The luxury travel industry is in turmoil this week... And it’s pretty red hot. A couple of days ago, independent hotel reviewer and YouTuber, Ryan Walker, was refused entry to the brand-new Amanvari resort in Cabo.$6,000 USD per night. Paid for himself. Day two of the hotel’s official opening week.He arrived at the front gates only to be told that his reservation was cancelled, the manager was not available to speak to, and when they stood their ground, the cops were called to escort them out.Absolutely unbelievable scenes. What’s since unfolded is arguably just as crazy – luxury travel advisors defending Aman online, the hotel’s GM deleting his LinkedIn, the same GM allegedly getting his friends and family to write positive reviews on Google, Aman’s social team turning off the comment function on Instagram, and, get this… absolutely no word from Aman at all. Not even an acknowledgement. Watch the video for yourself, and then enjoy the Reddit threads, and get up to speed on all the goss here.
I've just discovered Blancpain and Biopixel have tagged two whale sharks as part of the movement-research side of their partnership, with Richard Fitzpatrick and Dr Adam Barnett tracking how they move between protected and unprotected reef zones around Australia.The best bit is that the two fish are named Blancpain and Fifty Fathoms, after the brand and its dive watch. Both are trackable in near real-time through the Great Reef Census's citizen platform so you can see distance covered, swim speed, days tracked, the lot. Pretty cool, I thought.
Suntory House is taking over Sydney's late-night Japanese izakaya Sakura House for the third year running. Well, its basement, to be more specific, for nine weeks all the way through to 3 October. The brand is calling it Sydney’s latest nomika (a Japanese drinking sesh), with experimental cocktails, Japanese shareplates, and a stacked vending machine. No bookings required, so perfect to duck into for some late-night revelling.