Amangiri

If you travel seasonally between Arizona and Colorado, this is a great place to break up the drive. We found it on our commutes and will be back. Thanks for putting up with Yoshi! The property smells and sounds wonderful, almost like the whole place is a spa. The service is polished and private, and staff anticipate what you need without smothering you. I also loved the art and evening performers, especially if you appreciate Native American culture. And the food is Michelin-level, with unlimited servings that made me feel giddy. This is easily the best hotel I've stayed at in the United States, by a mile.

The excursion to Lake Powell made for a fantastic day. The ride was comfortable, our boat captain was great, and the resort packed us a nice lunch. Back at the stunning, relaxed property, the staff were great and the spa was wonderful.

At $5,000 a night, this place really wasn't worth it. The many bad reviews are accurate. The food was poor throughout: unripe fruit, undercooked breakfast potatoes, and bland mains. Since meals are included, it felt like a tacky all-inclusive with cheap, badly prepared food dressed up as nice restaurants. The coffee and matcha were undrinkable. The latte tasted like it used culinary-grade matcha, and our watery French press seemed not to have steeped before pressing. They'd be better off serving Nespresso. Restaurant service was awkward too. We told our dinner server we don't eat meat, then got beef appetizers minutes later. Staff also seemed unsure what belonged to the hotel. Housekeeping took a bowl we'd brought from home for our dogs, and at checkout the baggage attendant asked if the stained, gross dog beds included with the hotel were ours or theirs. We were told before asking that our $100 resort credit through AMEX didn't apply to alcohol. They apparently know guests get confused about this, and I felt they deliberately waited until checkout to explain it. They should tell people at check-in. We paid incidentals we thought the credit would cover, then my husband got another bill the next day for items they'd apparently left off. They offered an “exception” to use the credit in the gift shop and said we could get an Amangiri hat. The first I picked cost $600, and the cheapest was $173, so we'd still have paid at least $75 for a hat we didn't even want. It was a very odd suggestion. The only boutique mirror was in a storage closet among unopened merchandise, so we left without using the credit. As we were leaving, it felt like the staff stopped pretending to care once they already had our money. My husband may have left a jacket in the room; when he called the next day, they said he had to fill out an online form for security to check whether they'd found anything. I've never had another hotel make me jump through hoops just to check lost and found.

We came back to Amangiri in December, after our first stay in 2018, and it was just as spectacular as I remembered. The wood-burning fireplaces crackling everywhere made the resort feel so cozy. It was too chilly for outdoor activities, unlike our May visit, when we loved the via ferrata. That first trip also included the transcendental four hands massage at the spa, which is incredible whatever the temperature outside. Impeccable service and delicious food made this stay special too. Hopefully we won't leave another 8 years before coming back.