if you had begun staying in luxury hotels sooner than you did
Dec 24, 2021, 10:15 am
#16
Join Date: Jan 2013
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The main difference between 'now' and 'then' was more about the location of the hotels rather than the hotels themselves. Places like Bora Bora, the Seychelles, Maldives, African safari parks, Komodo etc were far better before the advent of mass tourism and development. The hotels, though, were far less luxurious than we are used to these days. Just think of what cars were like in 1970 and what they are like these days. Even major city hotels in Paris, London or New York might have had wonderful service but the 'hard product' as it's called on this Forum would barely be a three-star these days. For me the real game changer was Amandari in 1990 which was on a totally different level to everything I had experienced before. Bali was also beautiful back then. Now it isn't.
Dec 24, 2021, 10:33 am
#17
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The main difference between 'now' and 'then' was more about the location of the hotels rather than the hotels themselves. Places like Bora Bora, the Seychelles, Maldives, African safari parks, Komodo etc were far better before the advent of mass tourism and development. The hotels, though, were far less luxurious than we are used to these days. Just think of what cars were like in 1970 and what they are like these days. Even major city hotels in Paris, London or New York might have had wonderful service but the 'hard product' as it's called on this Forum would barely be a three-star these days. For me the real game changer was Amandari in 1990 which was on a totally different level to everything I had experienced before. Bali was also beautiful back then. Now it isn't.
Dec 24, 2021, 10:36 am
#18
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my question was only about starting earlier in one's life
well said re destinations, Pausanias
well said re destinations, Pausanias
Last edited by Kagehitokiri; Dec 25, 2021 at 9:41 am
Dec 24, 2021, 4:18 pm
#19
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The main difference between 'now' and 'then' was more about the location of the hotels rather than the hotels themselves. Places like Bora Bora, the Seychelles, Maldives, African safari parks, Komodo etc were far better before the advent of mass tourism and development. The hotels, though, were far less luxurious than we are used to these days. Just think of what cars were like in 1970 and what they are like these days. Even major city hotels in Paris, London or New York might have had wonderful service but the 'hard product' as it's called on this Forum would barely be a three-star these days. For me the real game changer was Amandari in 1990 which was on a totally different level to everything I had experienced before. Bali was also beautiful back then. Now it isn't.
Remember a friend staying at Dari in her early days before we stayed .
It takes quite some creative planning to reach unspoilt areas of Bali these days ( before last year anyway ) & avoid the traffic jams . Many moons ago , it took ages getting to Dari as the roads were so bad .. it takes the same amount of time or even longer now with better real roads because of traffic ‼️
Glad too that we made it to at least Botswana , Zambia .. for the safaris some time ago along with Marrakech ( loved Jena then ) even before though already getting more ‘ developed ‘ . But it was still the single aisle prop getting from Casablanca / Tangiers to Malaga ❗️Good thing we did not have much luggage back then .
Dec 25, 2021, 4:32 am
#20
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: UK
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Carrying on with my line of thought, the exemplar is Phuket. We first went there in 1984 when there were very few hotels. We stayed at the Pansea Resort which looked a bit like David Lean's The Bridge on the River Kwai or Tarzan's camp. It was all bamboo walkways, bamboo rooms, rickety, immensely characterful. Our room in the trees creaked all the time and there were lots of insects eating the room and wanting to take a shower with you. It was wonderful. And then there was the food. Down on that great beach was a bunch of kids who grilled lobsters and giant prawns. They would take a live lobster, split it in two, throw it on the fire and slather it with garlic or chilli butter. A salad and fries were added. All for about 1. Plus 25 for a bottle of Chablis. I don't care what ***Michelin restaurant you've been to, that was the best restaurant in the world.
We went back the next year and it was still great. We would take long walks through a big palm plantation on the headland. A few years later all that was swept away for Amanpuri. That hotel changed the luxury hotel scene across the world. We stayed there a couple of times and looked wistfully down to the old Pansea and wondered which was better. You know the answer.
We went back the next year and it was still great. We would take long walks through a big palm plantation on the headland. A few years later all that was swept away for Amanpuri. That hotel changed the luxury hotel scene across the world. We stayed there a couple of times and looked wistfully down to the old Pansea and wondered which was better. You know the answer.
Dec 25, 2021, 7:08 am
#21
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Carrying on with my line of thought, the exemplar is Phuket. We first went there in 1984 when there were very few hotels. We stayed at the Pansea Resort which looked a bit like David Lean's The Bridge on the River Kwai or Tarzan's camp. It was all bamboo walkways, bamboo rooms, rickety, immensely characterful. Our room in the trees creaked all the time and there were lots of insects eating the room and wanting to take a shower with you. It was wonderful. And then there was the food. Down on that great beach was a bunch of kids who grilled lobsters and giant prawns. They would take a live lobster, split it in two, throw it on the fire and slather it with garlic or chilli butter. A salad and fries were added. All for about 1. Plus 25 for a bottle of Chablis. I don't care what ***Michelin restaurant you've been to, that was the best restaurant in the world.
