Review: Amanzoe Pool Pavilion

Review: Amanzoe Pool Pavilion

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After four great nights in Santorini, we spent our next four nights at Amanzoe, which is a property I’ve heard so many great things about. I’m going to be breaking this review into two parts, given that it will be quite long.

This post will talk about how I booked, how you get to Amanzoe, and the room we had here, and then in the next installment I’ll cover all the other features of the hotel, including dining, activities, the beach club, service, and more.

Why I love Aman Hotels

I’ve written in the past about why I love Aman Hotels — they’re quite literally my favorite hotels in the world. Yes, they’re expensive, but unlike when you stay at a mega-resort with hundreds of rooms that still sometimes charge $1,000+ per night, you actually feel special at Amans.

Everything about Amans is so spectacular — their locations, the service, the design, the food, etc.

I’ve never had a bad Aman experience, and if anything, I’ve often wondered how some Amans make money, in spite of their high prices, given that I’ve been at several properties where there were only a few guests (admittedly I have no doubt that they’re making money in Greece in summer, as this hotel was sold out). 😉

Booking Amanzoe

Aman doesn’t have a loyalty program, and they don’t really discount rates much. So in general there are three ways to maximize value at Amans:

  • Book through Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts or Virtuoso to secure a room upgrade, property specific amenity, and other perks
  • Book one of the packages available on Aman’s website; in addition to their daily rate, they often have packages that include certain activities, and sometimes even lunch and dinner, which can represent significant savings
  • Book using the Citi Prestige fourth night free benefit, though I haven’t been able to use this at all Amans, especially those that require a credit card authorization form

In the case of this hotel, the best option was booking using the Citi Prestige fourth night free benefit. The nightly rate here was 1,200EUR before the fourth  night free. Yes, I know that’s really, really expensive, and it pained me to pay that much. It’s actually the most I’ve ever paid for a hotel.

Getting to Amanzoe

While most people visiting Greece vacation in the Greek Isles, Amanzoe is located on the mainland, near the town of Porto Heli.

The drive from Athens takes about 2.5 hours. In retrospect we should have probably rented a car, but I figured driving in Greece would be challenging, which didn’t seem to be the case. The scenery on the drive was beautiful. While the first hour or so of the drive is down a boring highway, the rest of the drive is along the coastline, and the scenery is breathtaking.

You can arrange a transfer through the hotel for 400EUR one-way, plus a 24% VAT.

I instead booked through Blacklane with a 20% off code, which instead cost about 260EUR all-in for a Mercedes E-Class.

Amanzoe Pool Pavilion review

We arrived at Amanzoe in the early afternoon. Arriving at an Aman tends to be overwhelming, as they usually have what can only be described as a welcome committee. Several of the managers, including the GM, greeted us, and then one of the front office staff brought us to our room.


Amanzoe reception

I’ll of course have a lot more on the resort in the next installment, but my gosh, is this place even real?!


View from Amanzoe reception


Amanzoe property

Amanzoe has about 50 rooms, which are scattered all around the property’s roughly 50 acres. There are some Amans where there’s a huge difference between the base room and an upgraded room, but that’s really not the case at Amanzoe. As far as I know the interior space of all the villas is identical. The only difference is the view, and that some villas have six meter pools, while others have 12 meter pools.


Walkway to Amanzoe suite

So our room was a “basic” Pool Pavilion, a modest 2,260 square foot private villa with a pool (in fairness, I believe that square footage includes outdoor space). 😉


Amanzoe Pool Pavilion exterior

There was a main door to enter the villa “compound,” and then a further door to the interior space.


Amanzoe Pool Pavilion entrance

The villa was gorgeous. It had an entryway, which is where the minibar, in-room coffee machine, and snacks were located, all of which were complimentary, and restocked daily.


Amanzoe Pool Pavilion entryway


Amanzoe Pool Pavilion complimentary minibar


Amanzoe Pool Pavilion complimentary snacks


Amanzoe Pool Pavilion coffee machine

Inside the entrance and to the right was the living area, featuring a couch, daybed, and chair.


Amanzoe Pool Pavilion living area


Amanzoe Pool Pavilion living area

On the table was a welcome amenity consisting of a bottle of Greek liquor.


Amanzoe welcome amenity

At the far end of that area was a desk. Far too many resorts don’t have desks (while I appreciate them wanting to encourage people to disconnect, not working isn’t always realistic), so I was happy to see this feature.


Amanzoe Pool Pavilion desk

The comfortable king size bed was right next to the living area.


Amanzoe Pool Pavilion


Amanzoe Pool Pavilion bedroom

Back near the entrance was a fireplace.


Amanzoe Pool Pavilion fireplace

Then there was the bathroom, which probably took up half of the room’s interior space.


Amanzoe Pool Pavilion bathroom

There was a soaking tub, as well as a big walk-in shower.


