Ryan Walker Aman Incident

[FF98]

Don't think there has been any post/discussion about the Ryan Walker/Aman incident?

The Ryan Walker & Amanvari Situation: Aman's Silence Is Deafening

Aman has refused to acknowledge what happened at Amanvari, whereby the cops were called on hotel reviewer Ryan Walker. What's going on here?!

onemileatatime.com

My travel budget is not at the level of Aman but this is wild and this Aman charges $6k USD/night.

I haven't heard of Ryan before this - but the consensus seem to be he is a genuine independent travel reviewer/advisor.

There has been some furor on Reddit on r/FATTravel given how the mod Sarah defended Aman instantly, and has since backed down.

Keen to see Aman's explanation as it doesn't look good for them. Comments on their insta page has been turned off.

 

[RooFlyer]

Yes, saw that; also hadn't heard of him. Key thing for me is that the hotel said it had just opened and wasn't quite ready - but still charging US$6,000/night.

 

[elanshin]

Ryan Walker is a YouTuber that does a lot of luxury hotel (and experiences). Its a segment that has got a lot more attention as people generally can't afford to do all the luxury stuff so they live vicariously through the YouTuber as well as getting to see some of the luxury experiences so they can decide if they want to drop money on a bucket list item.

The circumstances here seems quite suspicious regardless of who was staying and responses seem to be a bit dodgy too. Basically not inline with what a luxury 7* should be at even if they didn't want him reviewing the hotel.

 

[FF98]

He was scheduled to do a live Q&A about his experience but said he was advised by the US Consulate to not proceed at this point in time. Seems like he is still in Mexico. Story gets wilder and wilder

 

[kpc]

Another influencer?

 

[SeatBackForward]

Another influencer?

Influenza

 

[RooFlyer]

Another influencer?

In as much as anyone on YouTube could be called that. Checking him out, I think he deserves a bit better label than that.

 

[kpc]

In as much as anyone on YouTube could be called that. Checking him out, I think he deserves a bit better label than that.

I stand by my original label.

 

[Happy Dude]

Fake news imo. There's absolutely no evidence that the police were called or were involved other than a "threat" to do so. Anonymous tips? US Consulate inserting themselves? Implying "Better shut up or else" threats? Please. This bloke actually believes he does what he does for our protection. This is orchestrated. This is just like every other "content creator" who was chucked off a plane - with the common thread being a sensationalist headline "you wouldn't believe". The hotel could have cancelled his reservation as per their explanation. And if that's the case, this just amounts to a lousy recovery job. But that's not going to get many clicks.

 

[Quickstatus]

The hotel knew who he was as there appeared to be some agreement for him to do some videography.
I suspect someone higher up at the hotel did not want any reviews by someone with a social media following.
Perhaps they were worried that they were not yet polished enough for a review.

 

[RooFlyer]

Fake news imo. There's absolutely no evidence that the police were called or were involved other than a "threat" to do so. Anonymous tips? US Consulate inserting themselves? Implying "Better shut up or else" threats? Please. This bloke actually believes he does what he does for our protection. This is orchestrated. This is just like every other "content creator" who was chucked off a plane - with the common thread being a sensationalist headline "you wouldn't believe". The hotel could have cancelled his reservation as per their explanation. And if that's the case, this just amounts to a lousy recovery job. But that's not going to get many clicks.

You might be right at course, but there is there anything in his history or anything else really to suggest that that’s what happened?

Few people people would not have an experience where they got screwed by a Hotel. This guy happens to do it for a living and is followed around by videographer.

Any reason to believe he’s not just recording what happened to him as an opposed to one of his regular reviews?

I’m all for cynicism, but there has to be a basis for it.

 

[SYD]

Influenza

Effluentza…..

 

[Happy Dude]

You might be right at course, but there is there anything in his history or anything else really to suggest that that’s what happened?

