chinmoylad

Great idea for a thread. I'll just edit what I posted in the "Where are you going next" slightly.

Year round recap:

HIGHS
Amansara - excellent, if pricey. Great location, nice rooms (you pay a lot for them though!), but it's all about the service here. Food needs a huge amount of improvement.
Peninsula Shanghai - one of the finest city hotel experiences I've had; wonderful location (its the only new building on the Bund in 70 years or something), rooms are stunning, concierge and staff even better. However, it comes with all the trappings of a Peninsula (gawking/gaping tourists in the lobby for lunch/afternoon tea etc, full restaurant etc), and very surprisingly, the food (especially breakfast) was very much below par. Worst xiao long bao I've ever had...the one thing I was most looking forward to in Shanghai!
Review for Shanghai coming shortly. Here's a video for now:

You Tube

Amanjiwo - one of the best experiences, EVER. Right up there with Amankila and Amanpulo for me. Could improve on food consistency (had a chat with Shane about this) but there were some real food highlights at the same time
Photos, videos and reviews coming very soon.

MIDDLE
PuLi Shanghai - best way I can summarise this hotel is that it's Upper House-lite. Think the rooms are a bit dark, and didn't get to try much of the food (what little I did it was pretty poor - however, they were catering to a large event in town and I think the hotel's entire occupancy must have been made up of event/exhibition guests, myself included). It fails (perhaps a harsh word - but it doesn't quite hit the notes) where Upper House succeeds, but overall it has the same/similar sort of vibe, and a nice location too. Lovely pool/spa area though which I regrettably didn't get to use. Overall a decent hotel if the price is right (seen it at ~USD 200/night).

LOWS
Belmond Residence D'Angkor - some of the worst service I've ever experienced. The recent renovation has definitely made the rooms 'fresher' but extremely confused at the entry level rooms being called a 'suite' (even accounting for the loose interpretation of this term) when your options for lounging are "hard desk" or "bed"
More here: Amansara + Belmond La Residence D'Angkor + Siem Reap Site Visits
Hideaways Club @ Villa Layan in Phuket - the single worst experience I've had at a hotel/resort/villa for as long as I can remember. - I've stayed in hotels that have cost USD 30/night that have been better than this. Forget the service (which was absolutely dreadful), the villa was dirty. Essentially, it boils down to how good your appointed villa manager is - ours was, and I typically give the benefit of the doubt, completely, absolutely, and utterly useless. I know some people who are Hideaways Club members who swear by it, and I can see the appeal for large families/couples who regularly travel together in larger groups with their friends, but based on this villa alone I absolutely, vehemently cannot recommend this. Ignoring anything Hideaways Club related, the villa itself is a pretty standard (lower-level/mid-level) Phuket villa. Fairly large (4-bedroom), nice common spaces, huge pool (think ours was 20-25m in length). It's tucked inside a villa compound (of about 40 or so similar looking villas) that's on sea-level so there's no sea views and neither is it right by the beach (15-20 minute walk - I'm not sure if they had a buggy or car to drive you over but it was never mentioned to us so we never went).

SITE VISITS
Raffles Grand Hotel D'Angkor - very much a Raffles in every way; small but cozy rooms. The 2-bedroom suite by the pool is stunning. Lovely outdoor pool. Food for lunch (buffet) was some of the worst on the trip. Everyone felt extremely overdressed for Siem Reap.
Anantara Angkor - probably the best hotel food we had while in Siem Reap. Hotel itself is quite nice (bit of a retreat), only concern is the location which is not great at all.
Park Hyatt Siem Reap - bit of a 'standard' hotel. I'd like to have seen this under the . Rooms are nice, some of the restaurant/common grounds are nice too, but the pool is absolutely horrid.
Phum Baitang - the Siem Reap pick of the bunch. Beautiful villas in a beautiful setting. Vegetation needs time to grow. Location might not be ideal if every evening jaunts out to Siem Reap town.
Video of Siem Reap hotels here:

