Pausanias

I would happily return to Siem Reap once or even twice a year to tour the Angkor complex, seeing it in different seasons etc. I've always been a destination-driven person and if there's a great hotel as well that's a bonus.

I thought Amantaka a slightly better hotel than Amansara but I'm not sure I need to see Luang Prabang and its environs again.

bhrubin

Please contact me whenever something like this should happen to you again. I am happy to give you pointers on how to respond to the hotel management in such a way that you get tremendous service recovery and that the hotel learns its lesson the hard way.

Not complaining only allows hotels to continue with bad behavior...and to believe they are better than they truly are. I don't ever allow that to happen!

I am so sorry that you had such a poor experience at Jiwo.

scented

Must take some lessons in bhrubin's PR artillery -- out of all reports of service recovery it appears you were the most successful.

mumum17

Agree, bhrubin has the goods for service recovery. I too would like some tips on how to handle a situation like that. Many times, I go with the flow.

bhrubin

Would never return:

FS Hualalai--air con pitiful, service disasters, food and beverage misses, too fat and happy with tourists who don't know any better...but a lovely looking property.

Halekulani--air con issues, GM incompetence, overpriced, did I mention overpriced, too fat and happy with tourists who don't know any better...but a peaceful retreat in the Waikiki craze. Now that horrible GM is gone, I'd consider a return only if my husband begged...and then probably would insist on staying elsewhere. It's still horrible Waikiki.

Amanbagh--lovely hotel that has otherwise dull and disappointing and insufficient food and beverage options. Been here once, that was enough. FTers who rarely spend time in rural locations are too impressed with this one, I think.

Aman Summer Palace--lovely property that just doesn't warrant the Aman price tag. No sense of tranquility and serenity like other more rural Aman properties. Had serious service lapses but excellent recovery. Urban Aman just doesn't do it for us.

FS Beverly Hills--service was so incompetent for a brunch that I'd never give them a second chance...not with so many other options. Ridiculously stupid and arrogant service for a hotel management team that needs to be spanked. Overrated, fat and happy with tourists too impressed by the FS label.

MO Las Vegas--air con failure in Vegas? Horrible check in service, horrible restaurant service, horrible follow through, resting on brand label. Service recovery of 1 free night of 2 after the fact not enough to return. Still a hotel that pretends to be luxury.

Cosmopolitan Las Vegas--too many failures to count. Anyone who counts this a luxury hotel has more mental issues than Trump. They comp'd our entire stay and gave us dining credit...and I'd still never return.

FS George V--so much blue hair. Overly formal. Overpriced. Pompous, which is rare for me even at FS or even in Paris. Hated it. Bar wasn't too bad. Florals were amazing...but I can't eat or drink florals.

Il Pellicano--pool villa had pool completely in shade, dated, overpriced in every way except for food/beverage.

Belmond Villa San Michele--overpriced, overly formal, pretentious in ways that shocked. Jacket reqt for dinner was final straw. Amazing views and beautiful property though...but better for lunch visit.

Would consider return:

Amankila. Had fab stay. Nice diving not far away.

Amanwana. Had poor diving experience but willing to try again with proven air con and better dive conditions.

Would absolutely return:

Gritti Palace. Sublime. Treated us like royalty, tremendous service recovery on site. Second best luxury hotel in town. My husband absolutely prefers this to the Aman Venice for the amazing Riva bar alone...and I can't say I blame him.

Amanjiwo. Dying to get back here. Period.

Amangiri. Sublime. Had much better food and beverage than others. Liked our room. Didn't go when scorching because I'm not a fool! Not expecting white linen service, and the food was outstanding for us. Nothing else even remotely close to luxury to compete with in entire region with so much more to see.

Amansara. Sublime...at least while Sally was there. But it still was leagues better than the otherwise very nice Park Hyatt. Worth every penny for us.

Would never try in the first place:

Amanpuri--too big. Too commercial now. Too many other far more boutique luxury choices nearby.

Amanyara--doesn't look as amazing as it should, or as (over)price suggests. A place for rich NYC tourists to impress others that they can spend so much has always been my impression.

Oriental Bangkok--so formal I wanted to kill myself. Dated rooms, some have been refurbished now...but it's still formality for no reason. Pants requirement in high heat evenings is sheer stupidity.

Post Ranch Inn--its ridiculous price tag has never seemed warranted to us, and we can't even bring our dog. Overpriced for people who don't already get to enjoy wonderful coastal Cali views.

DSI

I like this last bit:

Won't try:
Amanyara: 1) They LOST our reservation and then when we tried to rebook would only give us a much more expensive room. So much for the voice reservations. I complained to them and the ignored me. I think I've written them twice with no response, maybe I should do it again.

