TLDR: Gorgeous property with a few holiday weekend hiccups that were resolved quickly and handled well. I’d 100% come back and would recommend this property to anyone looking to chill tf out and touch some grass.

FULL REVIEW:

Just wrapped up a 3-night stay at Sensei after two nights in Honolulu and wanted to share some thoughts since I basically consumed every review on this sub (and watched Ryan Walker’s Youtube review twice). I’m the type of person that likes knowing exactly what to expect before spending this kind of money, while my girlfriend is the complete opposite and shows up surprised by everything. It ends up balancing out our expectations pretty well.

The property is honestly the star of the show. The grounds may be the most beautiful I’ve experienced at any resort that isn’t on the ocean. Everything is so well maintained, and walking around every morning and evening never got old. It’s the highest compliment I can give a place where “doing nothing” is kind of the point.

We booked the Discover Sensei package and used our credits on the 90-minute evening hale experience, a 90-minute couples massage, and a snorkel sail that we didn’t end up doing (more on what happened below). Separately, we booked a 2-hour golf lesson with one of the golf pros (not covered by Discover Sensei credit).

Evening Hale (9.2/10): $900 per couple. Just book it. If you’re traveling with your partner, this would be at the top of my recommendation list. If you’re traveling by yourself, this would STILL be at the top (even more so!).

Couples Massage (8.4/10): Veryyyyy good, but at roughly $600 before gratuity per person (gratuity is not included in treatment pricing), it’s also the most I’ve ever spent on a massage, so the price/value ratio is probably clouding my judgement a little here. I’ve had 60-minute massages for about half the price that left me feeling equally, if not slightly more, relaxed. That said, I really appreciated our therapists. Instead of a lengthy intake questionnaire, they simply asked what we wanted them to prioritize and let their experience take over. I asked mine to focus on my neck and traps, but she found knots in parts of my back that I didn’t even know existed until she started working on them. There were definitely a few moments where I winced, but you know that just means she’s doing a good job.

The golf lesson ended up being one of my favorite surprises of the trip. Our pro basically asked us what we wanted to get out of the session and rolled with it instead of following a rigid lesson plan. We’re both complete beginners, and by the end we were consistently making solid contact with the ball. I’ll happily take that as a win.

Food was a pleasant surprise? Nothing crazy but also nothing that made me feel like I was being absolutely ripped off. We had breakfast at Sensei by Nobu, one dinner there, lunch by the pool, lunch offsite, lunch at Views (at the golf course) and our final dinner at Osteria Mozza.

We’re generally not huge Nobu people, so I went in with pretty neutral expectations. I’ve had the miso black cod a number of times before, and for whatever reason, this was the best version I’ve had. I have absolutely no explanation for why it tasted better here compared to the Malibu location… it just HIT.

Pool service was excellent, and Views is well worth stopping by. Those mini tacos were M I N I - but they were FIRE.

The biggest standout for me, though, was the service. We had two communication hiccups, and I’m pretty sure it was because of the holiday weekend.

The first was our snorkel sail. We weren’t told it had been canceled until after we’d already checked in and waited past the scheduled departure time. The front desk was just as confused as we were, because the activities team hadn’t notified them that all sails had been canceled that day (for marine biology research allegedly lol). I was definitely disappointed since I genuinely love snorkeling, and the reason for cancelling felt suspiciously abrupt, since we had been confirmed for over 2 weeks. Weather was also gorgeous that day, so I’m not sure what happened.

The second was our dinner at Osteria Mozza. We confirmed the reservation with our pre-arrival specialist the week before, and the Sensei team even reached out through the app to reconfirm since it was going to be a buffet-style July 4th BBQ dinner that needed headcount. We showed up and apparently no reservation was ever made.

Thankfully, both situations were handled well. The front desk removed the Discover Sensei package rate for our final day and also comped our dinner at Osteria Mozza, which ended up being around $500 after drinks and gratuity. The restaurant team still found a way to seat us at our original reservation time despite the mix-up, and later that evening we came back to a bottle of LP and a handwritten note from the assistant manager apologizing for the inconvenience.

