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Amanresorts Thread 2018

Old Feb 12, 2018, 5:37 pm
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Amanresorts Thread 2018

Old Mar 1, 2018, 10:09 pm
  #76  
 
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Originally Posted by FlyerEC


While the events around the world continue for this season ..
Amanemu celebrates another year , the SIN office moves to new old premises , & -
A chapter closes , farewell Amanusa . Extremely sad .
Have a copy of her ‘ memories ‘ book - AMANUSA SHARING HAPPINESS IN PEACEFUL HOME , received promptly in excellent Aman time even till the end . Well done & executed by & for staff , past & those at closing , along with some others - Nusa Amanjunkies
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all these years of wonderful stays !.
Now we look to Nusa Villas as our Nusa Dua home to ease the heavy heart .
Adding our humble gratitude for fond memories over the years (including our very first Aman experience) and best wishes to the Amanusa family...
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Old Mar 2, 2018, 1:56 pm
  #77  
 
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Has anybody stayed at Amanwana post renovation? Any comments on the differences in the tents (if any) and other changes?
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Old Mar 4, 2018, 10:36 am
  #78  
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
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Questions

1) Does anyone know how many Aman resorts have closed the way Amanusa just did? And if other Amans are also in danger of closing?

2) are there any other resort portfolios that engender the same type of loyalty and passions as the Aman Resorts? Are there such things as Six Sensers or Oberoialists?
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Old Mar 4, 2018, 10:43 am
  #79  
 
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Originally Posted by Aventine
Last Monday 6pm I was prepared to pay the Aman premium in Tokyo. Honestly, I thought with their hardware and upgraded service that it was time to spend for an Aman experience.I was blown away by the hardware - lobby, lounge, poolside, changing rooms. Just mesmerized. The level of attentiveness paid to a spa guest +1 was astonishing. Dinner was a delightful experience with Tokyo demonstrating Aman's renown flexibility and willingness to please. It really did envoke the memories of Aman past for me.

Just the lowly response of their GM to my personal letter probably means I would never give them a cent in the future beyond our Arva dinner. We're not perennial Junkies like some of you but we do have some stays under our belt and I can't imagine Nicolas or Ian doing what she did. They would definitely be in touch (I left two telephone numbers) and definitely write back in their own handwriting.

Aman Tokyo is done to me.
i must say I'm not very impressed by Marc either. Only Benio and Miki Inayoshi have wowed us in terms of service there.
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Old Mar 4, 2018, 10:59 am
  #80  
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
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Long story short. My wife had a Customized 90 min spa treatment there last Monday and it was 90 percent good.
What went wrong.
The therapist finished the treatment 10 mins early, eerily moved her to another treatment room to change her clothes, put on makeup and didn't offer to help carry her things (the receptionist attendants usually offer to store them for you). They also have a cloak room that could have stored them on the lobby floor.

Spa manager comes, listens, berates her therapist behind the frosted glass sitting area then returns. She says the treatment will be comped but since "they are unable to meet our expectations at their spa and that may be we should consider choosing another Tokyo hotel spa for our future travels. Long time FT members will remember what happened 3 years ago when the spa first opened. A disaster and the spa manager even brought that up! The implication being that a) we're too difficult to satisfy or b) just came to mooch another treatment 3 years later. I felt that was a shot below the belt. We're not those kinds of guests that complain to get freebies. We had a very enjoyable dinner at Arva that actually highlighted many familiar Aman attributes!

I wrote Ms. Yagi about everything that happened in the spa and she gave me the most cookie cutter, Tripadvisoresque, response ever. I'm just very disappointed in Aman Tokyo right now. Not the Aman way to handle a guest who takes the time to personally handwrite you and print this off.


wow! We had a similar experience where they also ended our treatment quite early. Then when we brought it up they had the nerve to blame us for being late! It really was a very poor experience that makes us never want to go to their spa again. When in Japan and in an aman you expect service to be exceptional, theirs was disappointing on both accounts. I can't believe the new GM hasn't done anything to better the service of the hotel from the last one. How sad.

