Amanoi or Six Senses Ninh Van Bay?
 

Moving this post from the hotel programs forum since I found this one!
I'm trying to decide between an Aman and a Six Senses for an upcoming trip to Vietnam (Specifically the Amanoi and the Six Senses Ninh Van Bay), and both of them seem wonderful, but I'm having a difficult time deciding. I've never stayed in an Aman property or a Six Senses property before, so I'm not really sure what to expect beyond the fairly limited photos I can find of both of them

Any insight into these specific hotels or the brands in general would be greatly appreciated!

Aman is (IMO) the best hotel group in the world by a long shot. Amanoi is one of their best properties. Six Senses is a good luxury hotel group with some good properties but it has it's problems (which I won't discuss here but if you're interested there is ample discussion about on this forum). Amanoi is the right choice here and that's a no brainer.

I've been to Amanoi and it's amazing. We're returning late this year. Here's a thread about it; search on Amanoi in the title and you'll find more.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/luxu...ip-report.html

Here's a thread on Six Senses Ninh Van Bay. I haven't stayed there and can't compare the properties. I am reminded that I decided NOT to stay there based on the thread. It looks very rustic compared to the exceptional beauty of Amanoi.

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/luxu...y-vietnam.html

Amanoi all the way.

Just came back from an Amanoi trip and it was amazing.

Not sure in General, my experiences so far were not over the top.

SanDiego1K posted the link to my report, unfortunately I wasn´t able to do also Amanoi as my Ex-wife (think why;)) insisted on staying at SS and due to some changes I wasn´t able to do both.

This said we paid around 2800 € for 7 nights at SS which could be sometimes 1 or 2 nights at Amanoi. SS is a fine hotel no doubt if (and that´s an important factor) you like the style. But it isn´t "world class".

Amanoi.

Unless you really absolutely exceptionally LOVE the rustic style of the Six Senses, stick with Amanoi.

They still put their toilets outside?

At Ninh Van Bay toilets are inside and fully covered. It´s an adjected room to the also fully closed bathroom.
https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8656/1...62805f61_z.jpg

The only Six Senses that has really wowed me is Douro Valley. In Vietnam, by far the best is Amanoi, which is truly special.

Been to both. SS NVB has the better beach and clearer, cleaner water. Amanoi has the better everything else, but not much of a beach.

As far as SS being 'Ikea Soneva', SS and Soneva were originally the same brand. And when SS NVB was built it was a Soneva property. To me, the differences between the Soneva properties and the older SS properties are minimal.

I will be in the vast minority here, but having spent 4 nights at each last year, we actually long to go back to Six Senses NVB more than Amanoi. But it’s really dependent on having either a rock or water villa at six senses. The beach at six senses is also much better in my opinion. That said, of course Amanoi is really fantastic, we loved it there and it is far superior to Six Senses for true luxury. If you have enough time, splitting between the two is a great way to enjoy two completely different experiences.

Just to be clear: I really like barefoot luxury. Unlike most here, I even don't mind a semi-open bathroom (except for the toilet ;) ). From that point of view I know I am a perfect target for Six Senses. But in most Six Senses I am really still looking for the luxury factor to be honest. Could very well be that before 2012 there were more common elements between Soneva and Six Senses, although Sonu and Eva always intented Six Senses as the "little sister" and Soneva was the higher level.

Today Six Senses just seems like a copy-cat but cheaper version of Soneva. Soneva has definitely grown after 2012, Six Senses did not in the past years. At least that's my impression.

Their newer properties (Bhutan) seem to stray away from the super rustic Soneva-lite type of feel. Bit more elegant rustic, like COMO. Going to be interesting...