We went back the next year and it was still great. We would take long walks through a big palm plantation on the headland. A few years later all that was swept away for Amanpuri. That hotel changed the luxury hotel scene across the world. We stayed there a couple of times and looked wistfully down to the old Pansea and wondered which was better. You know the answer.
We went back the next year and it was still great. We would take long walks through a big palm plantation on the headland. A few years later all that was swept away for Amanpuri. That hotel changed the luxury hotel scene across the world. We stayed there a couple of times and looked wistfully down to the old Pansea and wondered which was better. You know the answer.
Those were the days , younger sister ( s ) stayed at the Pansea too with our mother ! This was well before the Puri days , but not yours truly . Stayed when it was not Pansea , not sure what it was named then but now sort of morphed and became The Surin most ‘ recently ‘ .
There was still a makeshift “ restaurant “ which appeared during high season .. but it has since disappeared , quite a few years back now & since we have not returned to Puri for 2 years now . Last month ‘ s stay had to be aborted ..sadly like many other potential trips .
Would have met up with another few FTers then & in MOBKK too , including next week .
Not meant to be it seems like .
Here we are reminiscing about good old days , very soon these 2 years would fade & become ?
Dec 28, 2021, 8:48 am
#22
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re destinations, i just read this for the first time >
and not sanitizing local culture for western tourists
aman are/were like independents, the few other brands that were like that no longer exist
What I love about the Amans, is that they tend to offer not only the obvious sights that "everyone" wants to see, but also simple treks in the local nature with a guide knowing a lot about the flora and fauna, things you might not even notice by yourself and you walk with the guide and really noone else, except some locals who you might meet.
aman are/were like independents, the few other brands that were like that no longer exist
Dec 31, 2021, 8:29 am
#23
Join Date: Aug 2007
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I was in Phuket in 1987, staying at The Phuket Yacht Club which was, at the time, the best option. It was here that I heard from a member of staff they were building 'a resort for millionaires'. I did a spot of research and discovered Amanpuri. We went the first year it opened and knew, straight away, that this was a game-changer. It was so good that we returned there the following December.
I used to love Ciga Hotels and stayed in all the Venice properties, plus Sardinia etc etc.
I am not surprised that everyone is revelling in nostalia here, as the current crop of hotels/resorts tends to remind me that the golden age of hospitality is probably over.
I used to love Ciga Hotels and stayed in all the Venice properties, plus Sardinia etc etc.
I am not surprised that everyone is revelling in nostalia here, as the current crop of hotels/resorts tends to remind me that the golden age of hospitality is probably over.
Dec 31, 2021, 11:00 am
#24
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Im not entirely sure this is progress vs the scrappy one-star way I spent my early years.
Dec 31, 2021, 1:21 pm
#25
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Yeah, I think about this too. But at least our kids will know how to behave as adults in luxury hotels. It is looking like they will be among the few.
Jan 2, 2022, 8:18 am
#27
formerly known as deathscar
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what luxury hotels / luxury properties would you have stayed and when ?
i would have started doing aman/zecha properties in 1990s, and most likely would have stayed in all of them after that, as it was nowhere near as many as FS for example. (whereas at this point i will most likely only ever stay at amangiri due to its unique setting.)
i may have also done more historical hotels, although 1990s may have been too late for some, like italian CIGA hotels bought by ITT Sheraton
of course certain countries / areas as well, for example some great comments about FS damascus here
perhaps doing luxury photographic african safaris earlier in their development, or buying out luxury hunting safaris then not hunting
i also recall for example Pausanias talking about hotel bora bora (became aman) before area was developed
soneva fushi maldives opening in 1995 might be similar in terms of being before development
caribbean and to a lesser extent hawaii are similar, dont recall development history
aman managed hana maui possibly for as little as a few months
thought this might be interesting, only came up tangentially in past, like reflagged/closed luxury hotels. (i'm not 'back' in terms of posting.)
i would have started doing aman/zecha properties in 1990s, and most likely would have stayed in all of them after that, as it was nowhere near as many as FS for example. (whereas at this point i will most likely only ever stay at amangiri due to its unique setting.)
i may have also done more historical hotels, although 1990s may have been too late for some, like italian CIGA hotels bought by ITT Sheraton
of course certain countries / areas as well, for example some great comments about FS damascus here
perhaps doing luxury photographic african safaris earlier in their development, or buying out luxury hunting safaris then not hunting
i also recall for example Pausanias talking about hotel bora bora (became aman) before area was developed
soneva fushi maldives opening in 1995 might be similar in terms of being before development
caribbean and to a lesser extent hawaii are similar, dont recall development history
aman managed hana maui possibly for as little as a few months
thought this might be interesting, only came up tangentially in past, like reflagged/closed luxury hotels. (i'm not 'back' in terms of posting.)
