nmuva98

First time I've started a thread, so please bear with me.

At Amanpuri now, my 5th Aman. Been here about 34 hours, finishing up our 2nd night, and we've now been asked for our room number for the 5th time. Frustrated us enough that we stopped by the front desk after dinner and mentioned it. Response was profuse apologies, which is a good start.

What I don't get is that Paul and Harish have been constantly present since we arrived. Have spoken to each of them at least 3 times in the past day and a half.

Overall there have been plenty of fantastic things about our stay so far, but this property feels the least Aman-like of any we have visited yet (Pulo, Jiwo, Dari, Kila). Which is not a good thing given it's the "flagship".

F&B has been amazing (best of any Aman yet), upgrade on arrival, full bottle of champers in the room, outrageously nice gym, proper spa, and fun visits of the villas/residences.

But somehow it just feels too big, too many people (and this is off season), and not personal at all. Feels like a hotel and not like home.

Will post more later (and do a proper trip report when the time comes), but wanted to throw this out there whilst it was still fresh on my mind. Hope I'm not being too picky here...

bearbrick

[QUOTE=nmuva98;28236687]First time I've started a thread, so please bear with me.

At Amanpuri now, my 5th Aman. Been here about 34 hours, finishing up our 2nd night, and we've now been asked for our room number for the 5th time. Frustrated us enough that we stopped by the front de

But somehow it just feels too big, too many people (and this is off season), and not personal at all. Feels like a hotel and not like home.

Will post more later (and do a proper trip report when the time comes), but wanted to throw this out there whilst it was still fresh on my mind. Hope I'm not being too picky here...[/QUOTE]

When you say it feels " too big " do you mean the walks( vs buggy ) one has to do to get from pavilion or villa to other parts of the hotel ?

Too many people as in hotel guests or outside visitors ?

was at Amanusa for drinks and a meal last month and was very surprised that a "veteran " staff recognised me and I have not been back at Nusa for at least 10 years ! ( or they could be just saying it ) .

Do let us know why you feel , Amanpuri , become too " public " as it were as I am planning to stay there again soon !

chinmoylad

I think the OP meant big in the sense that there are just too many pavilions, too many villas, too many people. The food was sensationally good though.

CanuckFlyHigh

I'm confused. The only issue is that staff didn't remember your room??

Musken

Being asked about the room number is really the smallest problem of all. I just take it as a compliment knowing how my face look at that passport picture. ;-)

BESVISOR

Heading to Puri in July (slightly mixed feelings)...look forward to your review.

bhrubin

All the expectations I've had for Amanpuri...which is why I've no desire to go there. I think the OP has nailed it. And we haven't even received the full review yet.

BESVISOR

LOL!

I'll share my two cents in July as well. Have reduced my nights to two, so not a huge risk of opportunity cost here...Stop over en-route to Maldives.

nmuva98

On our 2nd to last night here, will try and do a full trip report next week once back home.

But one quick comment on the above. The issue isn't that they forgot--it's that they never even tried. Two scenarios. First, walk into the Japanese restaurant--"Good evening. Which table would you like? And may I have your room number?". Second scenario, eat dinner at the Italian restaurant, and they seem to know who we are. Go to the bar below (the South American restaurant and lounge), drink for a good 2 hours. Then as we leave, ask for our room number. Rinse and repeat 5 times.

This in and of itself isn't a massive issue--but it's symptomatic of the bigger issue--in the rush to create an additional revenue stream via the villas, you now have a resort bordering on 100 units, with max capacity in the 250-400 guest range. Then you geographically space everything out, whilst somehow cramming all 40 original pavilions right on top of each other so that there is very limited privacy in the outdoor areas of your pavilion (i know that was part of Tuttle's original design in 1988, but oh the irony!).

