west (Imperial Gardens). The views were clearly the highlight, and fun both at night, and especially in the early morning, as Mt. Fuji came into view on the west side. The room was quite spacious, and, while the decor had the usual Asian-contemporary-minimalist feel, there was something Ikea-ish about the look. Visually, the bath/shower area was the most impressive, and all slate.

Food: We had breakfast every day at the restaurant and dinner one night. The food was reliably good and I have no complaints, but nothing about it was memorable. Service in the restaurant was slow, even when staff knew we had a flight to catch. I'm a patient person, but this wasn't Aman-luxurious slow, just plain old not-paying-attention slow. One highlight was tasting Japanese whiskeys at the bar. The bar tenders really knew their stuff and were generous with their time.

Hotel service: The big miss for me was that, despite knowing we had a 9-month old with us, the Aman didn't provide a crib. In fact, when we checked in, we were told there were no cribs available. With 60-day notice, a hotel like that can't provide a crib? That's disappointing. Our 9-month old spent 4 nights sleeping on a quilt on the floor at one of the more expensive and "luxurious" hotels in the world. She won't remember that experience, but I will. Moreover, the only person who apologized for the oversight was the bellman who brought our bags. There was no effort to find a suitable alternative nor any real acknowledgement on the part of management. No one seemed to care.

That big miss aside, other aspects of service were fine. The concierge desk was particularly helpful and knowledgeable, so credit to them for good tourism advice.

bhrubin

I've said repeatedly that the Amanresort model doesn't work or stand out as well in urban locations where there is far more competition with numerous high end luxury hotel options also offering great design and service. The Aman specialty is providing outstanding service in an authentic architectural luxury property showcasing the local culture in a way that differentiates it from other top luxury hotels. The Aman high price points were better justified by the outrageously high service levels, along with the fact that there were no other luxury properties that could compete or even come close in remote locations. That isn't true in urban locales; it is far more true in the original remote outposts that Aman capitalized on for much of its history.

Aman has only 2 ways to improve in this regard to not lose its market niche in the urban retreats it wishes to create:

(1) Truly improve service and restaurant levels to an outlandish level in its urban retreats. If Aman wants to charge its outrageous rates in city properties, it needs to offer something truly more impressive than its luxury peers like Pen, MO, FS, RC, and StR. Having truly top-rated restaurants would put its F&B on a level that better justifies its rates. Having truly top-drawer service would further justify its rates.

Right now, having a beautiful property is not sufficient in city locations. Beijing, Tokyo, and Venice don't necessarily justify their higher rates IMO. Remote outposts do.

(2) Make the entry rates for urban retreats to be more competitive with other luxury hotels in the same cities. Demand for Aman's urban retreats now seems largely based on Amanjunkies seeking the Aman experience in new locations and the typical luxury guest seeking to impress by virtue of staying at "the most expensive" property. This won't last IMO. As more and more people realize that the Aman urban retreat model is overpriced, more and more Amanjunkies will turn to the better priced luxury alternatives. That hurts the Aman brand.

I understand Aman wanting to expand its brand to urban locations where far more luxury travelers visit. But Aman risks hurting its brand if it cannot differentiate itself in those urban centers. Thus far, Aman hasn't impressed me yet in any. Venice thus far seems the most (and perhaps only) appealing option of the urban retreats, but even there the other luxury options cost substantially less and seem to offer as much or even more luxury bang for the buck.

Ericka

Did you make a point to request a crib ahead of time? Either way, this is awful. Any other Aman would have run out and bought you one.

alpinecow

Affirmative--I requested in advance over the phone. About 60 days before the stay, the concierge(s) and I also had a back-and-forth email dialogue about a babysitter for our infant one night, so verbal request to reservations aside, they also had pretty clear evidence there was gonna be a baby in the room.

bhrubin

Every single time I've been to any Aman, the GM always handled such a major service miss with a tremendous response. It is in service recovery that Aman has always shined--and with which it always justified its very high price point IMO.

