Great report and updates Groombridge!
On one visit to Amanwana a few years ago I noticed the resort was in need of updating and I mentioned it to the then GM Michael Dilonardo who told me they do it after the rainy season . I was back about 6 months later and the place was perfect, like a brand new resort.

Thanks for a comprehensive & frank report, can really relate to what you say about the Bali Amans. As of now, been twice this year. The gecko can be very annoying especially if one is jet lagged . The resident ones in the suites were somehow given new homes after I made a comment years back , ' I hope I won't have them around & keep me awake ' . On my subsequent visits, they were no more in whatever suites we were in though I heard them at the ' public ' areas e.g. Amankila pool bales.

Our Wana tent 10 in June was ok and even had new air conditioning ( think others were eventually getting them too ). Am planning a return trip with others next year as we didn't manage some activities or explore any secluded beaches. So it was rather a shock to read/see your report.
I gathered from Kevin then that improvements were in the works. Didn't
inspect the jungle spa as it seemed too ' rustic ' and open for me.
Thought then it was ' in keeping ' with the environment & quirks like the
jeeps.Good thing we didn't have kids running wild but only a quiet Japanese baby. I thought the parents were very ' brave ' to bring her.
Went on the hobie cat but was told that one other was broken and they were waiting for a replacement.

All I can say is "hats off to you." What a comprehensive Aman trip report, especially for newcomers who have not yet decided whether or not to go!

I agree with 95% of everything you said. The rankings were exactly on target, but I have met other Aman aficionados who like Amanwana the most. I liked it the least, but it is such a personal opinion.

I was a little surprised at some of your crtiques of Amanjiwo. First, if Sean was there, it would have been a better run ship. I found that GM highly involved and the staff seemed towork hard for him. I thought the rooms were very nice and I really liked the public "temple structure" lobby area. The architecture was perfect for the surroundings and I liked the bar area as well. The local musicians did not bother me, but truth be told, I had enough of the high pitched singer after 5 minutes. I personally enjoy burning incense so that ws ok as well. My room was immaculate and I had a borobodur pool suite on the lower level of the resort (room 25 of first trip and room 28 on my return trip).

As far as your review of Amankila, I could not have described it any better. I dont remember if you mentioned Tracy the GM, but she is the best there is!

Really excellent report, Groombridge ! ^

Even more evidence that Amanusa has been highly underrated in the past...had dinner followed by a site/room inspection there once and was really stunned by the place although I am not too fond of Nusa Dua's beaches.

Thank you for this report. As a recent guest to all but Amandari (total of 14 nights), I have fresh information about all of these resorts.

Amanusa is a good architectural hotel, but in my opinion, that is about it. We had a MAJOR negative event there that will always be remembered and was NOT dealt with by the management.

Amanwana was actually our best experience. Our bathroom was not like the ones that are shown in the pictures. It was very clean. We were in room 6 or 8. The whole jungle experience and the amazing ocean life will have you forget about the fact that you're staying in a luxury tent. I did have treatments in the open air spa and the facilities looked very nice to me. We did use the music pavillion and all seemed very updated with great sound system and pillows. I do not understand all the negative remarks.

Amanjiwo was also excellent in my opinion. Sean did make a BIG difference.

so they didnt do a (complete) refresh in april/may this year..

***
no management response, or negative management response? any broad/general/vague details, or "category" etc?

Even money, success (by western standards) and the assistance of the Virtuoso champions do not guarantee happiness and fulfilment when traveling to places where we have to consider ourselves "not very adventurous eaters" or are confronted with a "tremendous amount of animal noise" which we find "comical".

I will have a good laugh with the Amandari team next week when returning there.

This post makes me remember the tale of the forrmer GM of Giessbach Hotel in Switzerland. It is located just beside a huge waterfall with the related very loud noise. No airconditioning in the room (we are in the third world ), a guest (from a nation I will not mention here for political correctness) once asked if it was not possible to switch off this waterfall (which he probably assumed was artificial) during the nighttime...... At least at Amandari they offered to collect the frogs - Aman at its best .

please report back >
behuman: [good laugh]
amandari team:

ambient noise is very useful information for those here who frequently discuss soundproofing, and Groombridge's amandari post mentioned many other things, both positive and negative. also, Ericka is one of the fans here, but >

Thanks to each of you who responded to my post with your experiences at these resorts--I really appreciate the additional context and nuances your perspectives provide.

In response to bearbrick's follow-up questions:

We took the float plane each way, and am glad we did, but perhaps would have felt differently if (as one recent review on flyertalk notes) the bay would have been too rough to land there and we would have been diverted to Sumbawa for the boat service. We asked Kevin about the frequency of that possibility and apparently it certainly happens to some degree--I'm sure if you emailed Amanwana they could give you some sort of sense of how often the flight is diverted. The convenience of the float plane, and the slight thrill of it, made me glad that's the option we selected, even though the cost is higher. Folks with claustrophobia or a need for heavy duty air conditioning may not enjoy the float plane experience, but we really did.

I didn't have any discussion with the management about plans for renovation. The guest assistant who showed me to my tent and struggled with the hardware in it sort of laughed it off and said, "These furnishings are really old."

I just noticed there are some additional recent reviews of Amanwana on Trip Advisor, and despite our disdain for much that gets posted there, it sounds like some had the same concerns about rampant children and poor accommodation that I did. (I'll also upload my review to Trip Advisor shortly.)