You Tube

Waldorf Astoria Shanghai - classic hotel, beautiful location on the Bund, incredible lobby. Poorly maintained and extremely outdated rooms (without feeling 'classic'). Badly in need of a refresh.
Fairmont Peace Hotel Shanghai - see Waldorf Astoria Shanghai.
Trisara - stayed here previously of course. They've refurbished some of the entry level rooms, very nicely done.
Anantara Layan - only saw the villas here - absolutely magnificent (and huge!), however, unlike Amanpuri's or Andara's villas, they seem a little less 'homely' and definitely have a 'mini-resort' feel to them. Great views.
Andara - stayed here previously. Food at SILK (one of my favourite Thai restaurants in Phuket) was a little underwhelming compared to usual. There was extensive renovation work being done in September in time for the peak period.
Old hotel review: https://www.thesuitelife.com.hk/anda...-hotel-review/
Amanpuri - covered it previously in a previous site visit, but just as an update: they've added a few things like a South American restaurant-lounge (great idea), a DJ (not such a great idea), open kitchen at the beach club (nice), NAMA and the new Italian restaurant were not open/ready when I visited but the food at the Thai restaurant was super as always, as was the selection of afternoon tea.. Got a chance to check out the 8-bedroom ocean villa. PHWOAR!
Photos, 360 photos and walkthrough videos here: https://www.thesuitelife.com.hk/aman...-site-visit-2/
Upper House - not even sure if this counts as a 'site visit' anymore because it seems like I'm back there every other month to take some sort of photo with a new gadget I just got. One of my favourite city hotels ever (arguably the very best) despite it's shortcomings (fitness/spa facilities, food options but you're not exactly hamstrung here with it being above Pacific Place). I've done a video before - I also did some 360 photos there recently, let's see how they come out but that will be new/exciting stuff for people to check out

Anlun

Yeah it was tough to choose but it honestly came down to the hard product itself that made me put Aman higher than Siam. I know it's not fair because one is a beach resort and one is a city hotel, but we just loved the beach. The pickup snafu was very annoying, and it's frustrating that they didn't do anything to make it up to us, but we just loved the Aman boat trip and lounging much more.

KatW

bhrubin

We stayed at a 2 bedroom Villa Xuxu, part of Villa Angela Maroma, which at the time had association with the Amarte Hotel next door to Maroma. Was an Andrew Harper auction win. They falsely advertised services with Maroma Resort as part of the Villa...which turned out to inaccurate. Maroma graciously extended an account and services anyway, and we were most grateful. We enjoyed the Maroma property and restaurant and beach service, and my husband and friends loved the Maroma spa.

nmuva98

Great, as usual, to hear everyone's views. This forum has been an enormously useful resource to me since I found it just 2 years ago!

I traveled far less in 2017 than in previous years, so my list is much shorter than others', but here it is anyway...

High
Amankila

Quite Good
Amanusa

Middle
Amandari

Low
Amanpuri
The Greenwich Hotel

FlyingDoctorwu

Interesting... what made Amanpuri a low for you?

I stayed at the Greenwich a couple years back and agree with you....

FDW

callmedtop

Anlun

Second on the Amanpuri question? What happened?

JWo

nmuva98

Good question! So I did Puri in spring this year. I posted a thread on it at the time, but the bottom line was that it didn't feel like an Aman--never felt like home, way too big, and there was zero personalized service. Was asked my room number constantly, throughout the 6 days I was there, was asked to sign bills after meals, etc. Commented to management multiple times, with the explanation being that there was too much staff turnover, and they would continue to iterate in morning staff meetings what the Aman experience was supposed to be like. Honestly, whilst Paul engaged me with small talk almost daily, he seemed almost dismissive regarding the service lapses. I even emailed Harish after the fact, but never received a response. Only attempt at service recovery was a bottle of champagne on our last night. Overall the service was still quite good, but totally impersonal. It was 180 degrees from Amankila, where every time you returned to the property after an activity the driver would say "Welcome home", then Ernst or Shane would greet you and ask about your day, all the staff knew about your activities (granted, in my case I did climb Mt Agung which is a sacred site for the locals, so they were likely more interested in that than if I had just been some random tourist whose daily activity consisted of a massage & drinks!), etc. So for me, after doing Pulo, Jiwo, Kila, Nusa, & Dari, Puri was a just a massive disappointment.

And with the soft product lacking, the challenges on the hard product side really took centre stage. Pavillions with little privacy & spaced so closely together, bathrooms in the pool areas that smelled of urine, fleet of boats for tours that were just tired, etc.