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Old Mar 4, 2018, 6:32 pm
  #81  
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Originally Posted by junkiepusher

wow! We had a similar experience where they also ended our treatment quite early. Then when we brought it up they had the nerve to blame us for being late! It really was a very poor experience that makes us never want to go to their spa again. When in Japan and in an aman you expect service to be exceptional, theirs was disappointing on both accounts. I can't believe the new GM hasn't done anything to better the service of the hotel from the last one. How sad.
I don't know much about Ms. Yagi beyond her Linkedin but I expected better based on her work experience. No GM should copy and paste a reply to a guest AND mail it using express mail. You're better off saying nothing and hoping the guest forgets about the incident.

Last edited by Aventine; Mar 4, 2018 at 7:06 pm
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Old Mar 4, 2018, 10:08 pm
  #82  
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Originally Posted by Aventine
I don't know much about Ms. Yagi beyond her Linkedin but I expected better based on her work experience. No GM should copy and paste a reply to a guest AND mail it using express mail. You're better off saying nothing and hoping the guest forgets about the incident.
She , sadly , isn’t the first of the new / non Aman background GMs to have done so .

An example of an email trail or lack there of which was actually begun by another veteran GM making an introduction ..
Not only not replying after the will get back “ shortly “ bit , but when another long serving team member enquired why they had not seen us in a bit & realised the faux pas . However , the situation was made even worse . The HM replied in a some cookie cutter manner & another FTer in a similar boat received the same email , just having our names changed !

They fail to note that we are Amanjunkies . When combined as FTer , well

“ Recently “ , Aman has failed to retain some good management & has instead ‘ promoted ‘ some rather green ones .
Thankfully , we still have some GMs who have the Aman ethos - whatever is left of it ?
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Old Mar 4, 2018, 10:21 pm
  #83  
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Originally Posted by FlyerEC


She , sadly , isn’t the first of the new / non Aman background GMs to have done so .

An example of an email trail or lack there of which was actually begun by another veteran GM making an introduction ..
Not only not replying after the will get back “ shortly “ bit , but when another long serving team member enquired why they had not seen us in a bit & realised the faux pas . However , the situation was made even worse . The HM replied in a some cookie cutter manner & another FTer in a similar boat received the same email , just having our names changed !

They fail to note that we are Amanjunkies . When combined as FTer , well

“ Recently “ , Aman has failed to retain some good management & has instead ‘ promoted ‘ some rather green ones .
Thankfully , we still have some GMs who have the Aman ethos - whatever is left of it ?
I know these are very busy people. I get that. But, when did common courtesy and email etiquette go out the window? Mine was a physical letter that I actually took some time to praise the great staff members, great food and write about the no-so-great spots. I never really thought a senior Japanese hotelier could half heartedly do something but this took the cake. I've seen it all now.
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Old Mar 5, 2018, 4:10 am
  #84  
 
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What luxury boutique resorts across the world are crying out to be rebranded as an Aman? I know Aman will probably not "rebrand" anything, I am just talking theoretically.

What boutique resorts not in the Aman portfolio (and in locations not in the Aman portfolio) do Amanjunkies wish was part of the group?

Six Senses Zighy Bay
Alila Jabal Akhdar
Anantara Qasr al Sarab (if it was smaller)
The Datai
Jade Mountain St. Lucia
Rosewood Mayakoba
Belmond Manor Oxford
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Old Mar 6, 2018, 1:48 am
  #85  
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Originally Posted by A380 Flyer
What luxury boutique resorts across the world are crying out to be rebranded as an Aman? I know Aman will probably not "rebrand" anything, I am just talking theoretically.

What boutique resorts not in the Aman portfolio (and in locations not in the Aman portfolio) do Amanjunkies wish was part of the group?

Six Senses Zighy Bay
Alila Jabal Akhdar
Anantara Qasr al Sarab (if it was smaller)
The Datai
Jade Mountain St. Lucia
Rosewood Mayakoba
Belmond Manor Oxford
Al Maha over Anantara Qasr Al Sarab if we had to pick one.
Twin Farms?
Tea Trails in Sri Lanka?

