Report on my stay at Aman Sveti Stefan
 

I was shocked because I see nothing but glowing reviews on here. I don't know if the glowing reviews are people not wanting to disagree with the popular opinion, emperor's new clothes style, or if this was really an anomaly. I will say that the room (#45 was lovely) and all the staff in the bars/restaurants made an effort. The front desk, management and house keeping however, were horrible. I can go into more detail if needed, but a basic list of complaints:

Day 1
- Car dropped us in front, porters took bags as we walked to the island. Luggage piece was was left in a puddle all clothing soaked. No apology even.
- After check in, pile of pubes found in room 45 bathroom. Asked for maids, they cleaned but no apology.
- On check in, blinking error light on aircon. AirCon broken, guy came to verify it was broken but it was never fixed during entire stay.
- Passport taken not returned and never returned until we went to hassle them 12 hours later since they forgot they had it.
- My gf stepped on broken glass in the main pool on the island. The shard was on the bottom of the pool.
- In the Gym, all TV's broken on cardio equipment. Never fixed during our stay
- Was out of room 6-10pm, didn't do turndown until we got back, came into room then to inconvenience us.
- Left dirty clothes on the ground. House keeping never put them away, left them sitting in a pile for 3 days. I left them there just to see if they'd ever clean them up.
- Tried to close drain in the tub, bathtub drain fell off, and shower head leaked and wouldn't fully turn off.
- No one manning the spa desk to make appointments, couldn't find anyone to direct us to fitness from boat dock. They seemed perplexed we asked where fitness was, as if they didn't know there was a gym.

Day 2
- We asked for extra water day 1, when they finally cleaned, housekeeping inexplicably took away the extra waters.
- AirCon still not fixed
- Clothes still not picked up
- Cardio TV's still broken
- At lunch we learned of wasp infestation at all restaurants and food was terrible at the piazza restaurant. They had to burn coffee grounds to TRY to keep the wasps at bay, but it didn't work and they were relentless.
- Everything very slippery and dangerous, water sitting for days never mopped up.
- Turndown again not done while we were away. Waited until we returned late at night and we had to go elsewhere and wait while they "cleaned"

Day 3
- Wasp infested dinner, waiter admitted the entire island is infested, no disclosure and they haven't rectified the problem. He said in previous years they had to move breakfast from the terrace because of the wasps, but now the entire island is infested, both restaurants and they can't find the hives and eradicate them. This was VERY unpleasant, as there were swarms of wasps and no table was safe. Bad, overpriced food is one thing, bad, overpriced food with a side of wasps is another.

- Overcrowding everywhere due to selling day passes and letting outsiders use the restaurant. Often no spots available at all by the pool since there were so many people around. Outside guests letting their children run around the Milocer side pool naked or in dirty diapers. Far cry from the peace and solitude of other Aman properties.

This was so far below the standard of the Aman group that I was shocked. Honestly, the service was below the level we received at the Hilton in Podgorica. It's a lovely setting, but the management and service is abysmal. This was a lovely room on a lovely island with 3 star service and an unforgivable wasp infestation. Based on this stay, I would never return and I would (and have already) cautioned others not to waste their time and $ on this property. Curious to hear if anyone else has been this month.

Just wow. Sorry you had a horrible, terrible experience there. I think this takes the cake for worst Aman stay ever.

I would have needed a new room or suite after the pubes incident. That's simply not acceptable at any level of hotel, and, certainly one of this calibre and expense. I'm guessing no service recovery and very little empathy from management?

Very little empathy and nothing changed after complaints. After this three day long comedy of errors, they misspelled my gf's name on her luggage tag (how hard is it to copy from a passport?). It was a perfect, hilarious end to a very regrettable stay.

Wow. Just wow. I'm so sorry you had to experience that. I would have left early...and made them refund my stay. No air con? I've had luxury hotels move me and refund my nights for that ridiculous miscue alone.

I'd contact Aman corporate and ask for a refund of at least half your nights--if not your entire stay. Your innumerable examples of both things gone awry and things not remotely addressed/rectified by property management represents a clear and present danger to the Aman brand. That is NOT what you paid for. Aman clerarly didn't deliver by any standard. Your details show a complete disregard for your treatment by Aman. That is absolutely unacceptable. I've said it before: the new Aman regime doesn't always seem cognizant of what constitutes luxury level service and especially service RECOVERY. That used to be an Aman hallmark.