Nothing is ever perfect, especially over a busy holiday weekend. What I care about is how situations are handled, and I thought the Sensei team came through. In some ways, that left a stronger impression than if nothing had gone wrong in the first place.

One last shoutout to Alex, who helped book our stay. This was our first time booking with her, and I’m such a fan. We were welcomed with a bottle of LP and a thoughtful handwritten note, and she also checked in with us midway through the trip. We didn’t receive an upgrade, but both Sensei and the Four Seasons looked and felt completely full given the holiday weekend, so I wasn’t expecting one.

Overall, I’d absolutely recommend Sensei Lanai to anyone looking to slow down for a few days.

Thanks for your patience as this is now the third time I'm trying to post this - but bonus is that I'm adding more photos :)

We stayed at the One&Only Moonlight Basin for four nights to celebrate our anniversary, and overall had a wonderful experience.

We booked a standard king room, which was beautiful, spacious, and thoughtfully appointed with incredible views. While there is still quite a bit of construction around the property, we never found it disruptive.

Service

Service throughout our stay was great. Our hosts were incredibly helpful - they adjusted dining reservations, showed us how to find the speakeasy, had our car ready whenever we needed it, quickly delivered a steamer to our room, and checked in regularly to see if there was anything else we needed. All via texting back and forth - super easy. They also brought a beautiful cake to the room as a gift for our anniversary.

The staff can be a little too eager at times (constantly asking if they can clear a glass or plate), but everyone was so genuinely friendly that we mostly just laughed about it. Several team members really stood out. One breakfast server remembered us and asked how our round of golf went the next day, and the team at Dear Josephine knew us by name almost immediately and made every visit feel personal. I know there's been discussion over some of the staff being from their other property and that is definitely true - I heard one staff member having a really in depth conversation with a guest they clearly knew from a stay somewhere else - it really showed the extra mile the staff goes to and that they truly seem to enjoy the connections they make.

Getting Around

This wasn't a Yellowstone trip for us (a lot of people do this as a Yellowstone trip so I wanted to clarify) - we planned to relax, golf at The Reserve, enjoy the pool, and do a couple of shorter hikes. I would definitely recommend renting a car. We used ours to have dinner at the Montage, explore downtown Big Sky for shopping and lunch, and hike Ousel Falls.

Dining

Overall, the food was good, although we're probably harder to impress than most since we live in a foodie city and travel frequently.

Wildwood: Dinner was good but not particularly memorable. Breakfast, which was included with our room, was excellent. They offered both a buffet and an à la carte menu, and would happily make any coffee or specialty drink without additional charges.

Akira Back: Good meal, although we probably loved our server even more than the food.

The Landing: We happened to visit on July 4th and, without any advance notice, they switched to a holiday menu. The food itself was very good, but we were disappointed by the unexpected change.

Dear Josephine: Our favorite spot on property. Great cocktails, welcoming staff, and a place we found ourselves returning to.

Moonshack: The hidden speakeasy was a really fun experience with excellent cocktails, attentive service, and a great atmosphere. You get a poker chip when you check in and you need it to get into the speakeasy which is cute!

For comparison, we also had dinner at Cortina at the Montage. While I wasn't a fan of Cortina's vibe, the service there was outstanding and the pacing of the meal was noticeably better than what we experienced at some restaurants on property.

Concierge

The concierge team was responsive before our trip, although there were a few communication hiccups. They reached out because The Landing's operating schedule changed and needed to adjust our reservation, which was handled quickly. There was also some confusion about lake activities—we were told paddleboarding and canoeing weren't available yet, but during our stay we saw guests using the paddleboards and kayaks. Nothing major, just not quite as polished as I expected from a luxury resort.

Amenities

The fitness center is fantastic - one of the nicer hotel gyms I've used. It was extremely well-equipped and stocked with protein powder, protein balls, headphones, water, and complimentary reusable water bottles.