Amanzoe Pool Pavilion bathtub


Amanzoe Pool Pavilion shower

Toiletries were in large unbranded containers (this is the first Aman I recall staying at that uses plastic containers for this).


Amanzoe Pool Pavilion toiletries

One side of the bathroom had a large counter and a toilet.


Amanzoe Pool Pavilion bathroom


Amanzoe Pool Pavilion toilet

The other side of the bathroom also had a toilet, along with a smaller sink.


Amanzoe Pool Pavilion bathroom


Amanzoe Pool Pavilion toilet

The bathroom area also had a good amount of closet space.


Amanzoe Pool Pavilion closet

While the interior of the room was lovely, the highlight was the outdoor space.


Amanzoe Pool Pavilion outdoor space

There was a six meter plunge pool, and in spite of having an entry level room, the views of the coast and sea in the distance were beautiful.


Amanzoe Pool Pavilion private pool

The outdoor area had plenty of seating, including sun beds, a big couch and table, and a couple of chairs.


Amanzoe Pool Pavilion outdoor space


Amanzoe Pool Pavilion outdoor space


Amanzoe Pool Pavilion outdoor space


Amanzoe Pool Pavilion outdoor space

There was another seating area off to the side.


Amanzoe Pool Pavilion outdoor space

If you wanted to leave the villa from the outdoor area without going inside (or if you want room service delivered outside), there’s a path that goes along the outside to the entrance.


Amanzoe Pool Pavilion outdoor path


Amanzoe Pool Pavilion outdoor path

In-room Wi-Fi was fast and free, and didn’t even require logging in.

Also, as is the norm at Amans, housekeeping was basically magic. They don’t just refresh your room once a day, but rather they refresh it basically as often as you leave the room. So whether it’s just replacing used towels or tidying up, when you return your room you’ll always find that it’s in perfect condition.

It always amazes me how they manage to do this without ever knocking on the door or being there when I return to the room. The timing is always right. That’s part of the magic of Aman.

Amanzoe Pool Pavilion bottom line

I was impressed by our Pool Pavilion at Amanzoe. There aren’t many hotels that have entry level rooms this nice. I thought the room was luxurious and well designed while still being true to its locale (in other words, an ultra-modern minimalist room just wouldn’t work that well here, in my opinion).

So yeah, this place obviously isn’t cheap, but they really do give you an experience. I’ll have a lot more on that in the next installment.

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  1. schar Guest

    You paid less than $1200/ night in the Maldives and in the Seychelles?? how?

  2. Benjamin Nicholas Member

    Love Aman. Have stayed in 95% of their properties.

    That being said, their level of service is slipping since Adrian left. It just doesn't feel the same.

  3. Flyingdoctorwu Guest

    @T. It’s possible to book packages with Citi at Aman hotels as long as the nightly rate is equal to or less than the Standard daily rate...

  4. T. Member

    When you used Prestige for 4th night free for this hotel, did you have to forego Virtuoso perks? You cannot use both - 4th night free with Prestige and Aman’s Own package, for example, right?
    Would be nice if you could clarify this because it could make a difference

  5. John Guest

    much better off renting a real villa surely?

    To get a villa with a similar level of service is going to cost way more than EUR8400/week.

  6. David M Guest

    I love the Aman restaurants!!!

    Stayed in $50 a.night hotel in Galle Sri Lanka about 10 years ago and went to.Amangalla for lunch and dinner.

    The food, service and atmosphere were incredible.. They knew we were not staying there but they treated us wonderfully.

    We also ate dinner at Amandari on our honeymoon in Bali in 1996 - we had no idea how expensive/upscale this hotel was until sometime later. Likely we would not have just shown up for dinner if we had known!

  7. paragary Guest

    1200 euro with the CitiPrestige card and fourth night free?? My god, I stayed there a few weeks later in the same room type and went with the starting rate of 1800 euro off the website and no nights free. Tragic

  8. Daniel54321 Guest

    Thanks FDW and Lucky, I think we will probably do Jiwo + Kila. Amanwana looks....interesting but a little less predicable.

    When lucky says he wants to review the Indo properties outside of Bali, he must mean Jiwo + wana?

  9. flyingdoctorwu Guest

    @ Daniel54321 we stayed at Amandari, Amankila, and Amanjiwo many years back.. I would say that Amandari is definitely skippable as there are better options in Ubud (Chedi Club comes to mind)... or rather skipping Ubud all together is an option.. Amankila is amazing; but honestly would love to see them add more private pools... Amanjiwo is definitely spectacular... plus the prices are even less than when we went 5 years ago....

    FDW

  10. Andy Guest

    The Aman Tokyo also uses larger unbranded plastic containers for toiletries. Thought it was a nice touch as they are obviously reusable; so Aman doing their bit on plastic waste.
    Definitely get an Emperor's Palace view room there.. amazing views!