While there's a lot of binary opinions on Tripadvisor it's a good resource for the sheer amount of knowledge. Even if a good percentage of reviews are questionable there's always a small percentage that will provide valuable information.

Hey guys, got a few questions about the amans in Indonesia so I guess I will ask them here rather than start a new thread.

First, very insightful report by the OP and I have read several outstanding reports by the other regular FT'ers^. Your contributions are really appreciated by folks like me who are early in their luxury travel careers, so thanks! I recently got a $10000 bonus from work for a job well done and would really like to splurge a little for a special vacation. As my mother is a devout buddhist (I'm not), I am planning to take her on a once in a lifetime trip to amanjiwo. Right now I'm struggling to decide on the following:

1) Really intrigued by the packages amans are offering, specifically the cultural trails and the bali and beyond. Would you say 3 nights at jiwo are too short? Would hate to travel half the world for 3 nights then feel the need to extend the stay. room-wise, targeting the borobudur suite unless you guys feel I should go for a pool suite.

2) The 7night bali and beyond package is equally intriguing to me, in particular amankila and amandari. Jiwo is really for my mother, and I was hoping to save dari/kila/usa for another special lady. If I were to take this trip, I suppose the next logical destination would be the FS maldives. So if I were to hit all three places in one trip, which one should I visit first? In the back of my mind I have 4 days at jiwo, 2 days at dari, and 2 days at kila. I'm open to any combination though. Also, do I have to arrange (air/ground?) transport from jiwo to dari/kila?

3) This is a rather awkward question, but is it a bit unusual to stay at the amans with your mother? My understanding is that most guests are couples who are on their honeymoons/anniversaries/???
(The past several months have been rough for my mother so I want to take her out on a trip, and borobudur sounds awesome.)

4) budget-wise, i prefer not to spend the entire bonus on a week-long trip, but i understand it's a very special experience. just in terms of having a number in mind, how much should i plan to spend a day in addition to room costs? I will probably end up using more than 1 activity a day, and quite likely to indulge my mother with a spa treatment here and there.

5) This is a silly question, but if I ever feel the need to explore a little, say in Ubud or in the more touristy areas in bali, can I hire an aman driver for the day just to take us around? I'm certain the resorts are fantastic and I can easily spend the day at the bale or pool, but not sure if my mother's going to want to sightsee a bit.

6) suggestions for any can't miss activities/food/things to do. (they dont have the elephant ride at jiwo anymore, right?)

7) heard a lot of great things about david o. does he have a website or should i just pm him to arrange the trip?

almost forgot to mention, I plan to be there in late jan early feb.

Thanks in advance for everyone's help! I definitely will write a trip report + photos.

Hi Chowsi,

Welcome to flyertalk!

First off, late January and early February are putting you there during the rainy season. Many people aren't bothered by that, but if you are, you might want to wait and go later in the spring.

Also, you probably already know this, but it is worth mentioning. Borobudur has strong Buddhist roots but the island of Java itself is strongly Muslim. Morning calls to prayer, etc. It's very special.

1) I would recommend 4 nights at Jiwo if you can swing it because you are taking a separate flight to get there. Kila and Dari are in comfortable driving distance from one another so your stays can be shorter.

2) Their packages are always an excellent value so Bali and Beyond would work well for you. Aman manages all transportation and transfers once you are in Indonesia (car transfers are free and they will charge you for planes as necessary). They are especially good at getting you from one place to another in style and comfort.

3) Nothing wrong with taking your mother as long as you don't mind sleeping in the same room. The regular rooms at Amans are large but they typically don't have dividers. Aman will arrange separate beds.

4) Food costs are pretty reasonable considering these are luxury hotels. And they can send you the activity sheets ahead of time that have prices on them for budget purposes. Generally speaking, Aman does not nickel and dime. You pay a high price for the room but that's it.

5) Have each property email you their list of available activities. All phenomenal!

6) I (and many others) have detailed trip reports on this forum for each of the properties you are considering. Check them out and feel free to PM each of us with individual questions. No, Jiwo does not offer the elephant trip to Borobudur anymore but they might still do the elephant painting.

7) Yes, you can PM DavidO.

What an exciting trip! You have a very lucky mother! Keep us up to date on your plans.

isnt the honeymoon/couples stereotype for all luxury hotels more in relation to "once in a lifetime" for "average" people? whereas its every trip (even if it means fewer trips) for the regulars here, and even flyertalk in general if you consider the business travelers/spenders in other forums who do upscale award stays.

IIRC zigzag suggested this is possible at amans and twin farms.

ive wondered about this kind of thing.

hope you stick around the forum chowsi.

Thanks for the outstanding post! Makes me excited to add Amans to my must travel to list. Was a little shocked to see the condition of Wana given the standards at the Aman resorts. Are there changes looming at this particular resort that we just don't know about?

Agreed. Many thanks Groombridge. Another amazing review. This made me laugh: We each had the �mepijet� massage treatment from Gusti, the �local healer,� and it was a superbly individualized, intuitive, and therapeutic massage�one of my friends, a real spa aficionado, felt it was the best massage she�d ever received.

I had the same massage, but wasn't really able to relax and found it all a bit odd. Definitely a novel experience though!