Deceiving, Disappointing, Dangerous, and Dodgy... and Spiders!
In case you are not interested in reading this very long review, I'd simply advise you to avoid this property at all cost. We were excited to spend the final three days of our two week trip to Peru here because of all of the favorable reviews. We're confounded as to how so many travelers enjoyed their experience.
DECEIVING
First, it's not a "lodge" as one might think of the term in the U.S. It's not a remote luxury inn or small, upscale hotel. It's actually a rustic two bedroom, one bath cottage with meals prepared by the manager. The lodge lacks the type of services, conveniences, and luxuries one would expect for a lodge charging nearly US $1000 per night.
I'll expand on our awful experience by sharing the email we sent to the property manager shortly after our departure:
DISAPPOINTING
By now, you are aware that my wife and I left Amantica Lodge abruptly after just one night. We were tremendously disappointed in our shortened stay. To be honest, we're rather surprised that you have not tried to contact us to address our concerns and resolve the matter proactively.
I'm writing to share our list of hospitality and safety deficiencies and to seek a refund.
First and foremost, it was clear to us that Amantica Lodge was not well prepared for our stay. While Daniel was pleasant and courteous, he and the staff were not well prepared for our arrival. Daniel arrived on the same boat as us. He actually caused our departure to be delayed by a half hour. That also meant that our greeting and lunch on the island were both rushed and delayed as Daniel could not start preparing lunch until he arrived and showed us the room.
We had other concerns that seemed to suggest better preparations could have been made:
- The Internet/wifi was not working at all (even after Daniel said he would try to address it; and complicated by the fact that cel phone coverage was next to zero)
- The iPad next to the bed was charged to 2% and could not connect to wifi
- The ignitor on the exterior heater did not work (staff had to light it manually each time we wanted to turn it on)
- The pilot light on the interior, unvented propane heater in the bathroom was out and had to be lit manually
- There were no linens or heat in the second bedroom (more on this later)
- Our meals were good but not gourmet. For dinner, we received family-style plate of chicken and a bowl of mashed potatoes. No vegetables? No plating? Nothing like the gourmet food described on your website.
One might argue that these are just inconveniences. We had safety concerns as well.
DANGEROUS
First, Daniel was unaware of the food allergies that we had previously provided to you in advance of our visit. As you should know, my wife is allergic to strawberries. Yet, the dessert for our lunch included a sliced strawberry. We assumed it was meant to be decorative so we simply pushed it to the side. However, our dinner dessert was covered in a strawberry sauce, which clearly was not decorative. We reminded Daniel about the allergy. He apologized but he was clearly unaware of our food allergies. Given the remoteness of your location, this could have been life threatening if we had not been able to clearly identify the ingredients.
Second, the use of unvented, indoor propane heaters is considered dangerous if not illegal in the United States. The fact that the pilot light was off when we arrived was alarming. Daniel was able to light the unit for us but we were not comfortable operating the heater indoors, especially while we slept, especially given it was unvented and seemingly had a spotty pilot light.
All of these inconveniences and safety issues were compounded by the presence of numerous spiders in our bedroom and our bed. When my wife pulled down the sheets to go to bed, a spider scrambled out and disappeared between the pillows and head board. Like many people, my wife has a fear of spiders. We eventually rationalized that it was a single spider, more afraid of us than us of him, and settled in to read. Not two minutes later, another smaller spider crawled on my shoulder. At that point, there was no possibility that my wife would sleep in the main bed.
We decided we would try to sleep in the second bedroom, as Daniel said we were welcome to do. That is when we discovered that there were no linens on the beds. And, even if we could be convinced to use an indoor propane heater, the heater had no propane tank. So, the second bedroom was not an option.
As an makeshift alternative, I dragged one of the mattresses from the second bedroom to the main bedroom and we took the linens from the main bed and used them on the mattress on the floor. We hoped spiders would be limited to the main bed and not bother us on the floor. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Prior to falling asleep, two more spiders crawled into our bed. I have pictures of the spiders and their remains if you would like to seem them.
Needless to say, this is not the experience we were looking for in such an upscale, highly rated and rather expensive lodge. Due to our safety concerns, your service lapses, and numerous inconveniences, we decided to leave after just the first night. It was long, time-consuming, disappointing, and rather expensive trip to Amantica Lodge.
We are willing to pay for the first of our three days, though we think that is generous given all of the issues we faced.
Please provide an immediate refund for the two unused nights of our reservation.
Thanks for your prompt attention to this matter.
DODGY
In our efforts to resolve this matter amicably, we've found the lodge owner and manager to be of different minds. The manager originally offered a one night refund, which was unacceptable to us. After he checked with the owner, he discovered that the owner was not willing to offer even a one night refund. The owner offered a smaller refund amount and proceeded to throw the manager under the bus. The owner said the manager was at fault for most of the problems and that the manager would have to provide the remaining refund. What!? How incredibly unprofessional and awkward.
SPIDERS
And a final note on the spiders issue... management blamed us for not letting them know that we objected to having spiders in our bed. Yup. They said that if WE had informed THEM that we didn't like spiders, they would have told us not to come to Amantica Lodge. Hmm. We don't typically think of telling lodges that we don't like spiders in our bed.
