Review - Amanjena — Satay Away

Amanjena

July 4th, 2022

Posts in this series:

Introduction - Surf & Turf From the Aegean Coast to the Saharan Desert

Review - Air Serbia Business Class A330-200 New York JFK to Belgrade

Review - Metropol Palace Belgrade, A Luxury Collection Hotel

Review - The Bodrum Edition

Review - The Ritz-Carlton Istanbul

Review - Turkish Airlines Business Class B737-8 Max Istanbul to Marrakech

Review - Amanjena

Review - Royal Air Maroc Business Class B787-8 Casablanca to New York JFK

Enroute:

Arrival into Marrakech Airport was reasonably painless - the terminal was rather new, and immigration was fast. We had pre-arranged transfer to the hotel, so there was a friendly gentleman from Aman already waiting for us in the arrivals hall. He took our luggage and whisked us to our ride. July in Marrakech was scorching, but fortunately the walk was brief.

To help combat the desert heat, Evian was provided in cute leather sleeves.

The drive only took about 15 minutes, and there wasn’t a whole lot to look at along the way.

Architecture is one of the highlights of this property, and that was evident the moment you stepped into the lobby. I’ll touch on more about the architecture later.

Check-in:

Aman properties are boutique. and the 39-key Amanjena was no exception. This enables the hotel to know each guest and their schedules personally. When we arrived, the GM Sven and his staff welcomed us to their hotel. A tea ceremony was performed for us by a local artisan - a departure from the normal champagne to dust off from the inbound journey.

Unpack:

All the rooms at Amanjena were individual villas.

The hotel went over the top after finding out our anniversary was the week prior. I suspect it maxed out the Moroccan quota for imported roses in this endeavor.

Each night at turndown, a small amenity was placed on the bed, such as argan soap or rose water mist.

Each nightstand was adorned with a lantern made by the Berbers in the nearby Atlas Mountains, casting enchanting shadows at night.

Amanjena Pavilion Piscine Bedroom Berber Lantern

Under the villa dome were a stylish daybed and a coffee table with a chair. A fireplace could be seen in the distance.

More roses were on the coffee table, next to a plate of fresh fruits.

By the fireplace were a handwritten welcome note from the GM, a bottle of organic Moroccan wine and some sweet treats.

On our first night, housekeeping brought us a hazelnut cake, and it was absolutely decadent.

To the left of the daybed were a writing desk and yet another more grandiose bouquet of roses.

The rest of the living room consisted of a minibar to the left, and a vintage TV to the right.

Bathroom was connected to the bedroom from both sides, each featuring its own storage space.

Laundry menu reads as follows:

Customarily there were a toilet and a bidet.

Amanjena Pavilion Piscine Bathroom Toilet

You know what I mean when I said they probably used all of the roses in Morocco?

The bath temperature was perfect when we first checked in. When we returned from dinner later that evening, housekeeping had replenished it with more hot water.

If you’ve read any other reviews on this site you know I have this proclivity for dual vanity. However, Amanjena said:

It wasn’t just a dual-vanity, it was two separate sinks. Say goodbye to fighting for counter space with your significant other!

Amanjena Pavilion Piscine Bathroom Vanity

The shower was dotted with fish scale tiles that were used ubiquitously throughout the property. The water pressure was robust, and size adequate for a small village. The one criticism I had was for the toiletries. They weren’t branded and were pretty watery, especially considering Aman started its own skincare brand. It’s like you’d expect a Nobu restaurant at Nobu hotel?

Amanjena Pavilion Piscine Bathroom Shower

Inarguably the best part of the accommodation was the outdoor space. A garden with a water fountain and a pagoda laid between the villa and the pool.

Notice that there were two hats on the pool chairs, one with black ribbon and the other green. The next day, housekeeping subtly swapped the green hat for another black one, realizing we were both men.

The pagoda was the focal point of outdoor living, with ample seating suitable for all means of relaxation - reading, snoozing, drinking or simply pondering life. When I pranced around the villa I felt like I was Yves Saint Laurent or a Carthaginian prince. I know Carthage is technically Tunis but can’t a girl have her moment?

A glimpse of the pool unveiled the alluring water through the pagoda drapes.

At last, a sanctuary in the desert.

It goes without saying that the villa was beyond stunning. But I don’t think it’s the best room I've ever stayed in. Why? Because there’s nothing to look at. Like it could very well be in Palm Springs, you know what I mean?

Unwind:

The traditional Moorish-style architecture was a prominent influence on Amanjena. The mastermind behind Amanjena’s majesty was the late Ed Tuttle, who was also responsible for the design of Amanpuri. Tuttle worked in Hong Kong in the early years of his career, where he met Adrian Zecha, the founder of Aman. Amanjena emulated a red city within the Red City. Jade-colored fountains and expansive green space formed a delicate oasis in the boundless Sahara Desert. We often strolled around the property after dinner to admire the endlessly beautiful details.

Such an iconic hotel was destined to be favored by the rich and famous. Indeed, Amanjena is frequented by the likes of David Beckham, Irina Shayk and countless Instagram models (escorts). We also heard from a staff member that Amanjena was Vladisnov Doronin’s favorite Aman property, the Russian oligarch who now controls the Aman chain. And then there’s me. Nobody flew me here on a PJ 😢.

Amanjena had two pools. The main one was surrounded by its restaurants and the gym/spa complex.