Amanpuri: Iniala is the far superior option.

Won't Return:

Pen HKG: "downgraded" us on check-in from a king to two twins with tiny sheets. Couldn't sleep, and couldn't even sleep with my spouse. The downgrade included a view of some tenement building with satellite dishes.

Amankora: Food Poisoning from rotten food. It tasted funny and caused me to vomit a lot. GM was condescending and dismissive. Spa treatment had stone masons working 5 feet away chiseling on stone. Worst spa ever. I even wrote a very high level managing director of Aman after this experience and got no response and cancelled like 5 Aman bookings at the time. Take that! Nevertheless, we'll be at Amangiri where I'm not expecting much... just like the area

Amantaka: Boring with a capital B.

Amansara: Horrible pool design if you travel with a family. Didn't honor the invoice I initially received. Dining room feels like a cruise ship.

St. Regis Kauai: Jeez... I don't want a timeshare presentation.

The Surrey: so many failures and the GM wouldn't respond to me.

All the places we just stayed at in the Amazon and Galapagos recently: I'm too wimpy not to stay at lux places anymore...

SanDiego1K

Where did you stay in the Galapagos?

chinmoylad

Won't try
Iniala - design. Just doesn't appeal
The Reverie Saigon - see "design"
Burj Al Arab - where do I even begin
Any 'big cruise'

Would definitely not return
Belmond Siem Reap - 'suites' that are anything but, service that is anything but. Bizarrely one of the best pools in Siem Reap though, but even that felt a little 'cramped'
Four Seasons Jimbaran Bay - I hear the newly renovated and new villa types are nice, and the residence villas look okay, but I have no interest in going back for a stay. The property is just too large
Six Senses Laamu - too many properties in the Maldives to bother going back to one that was just about par
Six Senses Yao Noi - it's real selling point I would say is the ability to explore Phang Nga Bay and the region from here. I've already done that though...

Probably won't return
Amandari - a most lovely property (that's somewhat outdated) but there are so many lovely properties in Ubud...
Trisara - gorgeous views and rooms with mixed food and service and a location (beachwise) that isn't ideal

Would consider return
Amanusa - primarily for for its villas which are some of my favourite anywhere, but also for location/convenience. Not much else really appeals to me down south in Bali.

Would absolutely return
Taj Falaknuma Palace - I was only in Hyderabad for 2 nights, and I want to do more. This is the place to stay - one of the best hotels I've ever stayed at
Amankila - one of my most memorable stays in a stunning locale (even with the oil tankers in the distance)
Amanpulo - see Amankila, minus the oil tankers

mumum17

I have to say these line up with my feelings. Especially the "never return" portion and their reasons.

DSI

I love it! ha-ha. Obviously, customers like Macmyday and I are naturally not the types you'd like working with since our tastes would be so repulsive even if we met the criteria of having very high travel budgets. To each their own. As for me and the company I own, I make it a real effort to meet (and explore, and appreciate) the needs of all my customers.

In the galapagos a combination of "luxury" tented camps, e.g. Scalesia, etc... and day charters. I've since learned that the only luxury way to do the galapagos is to charter a small boat or perhaps share one with another party, and it's not easy to do either.

What we did have were private naturalists the whole way, there and also in the Amazon. It's the way to go for sure but I'm not sure how I could help people on the forum execute that vision of travel as we just ended up lucky. I didn't even know it would be private until we arrived! Overall we had four guides and three of them were complete rockstars and so, so good with our son.

bhrubin

I highly recommend reaching out in advance to the GM Anthony Duggan to be sure he knows your preferences and hopes for the stay. That may elevate the stay and keep you happier with the price/benefit. It worked for us before Mr. Duggan's arrival, and I know Mr. Duggan can make great things happen from when he was at the StR SF.

I guess pool experience is more important to you. We loved our stay here, with our own pool suite, and amazing service all-around and food/beverage--and wonderful private excursions to the Angkor temples tailored exactly to what we wanted.

LMAO. We had very different experiences here...and I find this to be unquestionably the most amazing location and view in all of the Hawaiian islands. Too rainy for some, perhaps, but still an incredible view and great food/beverage and excellent service. I think it's possible that my SPG Platinum Ambassador status has improved and/or elevated our experiences at many StR and Luxury Collection properties.

We are all for sharing a private charter with anyone who is interested in a Galapagos experience for 2018 or 2019. MacMyDay, are you and your better half game?

DSI

Good on doing the private charter! This is the luxury travel forum, not the bus tour forum and for the galapagos that seemed to be the way to go. I saw many nice small yachts and it seemed clear to me what the pecking order was. Per usual I was at the bottom.

