Epicura

The more remote the location, the higher chance of having some unwanted guests in your room, sooner or later. Nothing one can do about it. If you would like to avoid this at all cost, better stay in standard chain hotel in a city environment.

Cynical that you mention SS Zil Pasyon in this context. Good to hear that you did not face any unwanted guests in your room. At least one female guest did encounter this but under the form of a local employee, raping her at knifepoint. I think she would have preferred to have a lizard in her room....

uclabruin82

Just checked-in at Amangiri. Will report back after our stay in a few days.
so far, so good. Things are generally open. All of the staff are wearing masks. We had our temperature checked before entering the resport.

Have not left our room yet so not much more to add, other than the fish tacos are solid considering we are in the middle of nowhere.
Also, does the minibar normally have alcohol in it or not?

jja34-1

My recollection is that there were a few beers in the mini bar but that was the extent of the alcoholic options. Anything else had to be ordered and paid for.

callmedtop

Amangiri wants $3,500 a night in the middle of the hot July summer. Have they lost their mind? I guess they have the SoCal demand but this must be the highest-priced resort in the US, right?

TSTraveler

Spring, summer, and fall are usually when the property is completely sold out. Hence the very high rates.

uclabruin82

got it. I asked because they knew my wife was pregnant and I was curious if they swapped those out on purpose with non-alcolohic options (sasparilla, ginger beer & sparklng apple) or if they never had it here because of Utah.

dr58

Pivoting to a different topic, is anyone aware of Aman properties revising their cancellation policies to make them less favorable to guests? I am currently experiencing problems cancelling a reservation where I am well within the cancellation period, but local laws have been revised to permit hotels to retain deposits and only issue refunds if the funds are not used for a stay within 18 months, and this property is availing itself of this option rather than honoring the original terms. The property offered to re-book my stay for a different time, but with how things are (both globally and personally), I am not sure when I'll have another window to visit and much prefer the refund.

For what it's worth, no other property on my itinerary hesitated to issue a full refund, despite all having the ability to avoid doing so based on the same laws.

I don't want to call out the property (yet), but found this treatment surprising and was curious how others have been treated.

TSTraveler

As this is the Aman thread, and as there have been many reports of hotels in Greece doing this due to its newly passed law, we can assume this is Amanzoe.

That’s the law—and the risk we take—that we have to respect (and endure) whenever we leave our own country. In this case, the Greek law says hotels can wait 18 months before issuing a refund if you don’t want to reschedule the stay in that time. So you will be eligible to get that refund after the 18 month period ends, of course.

FWIW many Greek hotels are doing the same thing. It’s probably even fairer to say that many hotel ownership groups are doing the same thing.

MicSanToro

That is ludicrous. I love Giri and all, but it is NOT worth $3,500 a night, period. I just checked the website and the $3,500 a night is the cheapest base rate in the summer, some dates are as much as $4,500 a night...

I wonder if this is a Covid-related pricing surge seeing as most travel/vacations for Americans this summer will be limited to domestic, and hence jetsetters who would otherwise be visiting far flung luxury destinations are instead going to places like Amangiri.

BenjaminNicholas

I've stayed at Giri 7 times now and yes, their pricing is becoming just laughable, especially considering how weak their f&b program continues to be.

I get it. It's less than 40 rooms. It's a breathtaking design... It's just not up to a $3500/night standard.

The last visit for us was about a year ago and the veneer of our previous visits began to crack. I found a lot of the common areas of the spa in need of a soft refurb. I also didn't like that they allowed people directly in from a hike to drop their dirty clothes in front of the steam room and use it. No shower. They got sand/mud everywhere. Really gross and uncouth.

For us, the selling point other than the solace of the entire property, is the use of the BMW fleet to drive off-site and explore the area small towns.

Musken

I remember thinking that paying almost USD 2.000 per night for Giri was very, very expensive. On top came the extremely high rates for activities. Still it was a very memorable stay in a fantastic location, but I am happy I have been there already as the rates they charge now, is way over what I would consider paying.

chinmoylad

June (if you booked it early with space available) was ~USD 2,100 to USD 2,500 or so I think.

chinmoylad

A lot of Greek hotels are doing the same because it's a local law that has been passed.

Going to offer a slightly different, devil's advocate, perspective to this, specifically for destinations that are very heavily reliant on international tourism (e.g. Greece), and not just specific to Aman but generally - especially for very remote destination-hotels and -resorts in such destinations.

Guests also often ask for negotiation/some level of refund (if not a full refund or a waiving of fees) occasionally even in normal times (e.g. let's say partner was sick and couldn't make the trip). While these often come under fully prepaid or non-refundable, hotels often (but depending on situation) offer some if not full leeway - usually because it is only 1-2 such cancellations at any one time and that is sustainable.

This current situation is unprecedented, and while I understand the frustration from the guest's side, it would definitely cause a HUGE cash flow issue resulting in hotels having to let go of many staff; at resorts that we love and often frequent multiple times, that could involve letting go of long standing staff who have been with the resort since inception (as an example) - or worse, leading to the closure of a resort.

Unlike with hotels/resorts within the US or more established destinations (or city hotels where you can still make some money from F&B etc), you aren't going to get much local tourism in Borobudur and Greece paying ~USD 1,000 - 2,000/night or more.

For the Greece issue specifically, essentially, all the Greek hotels are doing in this case is honoring the new law that was passed (and thus backdated), in contrast to often not honouring even their own cancellation terms on many occasions, offering quite a bit of leeway (because the guest is a regular etc etc).

It's definitely a sensitive issue, though.

Goodmorning2U

This is an Aman specific issue. I reached out to the Four Seasons Astir Palace Athen, and they are honoring their own more generous cancellation policy and offering full refunds.

Its short sighted for Amanzoe to treat guests in this manner, its also a poorly conceived law which causes the opposite effect of its intention. Because of this law, fewer guests will book and tourism will go down. The smart travel companies have been falling over themselves to offer clients flexibility with rebooking and refunds which has gone a long way towards making clients comfortable to book and travel again.

mike_la_jolla

I'm not normally shocked when visiting this discussion board, but I've got to admit that $3500/night for an entry level room at Amangiri in JULY floored me. I've been there in July. Frankly, gonna never go back in July at any price ... AC didn't work. F&B was subpar. Rooms lack privacy.