If you asked for the GM and asked for some sort of compensation for such an obvious service failure, then Aman Tokyo and its GM should be ashamed of itself. Any decent GM would simply have had someone go out and buy a crib.

If, however, you did not ask for the GM (or other mananger on duty if the GM were away) and simply accepted the above result that was provided to you, then IMO your complaint now is partially your own fault. Aman Tokyo still is at fault, of course, for its obvious service failure. But by not allowing the GM or MOD to fulfill the Aman service promise to you by making proper amends (comp'd night, reduction in room rate, free dinner or lunch, etc.), you also must take responsibility for not pressing for the service level and suitable compensation that you should and obviously do expect from Aman.

Service recovery can only come to those who notify the GM and ask for service recovery. It rarely is offered to those who do not press for it--even at luxury properties IME.

Aventine

That's the biggest miss of all. Pretty callous attitude towards infants from Aman Tokyo. They should have the best crib money can buy available. No baby of mine would sleep on a futon on the floor.

For what it's worth, Aman Tokyo's GM seems to need a lot of pressing to provide compensation. I had to go very high and catch some luck to get compensation for a bad spa treatment. He wasn't listening to me on a guest to GM level and I doubt he would have done anything if Mr. Jolivet wasn't involved.

alpinecow

You're free to blame whomever you want, bhrubin.

Several Aman employees were aware of the problem. That should be enough. I'm not going to spend hours chasing down the correct person to whom to complain whilst on vacation. Life's too short for that.

alpinecow

On an unrelated note, forgot to mention that I also stayed at Aman Grand Canal the same week as the Clooney wedding. That was entertaining. I think that Aman worked well in quasi-urban environment.

bhrubin

Perhaps I wasn't clear. I don't and didn't blame you for the service failure. That is all on Aman Tokyo. I am sorry if it appears I was blaming you for the failure, as that wasn't my intent.

I am saying you are partially responsible for not allowing Aman to truly make you feel more positive about your stay despite their failure. I am saying that without touching base with the GM or manager on duty--a staple experience at an Aman, after all--you lose the ability to repair the service failure while you're still there...and to get suitably compensated in a way that might ameliorate that failure. You felt that tracking down the correct person was worse than putting up with a crib-less room. So be it. But I don't believe getting in touch with the GM was worse. Leaving a message and having the GM contact you is not much effort IME.

Aman isn't perfect. Any more than Peninsula, FS, MO, etc. Things do go wrong. And average hotel employees don't always handle things the way they should be handled. Aman shines best with service recovery/failure when the GM is notified and is allowed to rectify mistakes IME. Not doing so risks having the obvious service failure you experienced...without any chance to glow about the fix.

At Amankila, our pool villa had an opening that allowed staff/other guests to see in. We asked the GM to cover it. Instead, she upgraded the nearby villa couple to a better villa and alerted staff to keep it unused for the duration of our stay. VERY nice service recovery.

At Aman Summer Palace, the F&B manager screwed the pooch with a breakfast after the staff screwed the pooch. I complained to the front desk to alert the GM and went out for an excursion...to return with the GM awaiting me--with news that they were comp'ing 1 night and offering us a free dinner at the fusion restaurant. With bottle of wine of our choice. VERY nice service recovery.

At Amanwana, the tent wasn't cooled as I had confirmed IN WRITING it could be BEFORE reservation. The GM admitted the problem, installed new air con units the next day, and installed a portable air con unit in addition to help alleviate the issue. Didn't fully solve the problem, but VERY nice service recovery attempt. Then when we wanted to leave a day earlier, the GM made arrangements for the earlier departure and put us up at Amanusa in the Amanusa Suite at no additional cost. Extremely nice service recovery again.

In all cases, I made sure to contact the GM. In all cases, Aman came through with flying colors despite a MAJOR service failure or broken promise. The result is an Amanjunkie for life. But still one who isn't fond of the urban retreat motif and who still believes that Aman works best when you touch base with the GM when there is an issue.

MacMyDay

Mental note: complain at every Aman I go to in future. Keep going bhrubin and maybe you'll end up owning Aman as part of a compensation package ;-)