Don't enable Aman with your poor treatment; please contact Aman corporate and make them make good on this abject failure. They owe you a significant refund.

Your report means I won't ever bother to go there until I know (1) they refunded your stay or a good proportion thereof, (2) they permanently rectified the wasp problem, and (3) there is a new GM/leadership team in place.

Wowch. That's insane.

I'm surprised you lasted the full 3 days. I think I'd have gone after the pubes. Gross. They got their payment upfront too, right?

The King of Aircon is right! Definitely don't let the property or brand get away with such heinous service failures. I don't know how hot it was there but no Aircon is this heat wave of a summer should be a crime.

The wasps infestation is just a disaster and lawsuit waiting to happen if a guest gets stung and is deadly allergic. Not to mention wasp stings are not pretty things to happen on a very expensive trip. They're giant, painful and itchy red blobs.

Just to be clear ONE of the aircon units in the room was broken, there were multiple units in the room so it remained cool. The temperature wasn't an issue. It was more that they never bothered to fix something they knew was broken. They did enough things wrong, don't want to make any individual piece look worse than it was. I will be writing to corporate.

That GM should be held accountable. I hope you get a more contrite, empathetic and personal response than I did from the Japanese GM at Aman Tokyo.

:D

Hope you don't mind, but now I've taken that title for an addition to my FT signature.

I am here now and very much agree with your sentiment. We love the hard product and agree about the F&B staff (Chef is wonderful) but pretty much everything else here is a bloody mess. I'm glad to see this post and know we aren't the only ones who feel this way....

• We had sent an email in advance of the stay reminding them of some requests (nothing out of the ordinary). Pretty much all of them were completely ignored. They did rectify them pretty quickly once I reminded them though.
• Most of the staff here is indifferent, if not rude. They seem to want to be elsewhere and make it quite clear. I understand the necessity of hiring locals, but it shouldn't be this way even if its a cultural thing.
• Pool service consists of a "server" who makes it clear that he's just there to take lunch orders. He never offered water or anything else and got annoyed when we asked if he could help move an umbrella.
• Turndown service literally just means your sheets are turned down and a gift placed in the middle of the bed. They wont as much as move something from the bed or even clean the room slightly. Even a Champagne Bucket with melted ice wasn't removed. Housekeeping during the day cleans the way you'd expect at a Holiday Inn Express on I-95.
• Other than by the Executive Chef, we have not been addressed by name once. Even more bothersome if being constantly asked by security at the entrance if we are guests. Spa and beach attendants have no clue either.
• Beach SERVICE consists of being handed a semi-cold bottle of water and nothing else. If you ask for menus you receive them but if you want to order something you need to shout across the beach to the attendants or go to the towel station to place the order.
• Waited a half hour for a car to drive us from Spa back to the Island and nobody was willing to apologize or take blame.
• Do not disturb sign in private sauna rooms at spa is constantly ignored by cleaning staff. They walk in without even a knock.
• We were dropped off at boat dock without any instructions as to where Queens Beach was. The Security Guard just motioned in the general direction with his finger when we asked him how to get there.

Oh and the Wasps and Bees are EVERYWHERE. No respite from them whatsoever in any area where there is food or drink.


Overall, I'd have to say that its certainly been our most disappointing Aman stay and we'd even consider leaving if there was another good option nearby....

Geez. At least you both have each other as ammunition that these problems are endemic and not incidental. Something is rotten in the state of Montenegro.

I recommend insisting on speaking with the GM NOW. If the GM doesn't speak with you, offer you appropriate service recovery (a night's refund again?) and affect immediate changes for the better, then you should contact Aman corporate.

Who is the unimpressive GM at this Aman?

-- --

I am sure you did not have bad intentions, but... this negative Aman experience should not deter anyone from visiting Montenegro.

I spent some time in Montenegro, and everyone I met was really nice (and the country is really beautiful too!). The Aman may be disappointing, but visiting Montenegro itself is great!

I definitely don't have bad intentions; and I'm not suggesting that one doesn't visit Montenegro at all.. My experience in Montenegro actually has nothing to do with Sveti Stefan... I visited the country before the Aman opened and found that while most everyone is nice; they just don't provide the same level of service one comes to expect at an Aman.. Same happens in Turks and Caicos; people are nice; service level at Amanyara just isn't up to snuff...Now the things described here go beyond the local talent pool; it also reflects poorly on the management.. which is puzzling because the TIbbles have been highly regarded... is it possible that they are off site due to Virtuoso week? Nonetheless, that is no excuse...