So very few staff really have any idea who you are, unless perhaps you are a villa owner. End result is that the "Aman ethos" is a thing of the past at Amanpuri. Going on 4 days here and I still don't feel "at home". I frankly feel like a guest at some larger, generic Four Seasons--except if we are at a FS we'd likely have a better hard product, too

One last comment before I head to afternoon tea--after mentioning to the front desk this issue (as mentioned in my previous post) two nights ago, we then return to the watersports area this morning (did one of the cruises yesterday--wow, talk about tired hard product, I've had better junk boats in Homg Kong) and the very first words out of their mouths were "Can I have your room number?"

I then turn around and walk to reception and had a great chat with one of the senior staff at the front desk. She told me my original concerns were brought to Paul's attention (the GM who I chatted with on arrival, Harish is now off property for a few days). She assured me that policy remains what you expect from Aman--i.e. know who all the guests are. Tell her I love Aman and am not trying to be negative, but that I do not feel at home here as I did at Klia, Pulo, etc. She was great, so I go back down to the beach.

Literally 10 min later in order a beer--"And what's your room number, sir?".

At this point I just laugh it off and increase the count on to 7 times I've now had that question.

Let's see what shenanigans the next day and a half holds.....

landing

Last year we were asked almost every day for our room number. It´s not a new problem there. We still enjoyed it and I definitely would go back but not in high/peak season.

BENLEE

How many rooms do they have? If it's a large resort, or they are very full during your stay, it is not surprising they don't remember your room number. Another explanation might be because they have high staff turnover and many new staff.

Kagehitokiri

41 pavilions including 1 2BR pool
30 original villas up to 6BR
13 new villas up to 9BR
more non-guests (dining) these days?

FlyerEC

Have stayed in both pool pavillons .

Well sadly , Puri does have high staff turnover as Phuket is a thriving destination with new hotels / villas needing well trained staff . If anything can be said , Aman does provide good training . However , with new staff - read younger & younger by the year with different mentality . They seem to take a longer time to pick up hospitality traits . Are also more prone to move to a " hipper young " establishment once having Aman credentials .

When we were there in Jan / February , it was very evident that Puri was having a tough time keeping up with standards Amanjunkies are accustomed to .
Think there were a couple on the first few days at Puri , if not their first day .

nmuva98

So it's currently low season in Phuket, with base rates starting at 650 USD per night. But "low" is relative. Very hot, cloudy from time to time, with daily short rains, but still quite nice. Can't imagine paying more for high season just based on weather.

Dining service has been outstanding, and not really all that full. So non-guests coming to dinner doesn't appear to be much of an issue.

We're getting asked for our room numbers more frequently on the beach, at the pools, and when doing water sports. Could be the proximity to The Surin next door and the fact that people walk up and down both beaches all day (and both are open to the public).

Initially my concern was weak training and high staff turnover. Could be, but in all likelihood some of this may be inevitable--the place is just so big compared to other Amans.

So it feels to me like Puri is morphing into a mid-sized Four Seasons type of resort. Very good (if a bit reactive) service, excellent F&B, but no sense of intimacy or that feeling of being "at home", which is why most of us go to Amans in the first place.

Then I can't emphasise this enough--if you lose the intimate feeling of an Aman, then guests will turn their focus to the hard product, which is simply subpar in virtually every way. So right now the Aman vibe just isn't here, and the hard product of the newer resorts isn't here either.

Also, response from management amounts to this: Yes, we should recognise all guests and create an intimate environment. Fully on board with that. And during our daily staff meetings we push this point. So we do apologise that this hasn't happened, but with the size of the resort and staff turnover (this bit more implicit than explicit), we're doing all we can.

That was it--and management didn't offer this on their own, they only responded because I asked them about it for the 3rd time.

If this were a Four Seasons I'd probably consider it a very good stay, and good value considering the low season price point. But it's an Aman, and compared to our most recent trip, which was to Amankila last month....we'll, let's just say that Kila was in another league.

Kagehitokiri

40 villa - puri
20 villa and planning more - pulo, yara, gani

yara villas = 78+ bedrooms
minus 4BR that became spa
+ # 3 (+ # 11 ?) + 4 estates

kila - not sure if being built yet >
FS etc dont really do 40 1BR villa + 40 residence villa