This reminds me of one of GHM's properties in Bali, The Chedi Club. The cottages are located close to each other with no view to speak of. I thoroughly enjoyed my stay there. The service was wonderful. The place is all about relaxing. The views of the rice fields from the restaurant are very pleasing. I'd definitely go back.

Originally, GHM created The Datai. Then, for some reason, it thought it needed a few brand names, so it created Chedi and Serai - both of which started life in Bali. Chedi was meant to be four star plus and Serai was meant to be three star plus, but it was hard to tell the difference. Then The Legian Bali came along and we all sat that alongside The Datai. Then, more recently, we had The Setai......and so it goes on.
GHM are much better at creating hotels and resorts than they are at branding. Let's not encourage them to create even more brands than they already have. Please.

think about it ...........the Carcosa in malaysia , the Strand in myanmar were former Amans . some of the hotels in the ghm portfolios did not make the grade of an Aman thus given the GHM tag ....i presume.....eg Datai and those properties in Mexico, Fuchun in china , the Lalu in taiwan all now relinquished , the heritage house in california and also the recently divorced LEELA .

I have never had a good stay at a GHM property save for the Serai in Bali ...now an alila and the Chedi in ubud ..also an alila now...but the chedi stay[s] [i stayed 3 times -out of madness i guess ] there were barely memorable .

Its a mixed bag of hotels and this is probably due to the economic stituation and the need to create a portfolio of hotels .

when things become good eg when they got the chiang mai which is still a GHM hotel but did not really make the waves it intended as well as the Lalu which they touted as the new generation GHM hotels [ this includes milan but such hopes were short lived ..why why why ? ....the Setai had a very bad start to its ie GHM USA debut and i suppose the management had a lot to do with it.

so i guess Aman Rejects would be a good way to descrbe GHM Hotels until they get ther act together.... i suppose new build ghms eg yamu , kilada hills , kumgang ananti etc would feature the new ghm "philosophy" and look but then at the end of the day its the personality that is sorely lacking at many ghms

1. Thank you for mentoning the GHM Kilada Hills, where a google-search showed, that this will be a huge 100-Million-Dollar project, designed by Jean Michel Gathy, located in Argolida, two hours from Athen, including a big golf course. I added it to the initial list in the thread. Thanks!

2. Interestlingy, I also found a second Greece Aman project nearby with the same search on the investors site: the Seascape Hills Resort, which will be managed by Amanresorts. I included that also at the top of the thread.

3. In contrast to Bearbrick I had fantastic stays at some GHM properties: Unforgettable at the Datai (which could have been very easily set up as an Aman...), very good at the Nam Hai (fantastic food!) and best-in-town in Miami at the Setai.

4. Of course the GHMs are very mixed in quality - but I am very happy that GHM exists at all, compared to all these often personality-missing Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton resorts worldwide. I was only astonished about below-par-locations (maybe I got proven wrong once its finished) like the new Serai, but I am really excited looking forward to Yamu and Ananti!

the greece aman would be the Amanmila ... already mentioned in the "other" aman thread some time back.

re ghms.....the "new " serai is not that new ...its been around for a while and was a project which took a very long time ....next to this serai "jimbaran " site was i believe another chedi club which never took off...or yet to lunch again ?..

te other serai which became a chedi i s the one at Mucat Oman. .....

my last stay at a ghm property was at the Chedi chiang mai which athough nice in terms of product ... left me feeling short changed ...in terms of service and experience...cant go into details as that would mean too much reminiscing !! ; )

my all time fave GHM property thus far would be the Lalu ...but that is no longer in their portfolio.

i will otoh look forward to their new offerings with great anticippation.

did you see the pics i posted of the Aman Beijing in the other aman thread ?....georgewongdesign.com or .......designs.com

hve fun !




.

One is Amanmilla on Milos Island in the Cyclades (www.dolphinci.com/amanmila.asp)
The other is Aman at Seascape Hills on the Mainland in the Argolida region (www.dolphinci.com/seascape.asp)

I second that by 100%. I stayed there in 1997 and in 2004 and would have been back again already if not a few Amanresorts kept me busy vacationing at. GM James Case has been in this position since hotel opening which is quite a unique matter in luxury resort management. Location and service/staff has always been very close to Aman standards. He recommended to me to visit Amanjiwo as his most preferred resort in the world.

IIRC adjacent Andaman resort has been member of GHM since its opening but felt to me to be two par below the standards of its exclusive neighbour.

I once considered to visit Chedi Phuket (1999) back when they just had two categories (standard and Family rooms) but it did not feel to live up to my expectations I had from Datai. I moved to Banyan Tree Phuket instead.

My parents have stayed at The Heritage House in Mendocino (years after a vacation at the Datai) during GHM reign and while it was a nice hotel there was just no hint designwise that matched up with the other GHM properties. It did not seem to fit in GHM's portfolio even remotely...

wow 2 amans in greece ...that could only mean.......its gonna be twice the fun ! thanks deer for that great news ......

This sounds very cool: According to the well-informed Gallivanter's Guide, SPG Land Company from Hongkong is developing The Aman Shanghai on the site of the old British Embassy at the Bund, No. 33. Architects will be The Pei Partnership.

Not so cool sounds the development of another Aman: It is within the existing Hangshan Taiping Lake Resort Project. Although in a very scenic landscape near one of the 4 holy mountains of China and a big lake, the Aman will be part of a huge resort complex, compromising of a f***ing Crowne Plaza Resort hotel, some residential sh*t and a golf course... Please, dear Aman, stay unique at unique places!!!

The Hangshan lake resort project sounds a bit like Amanusa in Nusa Dua (many different hotels, golf course etc.). Iirc Nusa Dua was a tax incentive project to lure investment to Bali. Perhaps the same is true of the 'lake' project.

[QUOTE=bearbrick;9364853I have never had a good stay at a GHM property save for the Serai in Bali[/QUOTE]

As deer says, try the Nam Hai. Fantastic.

Amanmila on Milos will not happen, unfortunately. The project, owned by the Metaxos family, went to Six Senses instead.
Adrian Zecha often switches Aman projects into GHM projects if the land is too big for an Aman or the location is too commercial, so some of the touted new Amans could turn out to be GHMs in disguise.

Having looked at the Seascape Hills Resort mentions on the internet, they are all quite old (2007 latest). From what I hear, Sonu Shivdasani of Six Senses has established a strong relationship with Dolphin, so any future high end projects will probably go to him. Architect, John Heah, who originally brought in Aman to the Milos project, is now not doing it. Eva Shivdasani (wife of Sonu) was design leader on the Six Senses Milos project, now called Soneva Nisi, with 60 1-bedroom pool villas (6 with their own spa pavilions), opening end 2008.
Aman, though, do have a project in Greece on the mainland, but whether this will materialise is another question. Zecha talks to a lot of people and plans a lot of new projects. Only a few ever happen.

Oh, very bad news! Although SixSenses is very good in finding great estates (for example the fantastically located Six Senses Hideaway Ninh Van Bay in Vietnam), their rustic architecture, their oldish all-wooden interieur design and their lousy food is sadly ruining the whole experience...

this must be a joke....how could anyone decide on six senses over aman .... is aman getting too difficult and demanding and unreasonable ? this is not a good sign.