With Maldives, while the development/overtourism is clear when you arrive, is it THAT different on-site (when you're staying at old/new resorts - whatever)? It's not like Bora Bora where the development is in your face, even on-site at the resort. The exception for this is maybe coral bleaching, but that's also a worldwide problem and not limited to Maldives only.
I don't really have an answer to the thread though if we are only accounting for times after you were born and of a certain age (have stayed at some upscale hotels and resorts even if not super luxury like Aman with family etc), but a fair amount of that is maybe from before I can remember too much.
If you could go back in time, then definitely Phuket/Bali back when the Amans first opened. Bora Bora way back whenever.
And some really iconic/historic hotels back when they first opened - Peninsula Hong Kong, Raffles Singapore and the like.
Jan 5, 2022, 5:28 pm
#28
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Without wanting to take this thread off topic, I wonder what the answers would look like to similar musings in 40 years in terms of answers of places of exceptional beauty and peace which aren't what they used to be (not quite the OP's question, but that seems to be where the conversation went). Maybe a good alternative thread, though not one for this "Luxury" forum where unfortunately I think the amenities and service expected to be categorised as such mean only a tiny part of the world is eligible.
When I think to places that have that special unspoiled beauty even now and some hotels or lodges with truly intimate experiences, I think to the Marquesas, the Tuamotos, Northern Mozamique (once the Islamists chill out), the countryside of Zimbabwe, cabins on the shores of lake Baikal or pre-Bensley tents on Khovsgol, the remaining beauty spots of the Caribbean (e.g. Tobago Cays), maybe Belize, Holbox in Mexico (perhaps this is borderline), Uepi private island in the Solomons...
When I think to places that have that special unspoiled beauty even now and some hotels or lodges with truly intimate experiences, I think to the Marquesas, the Tuamotos, Northern Mozamique (once the Islamists chill out), the countryside of Zimbabwe, cabins on the shores of lake Baikal or pre-Bensley tents on Khovsgol, the remaining beauty spots of the Caribbean (e.g. Tobago Cays), maybe Belize, Holbox in Mexico (perhaps this is borderline), Uepi private island in the Solomons...
Jan 5, 2022, 5:35 pm
#29
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Now bringing this thread roughly back on topic, I'd have loved to stay at these hotels earlier (maybe 50-100 years earlier, maybe 10):
- The Savoy Hotel in London when Frank Sinatra used to give impromptu concerts at what is now the Beaufort bar
- The Peninsula Hong Kong before reunification
- The Oriental Bangkok under Kurt
- I'd have loved to see the growth of the Aman brand as a first generation aman junkie
- The Luxury hotels of pre-revolution Iran and Cuba
- Experience the emerging trend of Bill Bensley's first tents and the first commecialisation of true luxury African safaris
- The National Hotel Moscow at the height of the cold war
- Hotel Imperial in Vienna shortly after its conversion
- The Savoy Hotel in London when Frank Sinatra used to give impromptu concerts at what is now the Beaufort bar
- The Peninsula Hong Kong before reunification
- The Oriental Bangkok under Kurt
- I'd have loved to see the growth of the Aman brand as a first generation aman junkie
- The Luxury hotels of pre-revolution Iran and Cuba
- Experience the emerging trend of Bill Bensley's first tents and the first commecialisation of true luxury African safaris
- The National Hotel Moscow at the height of the cold war
- Hotel Imperial in Vienna shortly after its conversion
Jan 6, 2022, 2:46 am
#30
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 380
Back in the 90's, growing up I was fortunate to stay in nice hotels when we would go on family vacations. Usually something like a Four Seasons, Round Hill, Grace Bay Club etc. We went to Europe a lot because my mom's family lives in the UK and both of my parents lived in several places before ending up in NY. While our US and Caribbean trips were in hotels, in Europe we would usually stay with friends. The first time I truly realized what luxury was capable of, felt like, and was WOWed was when I was maybe 14 or 15 and we finally stayed in a hotel during a Europe trip - Cipriani in Venice. That trip, and that stay, opened my mind to what a truly luxurious trip is. I knew places such as Grace Bay were nice, but this was something else.
That's a long way to answer the question and say I wish I could have experienced more properties similar to Cipriani, places such as Villa Feltrinelli, Villa d'Este, various Belmond's and Cheval Blancs, etc. Speaking of Belmond - their trains as well.
That's a long way to answer the question and say I wish I could have experienced more properties similar to Cipriani, places such as Villa Feltrinelli, Villa d'Este, various Belmond's and Cheval Blancs, etc. Speaking of Belmond - their trains as well.