Well, you bring up good points, but regarding Amansara the GM had two feet out the door it seems and so things like honoring an invoice were less important and it seems like the Aman ethos of yesteryear that I hear about was gone, so hence, it was a bit of a spoiler. As for the pool, here's the deal: you take a barely six year old there who's still learning to swim (remember, they can't touch the bottom) and see how they fare with a pool and two walls. It's like having a beachfront house in Newport and ensuring that the view is blocked by with bin bags permanently.

As for the St. Regis, bear in mind our stay was less than stellar for a few reasons. There were some ridiculous mishaps, like forgetting to pick us up twice--waiting two-three hours--after hikes, causing our son to miss his naps. The restaurant was overbooked for Christmas and Christmas eve and there was no food except for bar peanuts and such. Lastly, we used the concierge and were given several 15 minute hard sells about how much we'd save by having a timeshare and that I should attend the 90 minute presentation. Come on... that's annoying and I'm generally pretty easy going

Will try and work with Mr. Duggan. Since we'll be there over xmas it would be nice to make it super fun for our son. Some rando drunkard in a santa suit isn't enough.

bhrubin

As usual, you entertain.

No doubt the timeshare attempt would annoy anyone. But booking over Christmas/holiday periods almost always results in issues and mishaps for even the best luxury hotels. I recommend never booking stays over such holiday periods rather than generally blackballing such hotels entirely.

Entertaining again! I do hope your Amangiri experience is as amazing as ours. Check out the charter company based in Page/Phoenix for better deals if you want to visit any of the more distant sites (e.g. Grand Canyon, Monument Valley like we did, etc).

chinmoylad

Not at all, that's just putting words in my mouth and this was never an intended direction of me suggesting my list of places, which was the point of this topic - everyone has different tastes, those places just don't appeal to me. I think you'll find I absolutely love reading @Macmyday's reviews as they're very insightful (and hilarious!), and have some of the best photos I've seen. Many of my guests have tastes that are vastly different from mine (I'm looking at you, Kata Rocks, Phuket).

I can always visit these places without having to stay there - if I'm in Dubai you can be damn sure I'll be visiting the Burj Al Arab. But I won't be going out of my way to stay there. Timewise, the majority of my trips that aren't spent on excursions is spent on visiting as many hotels/resorts in the vicinity as is physically possible.

Aventine

This happened with us there. The Four Seasons George V concierge didn't want to help us with anything. I felt it was frustrating to have to tear them multiple new ones to get barely anything done. It was soooo bad that our wonderful florist (the ever talented Estelle Preston) picked up her phone and did more than their concierge did. I got some nights for a future stay, but, three years on still haven't used them.

The Siam
A historical and architectural marvel of a hotel but I'll never see eye to eye with other people about their food outlets and service. Not fond of the management responses to my issues either. Caesar can do no wrong...

Mandapa, the RC reserve
Very new with all the bells and whistles in Ubud but lacking in empathy from upper management. My partner fell from their outdoor shower (the floor was a smooth surface when it should be tactile) and hurt her ankle enough that it all bruised up and swollen. They called a nurse (there was some holiday going on and doctors couldn't make it out or something) but no service recovery there. No follow ups on how she was. I felt their GM gave me lip service for our entire stay but didn't really care about us.

Park Hyatt Siem Reap
Rip off tours to Angkor Wat. I expected better from the hotel but they just take the normal tour, put you in their car and charge you 100x more. No special, knowledgeable guide either. Our guide just kept mentioning the horrible Chinese tourists over and over again and didn't know much of what was what at the Wat.
Small amount of foreign money taken by housekeeping. Wasn't in the safe but wasn't laying around either. They searched our stuff quite well and the GM puts it on us like we're crying wolf and trying to get compensation. I've never been robbed at a property before and I was stunned. Our door had been left open when we were coming back from breakfast or the pool. Their CCTV never "saw" that. Worst birthday trip ever and I'll never go back.

Signiel Seoul, Lotteworld tower
Highly regarded to the Korean press but I know any local chain claiming 6-7* facilities and service is usually going to be full of sh:t. I'm going to write a broad hotel review this week but I'll give the finer points here.

- Matchbox sized. The ceilings are seriously low here. They wanted to cram as much space into the tower and they made a lot of areas have short ceilings. It's embarrassing when I can run, jump and touch the ceilings and I'm not even that tall or have athletic leaping ability.
- 7* but the lounge is for all guests and serves cookies and Coke or Sprite.
- A lot of plagiarism going on. FS Seoul should receive royalties.
- terrible all round service from spa therapists to the Butler to bell staff (put our luggage on the 79th floor when we left to see the Tower)