There is no doubt that Amankila is a beautiful hotel - with incredible views of the sea and fantastic pools. The beach club is also breathtaking. However, we were disappointed by a few things after our preceeding stay at Amandari. First, the staff - they are verging on rude and do not seem to take any pride in what they do. The General Manager was lovely, but she can't do everything and I didn't feel her influence spread to the rest of the staff. Another exception was the Chef - who took a lot of time to talk to us - but this might be because we had mentioned on the first night that the curry my husband had didn't taste of anything (this is no mean feat in Bali, where generally the food is wonderful). We were told that they deliberately made the food bland as sometimes people don't want spicy food. Why come to Bali if you don't want tasty food? And why would a restaurant adapt all its dishes to the taste of this minority? Anyway... Our room was lovely. We were not sure about it at first - having a bedroom at the front of the villa made it seem smaller, but it definitely grew on us.
This has come across more negative than I'd thought it would. We had a wonderful time and everything was basically great, but not perfect!

My wife and I stayed at Amankila for 3 nights in May 2009. We've stayed at or visited 6-7 Aman properties, and it is by far the most amazing luxury hotel chain we know, not to be compared with the Four Seasons, Banyan Trees, or St. Regises of this world.

That said, this property did not live up to our other Aman experiences.

First, the pluses. The location is beautiful and relatively secluded, the three-tiered pools are dramatic, the green lap pool is equally wonderful, and the bales by the pool are elegant and fun to hang out in. The beach isn't the best, but not poor as some others claim. It has the benefit of complete seclusion, as do the well-appointed bales on the beach. Napping inside one of the bales with a gentle breeze wafting by the beach was one of my favorite Bali experiences. The service, as one would expect, is attentive and the staff eager to help.

Now, the negatives. The biggest disappointment for us were the rooms. We found them tired-looking and plain, not in the Aman minimalistic, zen kind of way, just plain and ordinary. Usually, I find the Aman aesthetic very appealing, and found the rooms at Amanbagh, Aman New Delhi, and Amanjiwo outstanding, breathtaking even. Here they were just... plain. The local staff manning the reception area tried to help us out with our touristy plans as best they could, but we were unable to communicate effectively because of their broken English. We found this to be a problem throughout Bali, but we expected more from Aman. There is no dedicated spa area to speak of; the spa is converted from a room. This seems to be true of far too many Amans.

Tips: Pick a room close to the pool area or else you'll have a LOT of stairs to climb and descend to get anywhere. Even if you're looking for total seclusion, you'll be able to find suitable rooms close to the pool area. We loved the snorkeling-sightseeing tour on the Aman boat.

BEST tip: If you're going to Bali, try to take out a few days to stay at Amanjiwo. Amanjiwo is by far the best Aman property in Indonesia, some would say the world, and it utterly magical. The Borobudur temple is really something worth seeing too.

What a place!

Unfortunately we were only staying one night at the Amankila before moving on, however, we were lucky enough to secure the Amankila Suite - last guests the Beckhams.

Private pool, private butler, amazing service and great view. We spent a beautiful night in the restaurant and I shared a couple of cocktails with the GM, she was amazing!

Upon returning to the suite we were met with candles leading the way and continuing around our pool! It was such a nice evening we decided to sleep on our day bed by candle lite.

Our butler organised a terrific breakfast for us by the pool, but what a shame we had to leave! And heres a nice touch, one of the staff had noticed that I was listening to Frank Sinatra on the ipod before we left. When we were transferred back to Ubud they set the same song in the car from the same point I'd stopped listening - attention to detail what?

Miss this resort at your peril!

It was our honeymoon and this special place made our final days in Bali truly memorable. The service was wonderful, every detail was attended to in the background. The staff knew our names from the moment we entered the property and they were friendly, accommodating and extremely helpful. The ocean view from our room was amazing. The beach was beautiful and swimmable. We only stayed 3 days and wish we had the opportunity to spend another week there!
This is a truly special place and would recommend to all.