On the plus side the food was the best I've had at an Aman yet (but still not at the level of say, Saffire; but to be frank, I like what Shane at done at the Indo Amans and don't really feel that adding higher-end cuisine at a place like Puri really adds all that much to the experience), and I did love the feel of the areas of the property around the massive staircase and beach area, but I highly doubt I would ever even consider returning to Puri.

mumum17

This year was mostly highs with no real lows;

HIGHEST:

• Hacienda Altagracia - Costa Rica. This was by far an amazing experience for us and not only was the hard product beautiful (excellent suites) but the service really put it over the top (among the best we have experienced). Its overseen by the ex-Amangiri GM JP Alfonso)
• Mukul - Nicaragua. This was again a great experience. The hard and soft product was as advertised. While, we do give the edge to Altagracia, this comes close. The highlight here has to be the food which was uniformly excellent).

Highs:

• St Regis Puerto Rico - Excellent suites, great butler service, great food. The beach was a true highlight. Their lunch options could have been better.

Middle:

• Amanyara - T&Caicos. The rooms were great as were the resort. The service and beach were below par. The food was ok (ups and downs) relative to the other places we experienced. For the price, this was disappointing.
• St Regis Houston. Stay was fine with the hard product being outdated and tired in my pov. The front desk was nothing overly exceptional. The highlight was the concierge and the wait staff at dinner. Dinner was very good.

chinmoylad

I had made the comment re: bathrooms as well from my earlier site visit - I specifically went to the bathroom (by the main pool, but didn't go to the one near the beach club) and it was well ventilated on this occasion.

Out of curiosity - what was wrong with the beach? I haven't been personally (and I know it doesn't compare to something like Amanpulo) but I always assumed this was a pretty decent beach?

Also, finally, as a general note - sometimes I wonder what I should review on here and what I shouldn't. For example, I've had multiple stays (staycations) at The Olympian in Hong Kong - rooms are very nice and some of Hong Kong's most spacious rooms and bathrooms - it's a wonderfully boutique 40-room hotel with some of the best Hong Kong-based service I've experienced, even from my very first stay, and it's improved ever since with subsequent stays (for example, 1) I had a very late last minute cancellation - I had booked the hotel through a OTA and it was well past the cancellation period, and The Olympian graciously waived any cancellation fees for me and told me they look forward to welcoming me next time; 2) I drink a LOT of Coca Cola...The Olympian knows this, so instead of having me go over to the Lounge to pick up my daily share, they ensure that there are appropriate number of cans placed in the mini-bar prior to my arrival and upon turn-down/housekeeping).

However, no bells and whistles here (common areas are extremely gaudily designed and not to my liking; there's no hotel restaurant except for the large Chinese one that specialises in banquets/weddings; the lounge is terrible but there is one; there's no breakfast to speak of; the location is not at all convenient [about 10 minute ride from Ritz-Carlton] but it's okay for staycations or return visitors who don't mind being away and if the price is right which it usually is...)

I wouldn't normally place it in a Luxury Forum hotel, but if Belmond La Residence D'Angkor is considered luxury, then surely the Olympian is too?

FlyingDoctorwu

that's right, I remember reading your remarks about Amanpuri.. that stinks to hear... actually I offered my wife a selection of SE Asian Amans for our next trip and she first picked Amanpuri... I had to steer her away...

We stayed there a couple years back.. I actually thought that the beach was great; in that it had great water... very calm, great for lounging around... it's not a huge wide expanse but definitely enjoyable.. I prefer it to the beach at Amanera... I was quite disappointed with the food as well... the big downside is that Amanyara is just so pricey for what you get... entry level rooms start way to high and there's absolutely no view...

FDW

mumum17

To elaborate on the beach...I guess it's my personal preference, but it was small and relative to the other "beach" vacations that I went to this year paled in comparison. I enjoyed the other venues more for the expanse view, while lounging, and also swimming as compared to the beach at Amanyara. As a side note, we did get feedback that the Como would be better for the beach but never realized how big a factor this would be for us. This likely would not have been as a big issue as it was had we not already experienced the other beautiful beaches on our vacations earlier in the year. Also, given that we were in the Caribbean, I expect the beach to be an integral part of our vacation.

Agree with FlyingDoctorwu, the price point is high for what you get.

michelin

I know that some of these don't fall into the Luxury category, but thought I'd rate them anyway.

The Best
Merrion (Just one of those hotels that my wife and I long to return to time after time)

Really Good
Killarney Park
Osaka Marriott
Las Vegas Four Seasons

Good
Culloden House
Cosmopolitan
Trident (Kinsale, Ireland)
Grand Residence Lake Tahoe
Courtyard Marriott Tokyo Station
NY Marriott East Side

Fortunately, nothing bad, even among the low level places I stayed at but did not list.

Happy New Year!!!