As a weird suggestion, something different in India - Neemrana - which is currently run by a company that specialises in running heritage hotels/inns, but is far more low end. The location and structure is quite something but it would need a real revamp.

*Note - haven't been to any of the above except Neemrana*

Do we extend this to the urban Amans/cities too?
  • Lodhi (obviously)
  • Upper House
  • La Reserve?
  • Fullerton Bay?
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Old Mar 6, 2018, 5:42 am
  #86  
 
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Originally Posted by chinmoylad
Al Maha over Anantara Qasr Al Sarab if we had to pick one.
Twin Farms?
Tea Trails in Sri Lanka?

As a weird suggestion, something different in India - Neemrana - which is currently run by a company that specialises in running heritage hotels/inns, but is far more low end. The location and structure is quite something but it would need a real revamp.

*Note - haven't been to any of the above except Neemrana*

Do we extend this to the urban Amans/cities too?
  • Lodhi (obviously)
  • Upper House
  • La Reserve?
  • Fullerton Bay?
Some good choices there, especially Fullerton Bay. Upper House is another great suggestion, but maybe the location is too popular for Aman.

Hotel 41, London, and the Explora properties in South America also would be a great fit for Aman.
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Old Mar 6, 2018, 6:39 am
  #87  
 
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I was in Japan over NYE this year, staying at the Peninsula Tokyo. I popped into Aman Tokyo for romantic dinner on the 4th of Jan as I hoped they'd cater to my vegetarian partner better than other high end restaurants in Tokyo.

We had a drink in the lobby to start, the space is stunning and the views are mesmerising. However service was incredibly slow, 20 minutes for two mediocre cocktails and there were 3 tables with dirty plates and glasses left on them.

We then headed to the Italian restaurant which was possibly the worst meal I have had in the last 10 years, the waiters barely spoke English, the pasta was so hard it snapped in half when I tried to bite it, the risotto was more like a rice pudding made with salt water. I ended up sending back the pasta and it came back still far too hard but slightly more acceptable, the mitre d' seemed embarrassed by the quality of food and being British I paid the bill and ran trying to avoid any confrontation.

This dinner really spoiled all of my fond memories of Amanpuri and Amanjiwo.
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Old Mar 6, 2018, 4:51 pm
  #88  
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Originally Posted by newfrequent
I was in Japan over NYE this year, staying at the Peninsula Tokyo. I popped into Aman Tokyo for romantic dinner on the 4th of Jan as I hoped they'd cater to my vegetarian partner better than other high end restaurants in Tokyo.

We had a drink in the lobby to start, the space is stunning and the views are mesmerising. However service was incredibly slow, 20 minutes for two mediocre cocktails and there were 3 tables with dirty plates and glasses left on them.

We then headed to the Italian restaurant which was possibly the worst meal I have had in the last 10 years, the waiters barely spoke English, the pasta was so hard it snapped in half when I tried to bite it, the risotto was more like a rice pudding made with salt water. I ended up sending back the pasta and it came back still far too hard but slightly more acceptable, the mitre d' seemed embarrassed by the quality of food and being British I paid the bill and ran trying to avoid any confrontation.

This dinner really spoiled all of my fond memories of Amanpuri and Amanjiwo.
Arva (the new farm to fork Italian restaurant) was great. Didn't see any of the issues you experienced. Our waiters had decent English and diligent to clear plates, stemware, etc. Food was delicious and the restaurant was immaculate.
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Old Mar 7, 2018, 2:30 am
  #89  
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Originally Posted by A380 Flyer
Some good choices there, especially Fullerton Bay. Upper House is another great suggestion, but maybe the location is too popular for Aman.

Hotel 41, London, and the Explora properties in South America also would be a great fit for Aman.
Explora looks nice.

Alila Yangshuo interests me a lot!
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Old Mar 7, 2018, 3:21 am
  #90  
 
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I had a lovely meal at Arva. I did not experience anything like what you describe.
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