Amanvari, new ultraluxury hotel in the Cabo area

[+ azdr0710]

at US$6000+/night, it's among the most expensive hotels in the world.....they apparently have had construction delays and staffing trouble......it's part of the Aman chain, but I don't know if this one is company-owned or if the name is licensed/franchised........the "opening" was just a couple days ago and it's not going well.......youtube travel writer Ryan Walker, who has a good rep for luxury travel reporting (but, admittedly, is still an influencer who needs clicks), had a strange experience yesterday or the day before trying to check in.....the hotel cancelled his long-held reservation via email late in the evening prior to his check-in day.....he apparently didn't even see the email until looking later after being turned away......it's likely the very new hotel was in no physical state to welcome a hotel reviewer and, so, cancelled him.......hotel staff seemed confused and discourteous.....comments, as usual, are pointed and honest.......

    

Edited Wednesday at 06:04 AM by azdr0710

[Rod Hagen]

That's amazing.  AMAZING.  Not because they were fancy, but because I enjoyed their aesthetic, locations, and approach,  I stayed at many Amans in the years before they were $1000s/night, and while I know there has been lots of discussion about how much the brand has changed in the last 10+ years, after some buyout or something like that, for any hotel at any price-point, for any business at all, to be stupid enough to do this to someone with an iPhone and an internet connection, so to anyone, much less a confirmed guest, is unbelievable stupid.  WOW.  

Further discussion if this kind of thing interests you:

Scroll down to yesterday:  https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/luxury-hotels-travel/2151318-amanresorts-thread-2024-onwards-40.html

and also:  Reddit, of course (conversation locked now, lame).

 

[BSR]

Definitely not the kind of treatment you would expect of any luxury hotel, much less one that costs $6,000/night.  The general manager should have come out to greet him, apologized profusely for late cancellation, then explained exactly what happened.  A complimentary 2-night stay when the resort is fully operational would have been nice, given that poor Ryan traveled all the way there — a flight plus a 2-hour drive — for nothing.  But instead of apologizing, hotel staff called the police??  You gotta be kidding me!

I’m still baffled as to where Walker gets the budget for all his luxury travel experiences.  His channel has 139K subscribers, enough to cover expenses at a Hilton or Marriott, but I can’t imagine it generates enough to pay for a Four Seasons or an Aman.

Edited Thursday at 10:10 AM by BSR
Clarity

[+ nycman]

What a public relations disaster. 

I predict the GM will be replaced by the end of the week.

I’ve had the good fortune of staying at several Amans.
They were all “nice enough”, but nothing spectacular.
None of them were anywhere near being worth the insane expense.
At every property I visited, they were kind of assholes.

There are much, much better places to stay for 1/3 the expense. 

[topunderachiever]

There's got to be pieces missing from Walker's story as Aman wouldn't deliberately cancel his reservation without some legitimate reason(s).

And because it appeared in his carefully edited video that it was so "matter of fact" without much explanation plus threat of police involvement increases my skepticism regarding this ordeal.    

[Rod Hagen]

20 hours ago, topunderachiever said:

There's got to be pieces missing from Walker's story as Aman wouldn't deliberately cancel his reservation without some legitimate reason(s).

And because it appeared in his carefully edited video that it was so "matter of fact" without much explanation plus threat of police involvement increases my skepticism regarding this ordeal.    

I'm guessing there is more to it, I'm skeptical as well.  Additionally, if you read the Luxury Forums, Aman's behavior as a brand has gone way downhill, so maybe they're partly to blame.

I certainly don't believe that he hadn't read his cancelation email before arrival.  Being an influencer,  likely he salivated at the expected confrontation.

[+ azdr0710]

there is internet chatter that Ryan likely did see his cancellation notice beforehand, despite his claim.....some also note that Ryan has never before posted (or even filmed?) video that includes the drive TO a property before even checking in, but this includes that video........Ryan's promised live video chat update (scheduled for last night) was postponed by him in a live hasty post that included mention of the US Consulate et al.......this is as "first world problems" as one can get (!), but it's still sorta fun to watch this trainwreck!