The nice thing is that when I visited; there weren't any properties anywhere remotely close to providing a luxury experience... Now the Chedi and the Regent are options...

FDW

Wow.

A lot of very valid complaints there. How to explain all of the damage such as the gym and glass in the pool? Sounds like the place has been trashed by large groups on buck's weekends or something?

Are you planning to write to the GM?

Not sure what they can do about the bees and wasps though. These are a natural phenomenon and they can't exactly drench the whole place in DDT these days.

Oh wow. Not one but two horrible stays! I was planning a stay there for next spring, thankfully I read this thread before booking. The most shocking thing to me is that they're selling day passes to the pool?! Is money that tight at Aman?

Definitely will be looking elsewhere now. Thank you for the reviews, and I hope you both can get at least half of your money back.

There are a lot of complaints on FlyerTalk that seem borderline insane. I have read criticisms of hotels that to this day make me laugh at the pettiness of it; I'm sure some of you have read some of my own reviews and thought the same. Sometimes our expectations are sky high and what we deem a failure is nothing more than just a standard part of most hotel stays. The world does not always revolve around us. I opened this thread expecting to see similar. How wrong was I. This is truly awful, not just in everything you've described, but the absence of any service recovery at all. It sounds like everyone just gave up. There are a lot of people on FlyerTalk with great connections to Aman, so please keep this thread updated as to what happens, as I'm sure a few of us could help you push it further if need be.

This hotel has been on my list for years, but every time I begin to consider it again yet another negative review pops up.

Thanks for sharing and so sorry to hear!!!

I've got 3 sets of clients booked to visit next month and I'm suddenly very nervous, wonder if I should suggest them to cancel but flights are booked...will need to work with the Aman S.S. team about this. @GetSetJetSet do you mind if I share your feedback with them? does anyone care if I share this thread with their team so they can address it accordingly (both onsite S.S. managers and corporate personnel)? I really think the Aman team would prefer to know and have the chance to address the issues. I don't want to see my clients experience the same complaints in 3 weeks.

If Aman can't provide service to the Aman standard, regardless of clientele, then the Aman brand means much less. It's that simple for me.

Except in China, perhaps, where almost every brand standard is suspect, anyway. :D

That sounds like a shocking stay. GM might be offsite but no property should ever stoop so low regardless of whether GM is on or offsite, and I thought my Amanbagh stay was horrible when GM was offsite (it wasn't anywhere near as bad as this, just me being extremely critical - it was a fine stay).

Both of you need to contact Tapa immediately to take this further because this really damages what Aman stands for. And let them know that having a GM off site is not acceptable for a hotel falling that low. Additionally, I would expect very appropriate service recovery for a stay this bad.

Tapa and Jane are very good to work with so I'd be extremely surprised if they do not take these complaints seriously.

Like @BESVISOR I would also like to check if we can alert Tapa/the team to this thread for future reference to ensure these issues are taken care of - they aren't luxury hotel guests being overly critical, they're downright shocking.

Also, I would seriously raise the concern regarding day passes to the pool (although are you sure they were selling day passes vs having a ton of influencers on-site? Something else to worry about). This is very un-Aman and ruins the very raison d'etre of choosing Aman in the first place.

Allowing others to use the restaurant, I understand - most of the Amans do that (with a reservation, and I don't think you even need that at Amanfayun or some others), but the hotel pool? I don't think even Aman Tokyo does this do they (how about if you live in Tokyo and use the spa?)? Can anyone living in Tokyo confirm?

Also, always remember that just because you see a lot of positive reviews of a property doesn't mean that you shouldn't report a negative review - this is precisely why this forum exists.

You can use Aman Tokyo's pool before a scheduled spa session but I don't think you can just show up and buy pool time.

Thanks for the clarification - so even some of the most popular Amans (where you get a lot of 'outside' visitors) doesn't offer day passes. Surprising if Aman Sveti Stefan goes down that way - might have been a large group of people there for another reason (media? travel agents? influencers?).

I've been allowed pool use for day-trips to Aman when I'm not staying there, but I don't bring 10-20 people with me. Even accounting for the above, allowing a large group for a day pool use would be very poor - I would definitely raise that issue and point out that the tranquility is one of the reasons you choose to stay at an Aman.