Then there’s another smaller pool tucked behind the breakfast restaurant. The location seemed rather unpremeditated.

To be expected, a hammam room was available inside the spa. You can find the spa menu here:

We both booked the hammam and ended up having the entire spa to ourselves. The hotel was able to secure two masseurs so we didn’t have go separately. No treatment was required to use these facilities, though, which included an indoor jacuzzi, the hammam and showers. The spa was ornate but compact. It was perfectly fine but nothing extraordinary.

The gym seemed fine, featuring an outdoor area.

Next to the gym was a boutique. Most items were Aman-branded, and the selection was quite extensive, ranging from skincare, perfumes, apparel and accessories. Prices largely reflected the clientele Aman captured, as a hat we liked cost almost as much as one from Loro Piana.

Refuel:

Staying at Amanjena, you’d most inevitably have a few meals on property. We ordered room service on our first night, and both Italian and Moroccan options were on offer. The menu reads as follows:

We asked for some water with the meal and were delivered 4 bottles of Evian. I forgot whether we got charged for these or not, but the bill was pretty reasonable for room service at a hotel like this.

Instead of butter, they brought us this phenomenal olive spread that literally changed my life. It was SO BOMB.

We shared a tuna tartare, a chicken Caesar salad and a walnut gnocchi. Everything was delicious and well presented.

Breakfast was served at Arva and was an utter treat.

You could find the menu below:

I loved the bread basket on our first day, although on later days the croissants became less warm and luscious. Am I the only one who judges how good a pain au chocolat is by how much chocolate is in the filling, like I want the chocolate to be oozing out? These were not that.

I hate carrots unless they’re in the form of a carrot cake or a really good glass of carrot juice, and this one passed the test.

Given the July temperature in Marrakech, Amanjena did an excellent job with its diverse iterations of iced espresso-based beverages. They remind me of like an Einspänner or Franziskaner, but better.

On our last day they made a cute little foam art with my partner’s name.

Amanjena scrambled the best eggs I’ve ever had. The one with chive and smoked salmon was to die for. Growing up my family had our own allocation of hens with a farmer. From time to time he would drive a couple hours into the city and deliver eggs to us. Those delivery days were always special where relatives would gather, cook dinner and divide up the produce. So I consider myself somewhat of an egg connoisseur.

If you get bored of scrambled eggs, there were also avocado toast with poached eggs, eggs benedict and shakshuka.

For the sides, I really liked the merguez sausage.

Your standard sweet fare could be found here, granola, French toast, pancakes and etc.

Overall I think breakfast deserved top marks.

I hung out by the public pool once and had an olive oil martini, which sounded a bit peculiar but was in truth tasty. The pool menu reads as follows:

A bar was positioned near the lobby area. We liked it and visited twice, but we never saw anybody else.

The drinks were fabulous. With the guest to staff ratio of 1:2, you could ask them to make whatever you wanted.

We snacked on some fried tiger prawns and calamari, which were equally stellar.

The last dining venue of Amanjena was the Nama Japanese restaurant. We had dinner here once, and it was probably the most underwhelming meal we had on property. Not that you come to Morocco expecting the best Asian food, we just had too many kebab and tajine at this point of our trip.

When people say “cotton candy skies” they must be referring to this sunset.

Dinner menu at Nama reads as follows:

We were offered an amuse-bouche to start, which was some kind of heavily sauced sushi roll.

We ordered the chef’s nigiri selection, a crispy prawn roll and black cod saikyo maki. The tuna nigiris were the winner, which made sense given close proximity to Spain. The rest was unremarkable.

Depart:

Upon our departure, the hotel gifted us a pair of personalized Amanjena luggage tags, a box of chocolates and chauffeured us to the airport in a Mercedes van.

We drove by a few motorized tricycles with sheep in the back and were told the locals were getting ready for Eid Al Adha.

Needless to say Amanjena was a gorgeous hotel, and I enjoyed our stay here immensely. But that’s not to say it was perfect. There were a few weaknesses of varying severities. There was no directory/pamphlet/room service menu in our room when we checked in. We had to phone reception three times before a haphazardly stapled menu was brought to our room. We asked for some brochures about excursions as well but never got those. I feel like if you had to call somebody three times to get something they would call you back to make sure you received the items you requested, but they did not. For a luxury hotel, the bathroom amenities were pretty lacking - there were no bath salts, emery board, sewing kit or like a lens cleaning cloth. Maybe they were available upon request, but when you pay for a hotel like Aman you kind of expect to not have to ask for things. Since we didn’t get any brochures, we had to get in touch with the concierge about activities, who was not very responsive. The TV in the room was extremely small and antiquated - a small upgrade could enhance the comfort exponentially. Last but not least, there was a pretty frustrating roach problem during our stay. I debated on whether I should mention this. I get that the hotel is in the middle of nowhere so there might not be that much they could do. In fact, we also saw a couple small snakes in the public water fountains, but still.

Everybody at Amanjena was friendly and attentive. Although it’s not exactly the level of service in Japan or SE Asia. As a standard at Aman, housekeeping was provided pretty much every time you left the room, and you never cross paths with them. You never have to sign anything because everybody knew which room you stayed in. I would love to try Aman in Asia and some other unique locations, but I definitely did not become an Amanjunkie after this stay.

Review - Amanjena

Amanjena

July 4th, 2022

Review - Sofitel Barú Calablanca Beach Resort

Review - The Ritz-Carlton Istanbul

Satay Away