USA & Canada.

Dear Lyn,

On our trip to USA and Canada - Auberge St Antoine in Quebec was a delight - so well designed, located and managed. Good food.

Old Windsor in Toronto was no good - boring room, very poor dining and service - concierge very helpful.

White Barn Inn in Kennebunkport, Maine - excellent as usual- cosy, charming, good food.

The Inn at Stockbridge is a delightful 'hide away'- very comfortable and inviting- no main meals.

On arrival at Elbow Beach in Bermuda, we learned that the main building is to be closed imminently - with just cottages and beach eating/facilities open!!!

MM, UK.

Amans in Bhutan & India.

Dear Lyn,

We arrived safely back from Bhutan and India.
As promised here some small feedback.

BHUTAN - Aman

……..
As we arrived in Thimpu John greeted just me (not my wife and my 2 friends) while I was behind my pc. Timing was bad and he stayed 10 seconds without really showing any courtesy whatsoever.
The same for Choden, who just greeted me upon departure at Thimpu.

I regret that all the 5 lodges have the same interior. If you are in your room you don’t have the feeling that you changed hotels.

It is not a question of love or hate it, as Bhutan is great.
But Aman isn’t. The lack of interest that John shows to his guest, he brings, in my opinion, over to his management team and staff members.

In Gangtey the charming lady did fine to welcome us and to say farewell.
In Bhumtang we stayed 4 nights and we met the local manager for 30 seconds.
Even worse is that we left this lodge anonymously after breakfast.

Besides a waitress nobody was there !

We drove to Punakha, where at arrival we were greeted in her sweating jogging outfit by a Norwegian girl, who was apparently running this lodge, and just returned from her daily run.
Staff informed me that at this time (very regular arriving time of guests between 3 and 4 pm, after a few hours drive from Bhumtang) she does her daily jogging.
If she had no better timing.
By the way, a mid 20 year old girl has in my opinion not the "layers and experience of Aman standards hospitality". She could have been my daughter..haha
Again no farewell at departure and we left silently.

Than I was surprised that Punakha prepared a "lunch picknick" in order to have lunch in Paro.
Why would you prepare this in Punakha as you have to drive around 3.5-4 hours and than you arrive at Amankora Paro.
Sounds logic to me that Amankora Paro prepared the lunch or picknick.
At Paro we were nicely welcomed and Eduardo didn’t fail to wake up early to say goodbye at 6.30 am.

Overall comments:
- food: in general good
- spa: all lodges the same with average quality in general
- hospitality: low

I missed the personal attention and some surprises...why not set up a surprise picknick in a tent in the mountains somewhere for example, or a romantic dinner for 2 somewhere...
All guest take more or less the same routings for hiking so it seems not too difficult to give it some "Aman-flavor"

I have the feeling that management has a kind of semi holiday and are resting on her Laurels.
I don’t think that I am under-estimating the job which has been achieved but as a regular Aman client I had expected that after a few years of running Amankora would have been more mature and more up to Aman-standards.

My conclusion: new fresh wind in the management team

AMANBAGH

Heaven, heaven, heaven.... Robyn and Manav are the perfect Aman couple to run deeply out of their heart an Amanbagh family. They set an example with the quality of human aspects and well mannered hospitality styles.
A great flexible chef who is prepared to come to the table and make "daily suggestions".
The Spa is amazing with great therapists. Naveen is the best Yoga teacher I have ever had in my life.
All the staff members of the Amanbagh family makes the guest feeling "special".

AMAN DELHI

Too short to give a real comment as we only had the room for a few hours.
Nice treatments at the Spa. What a pool of 50 meters...
The Asian restaurant was so so...couldnt be impressed, neither by the food neither by the atmosphere.
Staff was well informed and courteous.
It seems that the hotel has not been blessed by luck so far.
Today new Management arrives so I wish them all the best !!
Unfortunately I just missed them, as after Amandari and Mahakua I would have loved to see them back (Henry & Char Gray).

EV – Spain.

Amangiri, Grand Canyon, USA.

Hello Lyn,

…..Xxxx and I did get away for a long weekend and had the pleasure of visiting Amangiri. We had a great time and are already looking forward to returning. The resort itself is wonderful with a contemporary style of concrete and wood. We stayed in a mesa view suite which was minimally furnished (I believe all suites are), but the room and the resort itself are a distance second to what truly grabs your attention, the scenery. Throughout the resort, whether at the pool, the lobby, dining area, even in one's room your eyes are drawn to the surrounding vistas. The numerous outdoor activities, especially the day hikes near the resort are nothing short of spectacular. What's amazing is the colors of the nearby mesas and desert that constantly change throughout the day. The weather was perfect and my guess is the best time to visit would be fall and spring when the temperatures are conducive for being outdoors. We had the pleasure of meeting the GM's Ross and Sunny and enjoyed speaking with them about the resort and other Aman properties. The service was friendly, but still has a way to go to meet Aman standards. On a few occasions we had to walk into the dining area from the pool to ask for service; one night the staff was continually putting away silverware in the dining area while we were still dining, in addition to dining with fellow workers when their shift ended. We had to ask for turndown service and to have the room cleaned. All of this while a bit bothersome (I'll chalk it up to the newness of the staff and do I dare say an American work ethic) would not deter us from recommending the resort or visiting again.

M&DZ – USA

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