  11. JJJ Guest

    I agree with Evan. It looks absolutely amazing, but for that price you can get your own similar villa for a week without going through a hotel chain.

    It is also really disingenuous to say " it pained me to pay that much." If you didn't want to pay that price, than don't pay it. It's that simple. Why pretend like anyone is forcing you to? If you want to stay there, then stay there, but drop the modesty act.

    1. lucky OMAAT

      @ JJJ -- Not intended to be disingenuous. The point is that I went back and forth about whether to book it. I've really wanted to stay there and it has been on my bucket list for a long time, but when it came time to actually pull the trigger after having booked flights to Greece, I hesitated and second guessed myself. So you can call that whatever you'd like, maybe I didn't describe it well, but that's how I was feeling.

  12. Debit Guest

    You should review lucky train travel next

  13. Clem Diamond

    I can't wait for the next installment. Amanzoe (and Amangiri) are literally the 2 hotels at the top of my bucket list, although I'm not sure how I'll manage to visit both from a financial standpoint hah!

  14. BrooklynBoy Gold

    Looks great!

    Ben, you really should have a stay at the Four Seasons Tented Camp in northern Thailand. The price per night is over double that of Amanzoe but it's all-inclusive (including all wine and cocktails) and in the summer they have a deal where you get 2 free nights at the Four Seasons Chiang Mai if you stay 3 nights at Tented Camp. I took advantage of that for a trip with my...

    Looks great!

    Ben, you really should have a stay at the Four Seasons Tented Camp in northern Thailand. The price per night is over double that of Amanzoe but it's all-inclusive (including all wine and cocktails) and in the summer they have a deal where you get 2 free nights at the Four Seasons Chiang Mai if you stay 3 nights at Tented Camp. I took advantage of that for a trip with my dad two years ago and it's still one of the coolest things I've ever done. Service and setting and food were all picture-perfect.

  15. Daniel54321 Guest

    Awesome - Thank you!

    More Aman's please (I'm sure you don't mind).

    I would like to do an Aman trip, but the prices vary so widely across the world (~$500 in Indonesia, $2k-3k in Utah, etc.).

    I am leaning towards 3 Indonesian properties for $500 a night with packages. Do you think that's a good value? Any others that you think represent a superior value?

    Thanks!

    1. lucky OMAAT

      @ Daniel54321 -- The Indonesian properties outside of Bali are the next Amans at the top of my list, as they really do look spectacular. I'd say that's about as good of a deal as you'll score on an Aman.

  16. flyingdoctorwu Guest

    Loved Amanzoe... however it did feel a bit excessive.. I mean who needs to have two Toto toilets!

    I've seen the plastic containers at Amangiri, Amanyara and Amanera... Not a fan of them.. I like the sustainability of the ceramic container, even if I nearly broke one at Amanoi....

    FDW

  17. Evan Guest

    I'm always negative it seems so I'll try not to be today. Thank you for this review because it's interesting to see what it's like and great photos. However really....? €1200 per night is not great value - much better off renting a real villa surely? I'll await the next review before I finally decide. The decor is nothing special for high end Greece and I'd want a bit more than a bottle of Mastika...

    I'm always negative it seems so I'll try not to be today. Thank you for this review because it's interesting to see what it's like and great photos. However really....? €1200 per night is not great value - much better off renting a real villa surely? I'll await the next review before I finally decide. The decor is nothing special for high end Greece and I'd want a bit more than a bottle of Mastika as an amenity for that price! But I AM grateful for the review because I'd never have seen inside otherwise and I go to Greece every year.

    1. lucky OMAAT

      @ Evan -- Obviously this isn't for everyone and others will prefer other options. You don't stay at an Aman because of the rooms, because you definitely can get a villa for a similar price. What sets Aman apart is the personalized service, the beach club, and frankly the feeling like you're in a palace. If I went to Greece for a month then of course renting a villa would make a lot more sense,...

      @ Evan -- Obviously this isn't for everyone and others will prefer other options. You don't stay at an Aman because of the rooms, because you definitely can get a villa for a similar price. What sets Aman apart is the personalized service, the beach club, and frankly the feeling like you're in a palace. If I went to Greece for a month then of course renting a villa would make a lot more sense, but for a stay of just a few days, I personally prefer a hotel experience. But that's just me.

  18. Ron Guest

    Added on my to do list. Thanks

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schar Guest

You paid less than $1200/ night in the Maldives and in the Seychelles?? how?

0
Benjamin Nicholas Member

Love Aman. Have stayed in 95% of their properties. That being said, their level of service is slipping since Adrian left. It just doesn't feel the same.

0
Flyingdoctorwu Guest

@T. It’s possible to book packages with Citi at Aman hotels as long as the nightly rate is equal to or less than the Standard daily rate...

0
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