I am saddened reading the other reviews from awhile back because I just got back from Amangani and I feel there must have been a great fall from grace.
My summary of Amangani: Mediocre. Disappointing. Tacky.
Background: We went on a trip to meet in the "middle" for the two bi-coastal couples (San Francisco and NYC). We've all been lucky enough to stay at some gorgeous properties, but none of us has been to an Aman resort so we figured this was a great time to try. We are honestly not the type to complain. The only time this happens is if there's a significant miss in expectations. And when you decide to splurge (it was about $1400/night - but more on that later) you are doing it for not just views, but for the service. You want to feel like you're taken care of for just for that period of time. That did not happen.
BREAKDOWN:
1. Views - 5 stars: the view of the Jackson Hole valley from Amangani is very serene and beautiful. It's unlike other views I've seen, so I wanted to put this right up here as the first and only redeeming point in favor of coming. (You can also just eat at the restaurant and avoid the $$$$ rooms.)
2. Rooms - 2 stars: old. Old carpet, old pipes. We had a cold faucet blasting scorching hot water. Showers were challenging because they were either cold or, again, really hot. This should NOT be happening at an Aman!
3. Fees - BEWARE: there are some that sneak into your bill.
a) do NOT use the Amangani car service to/from airport. We asked if the price was comparable to other rides and Amangani said yes. Let's try again: it's no. The resort charges $100 PLUS a service fee of 20% so $120. Take an Uber/Lyft for at least half that price. I know it doesn't seem like much when you're spending about $2k/night for rooms/food/spa etc. but it's the principle. If it were far more convenient, I wouldn't mind paying extra. But it's simply not.
b) No need to tip housekeeping: Amangani charges ~$150/night for that. Yes, a night. And remember... this is not about a dollar for dollar situation. I'm not counting what I get for each dollar. It's about that feeling of being taken care of. But Amangani's turndown service is nothing. They don't even leave simple, stupid chocolates. I don't understand the point, I truly don't. Why bother even offering it when guests returning to their room feel no difference?
4) Service - 2 stars: I'm gonna name names here. People who were good: Isaac (drove us), Cameron (concierge), Josh (maintenance), Taylor (restaurant), Katerina + Waverly (pool). They were the kind of service you'd expect to get at an Aman - thank you for fulfilling that for us! But we encountered door/bellmen who were clearly poorly trained, some could qualify as rude for how they responded to any question. When we wanted to sit by the fire pit near the pool, the bartender, Chad, seemed reluctant to help out. He then indicated it was out of gas and that seemed to be the end of that - there was no, "Hold on, I'll get this replaced in a few!" Thankfully, a night or two later, Taylor had the energy to make us feel like we weren't some big burden and Josh replaced the tank (it took all of two minutes).
5) Amenities - 2 stars: I'm putting spa/pool in a diff category. This is specifically what's available in your room. You walk in and guess what, that bar of chocolate in your mini bar costs $4. FOUR DOLLARS. I mean at that price point, you can't just make it free? If it were super duper awesome chocolate and they were charging $20, I'd understand more. But $4? Really?
NICKEL AND DIMED. That's how you feel here. They give you a free Amangani backpack in your room and that starts you feeling good. But sorry, that's the end of that.
6) Spa - 3.5 stars: The massage was okay. It was fine. But I really have a big pet peeve in massages when they end it shortly before your 90 minutes is up. That's what happened here. I will take full responsibility in that I got to the check-in right at my appointment time when I should have been 5-10 mins earlier. My massage began maybe 7 minutes after the 11am start-time. It ended BEFORE the 90 minutes were over. How do I know? I checked the time when the masseuse left and it hadn't hit 12:30pm. It's such a pet peeve. IT'S ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE. Make the guest feel taken care of, even if that's one minute after the scheduled time.
Overall, so, so disappointed. I let Cameron @ Concierge know but there was nothing more than "sorry" with the bill. I think with at least the airport ride, there should have been more action taken because we were straight up lied to about the pricing.
Safe to say we probably won't try any other Aman resorts for awhile - at least not Amangiri, which is the other American location. I believe they're owned by some Indonesian company headquartered in Singapore or something with a recent ownership change. I'd avoid because I think customer service sucks. I will be focusing my time and money on places that really provide the experience. read more