Few people people would not have an experience where they got screwed by a Hotel. This guy happens to do it for a living and is followed around by videographer.

Any reason to believe he’s not just recording what happened to him as an opposed to one of his regular reviews?

I’m all for cynicism, but there has to be a basis for it.

I don't doubt that his reservation was cancelled or the reason for it (but which doesn't stack up if they're still taking reservations).

I reckon that a better reason for the cancellation would be that the hotel didn't want the review, thus backflipping on the videography permission (assuming that was legit), to maintain privacy and 'mystique' of the hotel, not because they weren't ready for it. Or more likely they weren't going to allow him to film the way he thought it was entitled to, so easier to cancel him.

Regardless, the hotel only is shown to have behaved very poorly. He didn't seem to be concerned about his $6k nor how the hotel was going recover the situation or at least showing us that element. Zero accountability is the hallmark of this genre, truth and fairness merely an option.

Who knows what really happened? It's a beat up, one-sided like all other sensational headlines. The "up next" videos on the side the youtube page are more than coincidentally similar. "DON'T GO TO MALAYSIA without reading this", "DON'T BUY these Australian Meatpies", etc etc.

 

[Quickstatus]

I'm usually very cynical when YouTubers do reviews because I never certain if there was a freebie with a quid pro quo.

However in this case he paid $6k which puts him in a different category than a lot of other Influenzas and YouTubers

In any case, I don't tend to sleep in $6k a night hotels - unless the hotel offered it at a discount/free in return for a positive review on a AFf trip report.

 

[Happy Dude]

In any case, I don't tend to sleep in $6k a night hotels - unless the hotel offered it at a discount/free in return for a positive review on a AFf trip report.

Neither do his audience, whom he claims to protect. Hence the hotels reluctance to allow a review, imo. I think they're well within their rights to say "You want to know what it's like? That's six large thanks, and don't film in the public areas." Credit to him for being upfront about the reason for his visit though.

I'm obviously more cynical than most, and not just in relation to self-appointed "experts" on social media - although this guy seems to be convinced that he's a cape short of being a superhero, but outside of AFF I don't bother with any review type websites. They're all biased or grinding axes in some way.

 

[FF98]

Aman certainly knew who he was and he had permission to film content, as shown in his email excerpt in the video. If Aman cancelled on the basis that they are not ready to be reviewed, then it should have been handled much better instead of an email the night before, given the rate they are charging.

Agree that him paying out of his own pocket gives him more credibility than a lot of the sponsored influencers/TA that are basically a mouthpiece for these hotels.

Aman's silence is damning though, you would have expect some form of customer service recovery/clarification statement once it blew up

 

[elanshin]

There's a much bigger thread on FT about it. The gist over there is that regardless of how you feel about Ryan, influencers, whether he had ulterior motives etc, the actions taken are not inline with what the hotel brand is supposed to represent - certainly not for 6k USD a night. There are most certainly other ways to deal with it without causing this sort of PR backlash.

 

[dajop]

There are most certainly other ways to deal with it without causing this sort of PR backlash.

But is it causing PR backlash in the target market? A bit of publicity for a new hotel that the vast majority of target clientele are probably hadn’t heard of yet.

These sorts of things are storms in teacups talked about mainly by plebs (like me) who would never throw down $8.5k (AUD) a night on a hotel room.

Perhaps the story of keeping a YouTuber out creates positive PR in the target market, who knows?

I no longer take any form of drama with YouTubers as anything to put any credence into. If I did I would never fly on any airline ever again.

 

[Happy Dude]

If anything, and pending a lotto win, I'm more inclined to want to stay at this brand's hotels. Or any brand that bans filming by "content creators".

 

[Saab34]

If anything, and pending a lotto win, I'm more inclined to want to stay at this brand's hotels. Or any brand that bans filming by "content creators".

What I hate with these creators now is the click bait thumbnails they use to try and get clicks. What happened to the good old fashioned review without all the nonsense.