I'd go even further - a 3* is somewhere I expect a (small/adequate) but at least a clean room - a Holiday Inn Express, for instance. Pubes in the bathroom upon check-in suggest otherwise.

Wow - pretty terrible reports indeed. I stayed at Sveti Stefan at nearly this exact same time last year (late-August/early-September 2017). My review is here (link), and I mentioned a few of the issues that the OP and subsequent poster brought up - it is disappointing to see that certain things have not been fixed. A few thoughts:

1. We too had our aircon break during our stay. We had to move rooms in the middle of the night, but it did indeed get fixed. Not ideal that this is starting to sound like a pattern.

2. We also had people barging into the private hydrotherapy rooms despite the DnD sign. Last summer they promised me they would come up with a new system to indicate the room is occupied - clearly this hasn’t happened.

3. I do want to clarify what I believe is a misunderstanding in this thread (correct me if I am wrong). Sveti Stefan, like many Amans, has always let non-guests use the restaurant. It happens more at SS becuase it is nowhere near as remote as other Amans (not that many non-guests looking to dine at Amanoi, for example). I do NOT believe that Aman sells day passes to the pool. They do sell day passes to the beach directly outside the hotel, but not to the beach by Villa Moncler. I can assure you that if you are a guest, this is a non-issue, as there is no reason to use the beach available to non-guests given the private access to the far superior Queens Beach. I also wouldn’t be surprised if Aman selling day passes to the inferior beach is mandated by local laws.

4. Housekeeping was excellent for us so this is very disappointing to hear. We also didn’t have any problems with cleanliness, etc.

5. We too were attacked by bees when trying to enjoy breakfast at the Piazza. The staff also tried to burn coffee grounds to no effect. Luckily at least last summer the bees did not extend to elsewhere on the property (our terrace, lunch/dinner, etc.). If something has changed and now wasps are everywhere, this property is a non-starter.

6. I’ve been to Amanoi, Amantaka, Amanjiwo, Amankila, Amangiri, and Amanfaun. Aman Sveti Stefan’s service standards during our stay were just as good, if not better, than the rest. I have no idea what is going on this summer, but of course it is unacceptable. Maybe we just got lucky last summer. I can’t imagine the GM being onsite makes THAT much of a night and day difference, but you never know.

We have wanted to return to Aman Sveti Stefan more so than any other Aman property (perhaps Amangiri), but these new reports give us pause. It is truly a magical resort and hard product, but if these reports reflect the new service standard, well, we won’t be returning.

Amans seem to have issues when GMs and other senior management persons are off property. I know Joy being away at Puri made our Amanoi trip a little less enjoyable than maybe if she was there from the start. This seems like a classic story of the cat being away and the mice will play?

Thinking back on it, the GM was away at Amanjiwo and we had some pretty serious issues which I don’t think would have happened had he been there, or had a more capable management team in place (which is a different, perhaps more serious discussion). And that’s at a very seasoned property.

Stating the obvious here, but if a property relies solely on the presence of one individual in order for it to run smoothly, that’s a big issue. This is why management teams exist.

Indeed. It is said that it is the sign of a good manager if things run well when they are NOT around.

Indeed - this seems to be a frequent issue. And with Aman GMs off property a lot more (sales etc) they need to really sort this out to ensure a property runs smoothly.

Some ones that run smoothly even with the GM off site:
- Amankila (Shane)
- Aman-i-Khas (at least from our stay there - Amit taking over)

I think GMs have been on site for every other property we've been at, exception of Amanbagh which was (by Aman standards) a poor experience.

Upper House seems to run just fine when the GM isn't on site.

Yikes, that's horrific and unacceptable. Sorry to hear about your atrocious experience. We stayed at Aman SS in the Summer of 2014; while not up to the typical Aman service standards we had a pleasant stay.

I'm very sad to see how much it's regressed over the years, given that we loved Montenegro and the property itself is very charming.

All this is obviously unacceptable . . . but perhaps not surprising? This is August after all, height of the season, with resultant pressures on everything. Don't forget that even Macmyday found major service lapses at his favourite Park Hotel Vitznau in Switzerland, so maybe chaos in Montenegro is only to be expected. The lesson here is simple - don't go to the Med at the height of the season!