Man Furious At Aman Over Late Check-Out Cost, Beautiful Girlfriend Comment
FlyMarshall Newsroom
I get a lot of messages from people about their travel frustrations. Often people will directly ask me for help, which I try to provide when possible, assuming their complaint is reasonable (after all, consumers often feel powerless in the travel industry, when things go wrong). Other times I’ll just be CC’ed on complaints to travel providers.
Well, here’s a complaint that’s sort of leaving me speechless, and not because of what the hotel did…
This absurdly overblown Aman complaint is too much
I woke up this morning to an email with the subject line “I Denounce the Disgraceful Service at Amanoi,” and I think half the world is CC’ed on this email, from the webmaster of Vietnam’s Tourism website, to ABC News, to Rosewood’s general email inbox. For those not familiar, Amanoi is the Aman brand’s highly regarded resort in Vietnam.
Okay, I must admit, I was mighty curious based on that subject line. Just how much of a mistake did the hotel make? Well, let me just share the entire complaint, because it’s quite something:
To: Aman Resorts Headquarters, Global Luxury Hospitality Professionals, Travel Media, Vietnam National Administration of Tourism
I am publicly documenting the following experience regarding Amanoi Resort in Nha Trang, Vietnam after staying four nights at the property and spending approximately USD 11,700 in total.
This issue is not fundamentally about money.
I repeatedly asked Amanoi to clearly explain what Aman’s official late check-out policy actually was.
However, Amanoi never once properly explained it.
Instead, the handling was completely inconsistent between Aman properties:
Amanpuri: Complimentary late check-out
Amandari: Complimentary late check-out
Amanoi: Full nightly charge initially demanded
Amanoi never presented any clear standard or policy regarding why this difference existed.
Instead, Amanoi continued insisting only that it was “internal policy,” while attempting to charge me USD 2,590++ for late check-out.
At the same time, my acquaintance Mr. [redacted], a 26-year-old guest who stayed only one night at Amanoi during the same period, was charged approximately USD 1,000 under nearly identical overnight Korea departure conditions.
I was 42 years old, stayed four nights, and spent substantially more money at Amanoi.
Yet I was charged 2.6 times more.
When I repeatedly asked why this difference existed, Amanoi never once provided any rational explanation beyond repeating the words “internal policy.”
Throughout the process, Amanoi’s handling became increasingly defensive and emotionally aggressive toward me.
One staff member became visibly angry during our conversation, and I also received written messages warning me not to be “disrespectful” toward the team instead of receiving proper explanations.
In one official message, Amanoi staff even wrote the phrase “for your beautiful girlfriend.”
This is an inappropriate and unprofessional expression completely inconsistent with modern luxury hospitality standards.
My girlfriend is a former famous Korean idol pop star and is currently a well-known actress in Korea.
Considering the context and tone of the conversation, the remark felt sarcastic and mocking rather than respectful.
Luxury hospitality should be based on consistency, discretion, fairness, professionalism, and respect toward guests.
Instead, this experience became increasingly inconsistent, defensive, emotional, and revenue-driven.
Even until the very end, Amanoi never provided a clear explanation regarding:
why the late check-out charge difference became 2.6 times higher,
why Aman properties handled late check-out completely differently,
or what the actual “internal policy” truly was.
To all travel industry professionals, journalists, and tourism officials reading this letter,
I sincerely ask you to consider whether it is truly appropriate for a luxury brand such as Aman, charging tens of thousands of dollars for a stay, to provide this level of service and guest handling.
I believe the global luxury hospitality industry should seriously consider whether this reflects the values Aman claims to represent as one of the world’s leading ultra-luxury resort brands.
A traveler wasn’t happy with his Amanoi experience
I can appreciate the frustration, but this seems unreasonable
To this person’s credit, I don’t disagree that consistency and clearly defined policies are important in luxury hospitality. However, that’s roughly where my agreement with him ends…
The first issue, which is somehow completely overlooked (but is clear based on the WhatsApp message) is that the hotel offered the couple complimentary late check-out until 4PM, and then they could have tea, shower in the spa, etc. If you ask me, that’s very generous in the first place.
When you get to the point where you want to stay in your room until 9PM, it’s not unreasonable that policies would differ between hotels, or even differ at the same hotel based on the night, factoring in things like occupancy. Some hotels will change you for an entire extra night, some will charge you for a portion of a night, and some won’t charge you at all.
Personally, I don’t think there’s any one standard that’s reasonable. I think it’s nice when hotels offer very late check-out for free, but I also don’t hold it against hotels if they try to charge for an entire extra night — that’s up to them, and it’s a business decision.
He points out how someone staying for one-night was allowed late check-out for around $1,000, but then he insists that he was being charged $2,590++, even though the WhatsApp message suggests they were offering him 50% off that amount? I also find it noteworthy how he specifically mentions his age and the age of the other guest — does he think there was ageism here, or…?
But what stands out to me the most here is how in the WhatsApp message, the hotel representative (presumably some sort of a manager) writes “if you keep insulted our team like your message and in person, it is definitely not helping to provide the solution for you and your beautiful girlfriend.”
Folks, this is an Aman, and people working at Amans have a lot of patience, and are used to dealing with difficult guests. But how rude was this guy getting over a late check-out request? He accuses the hotel of being “defensive and emotionally aggressive.” That last descriptor is an interesting one…
Anyway, while Fox, ABC, and NBC, are all CC’ed on the email, I doubt they’ll be running a headline news story later today about this Amanoi late check-out scandal. But who knows…
It sounds like this dispute got emotional
Bottom line
A guest at Aman’s resort in Vietnam is angry after the hotel tried to charge him for late check-out. They offered him 4PM late check-out for free, but said he’d have to pay if he wanted to check-out at 9PM. He wasn’t happy about the amount being charged, especially in comparison to someone else.
This caused a dispute where the hotel accuses him of insulting staff in person and via message, and he accuses hotel staff of being “emotionally aggressive.”
