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Travel tip: what’s the best way to book an Aman hotel?

Friday newsletters always feature luxury travel conteststipsseries, or news.

Today (June 27, 2018): how to get maximum value when booking an Aman hotel?

Aman is the world’s most exclusive hotel brand, offering travel experiences unrivaled anywhere else. Meticulously designed to frame their natural settings, Aman hotels are renowned for breathtaking locations, locally inspired architecture, and ultimate privacy. Each welcomes guests as if to the home of a close friend, instilling a sense of peace and belonging amid some of the most diverse natural and historical landscapes. It is an approach that has changed little since 1988 when the first retreat was built on Phuket’s west coast. It was named Amanpuri, meaning ‘place of peace’, and Aman was born. Today, embracing more than 30 ultra-luxe hotels in 20 countries, Aman continues to seek out transformative experiences and awe-inspiring locations around the world. Among Aman’s habitués is a group of passionate repeat customers – self-proclaimed ‘Aman junkies’ (count me in) – who rave about the service and design aesthetic and whose travel plans are determined by Aman locations.

But with the group’s stellar reputation also comes a heavy price tag and staying at an Aman hotel requires you to dig deep in your pockets (with entry room rates well above $1000 USD per night at several properties). Unfortunately, Aman does not have a loyalty program, probably because their wealthy and loyal guests keep returning anyway. In addition, the brand does not compromise on exclusivity as you cannot book Aman hotels other than via the Aman website, luxury travel agents and some credit card companies (more on that below). So, it doesn’t make sense to start looking for the rate of an Aman hotel on aggregator websites like Hotelscombined and Trivago, since Aman won’t pop up in the search results anyway. However, there are some tips & tricks that can save you a few hundred dollars per night when staying at an Aman hotel. I hereby share with you the 3 best strategies – at least in my opinion – for booking a room (or even suite) into an Aman property. You can share your own tricks in the comments below.

AMANZOE, GREECE


1. BOOK VIA VIRTUOSO

Almost all Aman properties belong to the portfolio of Virtuoso. Virtuoso is not your classic hotel booking engine website. It’s the industry’s leading, invitation-only network of the world’s best luxury travel advisors, spanning over 26 countries and 9,000 travel advisors. So when you book an Aman hotel via Virtuoso, most of the time, you will be in touch with a Virtuoso travel agent who will make the booking for you. There are some Virtuoso travel agencies though that offer an online booking tool, such as Classic Travel, which has an excellent website and is my overall preferred Virtuoso travel agency for booking an Aman (or other luxury) hotel.

Booking an Aman hotel via Virtuoso instead of via the Aman website has the following benefits:


2. BOOK VIA THE AMAN WEBSITE

Except for the Best Available Rates (BAR) – which are always best booked via a Virtuoso travel agent – it makes sense to check the Aman website for the presence of any offers, packages or special deals. You can check these deals by clicking on the “exclusives” tab on the top of the website of each Aman hotel. Several types of deals are offered:

This page on the official Aman website shows an overview of all currently available, Aman exclusive package deals. Let’s use Amanjiwo – one of the 4 ultraluxe hotels that Aman manages in Indonesia – as an example.

AMANJIWO, JAVA, INDONESIA

3. BOOK VIA YOUR CREDIT CARD CONCIERGE

When you own an American Express credit card, you can book almost any Aman hotel via Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts. This will offer you the same benefits as when you would book the Aman hotel via a Virtuoso travel agent:

When you own a Citi Prestige Card (USA citizens only) you can make use of the fourth night free benefit: when you book a four night stay at an Aman property, you get reimbursed the cost of the fourth night, minus any taxes and service fees. The fourth night benefit is calculated based on the average nightly rate of your complete stay. Reservations must be made through Thankyou.com or the Citi Prestige Concierge and you must pay for your stay with your Citi Prestige Card, ThankYou points, or a combination of the two. There are a few things to be aware of, though:


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