We didn't use the spa because the pricing felt excessive and I'm not a huge spa person. Our host mentioned they could arrange for us to use the sauna, lap pool, and other spa amenities even without booking a treatment, we just didn't make time to take advantage of it.

Hiking

One afternoon we decided to explore the hiking trails on the property. The resort appears to have an extensive trail system, but because of the ongoing construction, several trails have been disrupted and aren't marked clearly enough. We ended up getting a bit lost before eventually finding our way back. As we got closer to the resort, the trails became much more defined and better marked, but I think this is an area that still needs some work. If hiking is a priority, I'd recommend heading to established trails like Ousel Falls rather than relying on the resort trail network.

Golf at The Reserve

Golf at The Reserve was one of the highlights of the trip. There is ongoing construction around the course, but it didn't impact our round. What we know now from visiting is that they are building a ski mountain over there and an additional golf course and neighborhoods. The course itself is beautiful, incredibly scenic, and quite challenging. Lunch at the clubhouse was excellent.

There were two comfort stations at holes 10 and 16, which were stocked with complimentary snacks, drinks, and restrooms. The restrooms are also fully stocked - bug spray, sunscreen, hair ties, combs, etc. The only complaints were that there isn't a beverage cart or bar available before hole 16, so if you'd like drinks during the round you'll want to bring them from the clubhouse, and there aren't any restrooms until hole 10.

Overall

We had a fantastic anniversary trip and would absolutely return. The property is stunning, the service is genuinely warm, and even with a few growing pains as the resort continues to develop, the overall experience exceeded our expectations. Once some of the remaining construction is complete and the resort trail system is better marked, I think it will be an even more exceptional destination.

Additional notes from previous comments: I did not view the cabins interior but they appear to be just larger, separate cabins with similar decor - nice for privacy although I felt out room was private. The houses you can rent I'm sure are quite impressive.

There are 3 cabanas with their own hot tubs - right now they are first come - first served. People mentioned the pool was cold. Service at the pool was great.

Fourth of July week - it wasn't busy except on July 4th specifically it did seem a lot busier at breakfast and at the pool - but we were able to get chairs at the pool easily and were seated at breakfast immediately so it didn't seem to be an issue.

Weather - going in I was super nervous because the weather looked awful. It appeared to be 15 degrees below normal and rainy. We ended up having fantastic weather. It feels a lot warmer than the temp shows and the rain that comes into Big Sky doesn't extend to Moonlight Basin - or at least it didn't while we were there. Cool mornings, warm days with the sun being extremely warm at times - definitely needed sunscreen!

A year ago I posted some pictures of a suite in 1 Place Vendome, a 14 room boutique 5 star hotel in Paris.

Since I had a great stay, I recommended to family for a recent trip and they were in one of their non-suite "Prestige Room" category rooms (one category above entry level), and grabbed a walkthrough vid. They had a great stay as well but this isn't a review at all; I just thought people might be interested to see a video walkthrough.

Every room in the hotel has a different decor based around a room-specific theme. There are 3 rooms in this category with exactly the same floorplan (205, 305 and 405) and this video is of room #305 which is the Aquamarine (blue) theme, while 205 is Pearl (white and neutrals), and 405 is Jade (chinoiserie).

It was about 1700 EUR average per night, which is expensive in an absolute sense but IMO a great value for Paris 5 star hotels. During the same week, Ritz, FSGV, and Crillon were charging 3000-3300 EUR for their lowest category rooms, which are smaller and the hard product isn't as nice.

Continuing my review of the hotels I’ve stayed at while in Istanbul, now’s the time for Raffles:

Location: This is the hotel’s weakest spot. It’s located in Zorlu Center which is a complex of offices, luxury high-rise apartments, and an open-door shopping mall. The hotel takes up several floors of one of the 3 buildings of the complex. When you leave the complex area, you’re surrounded by highways, meaning you cannot walk anywhere. Sultanahmet is 40 minutes away by car, and traffic in Istanbul is no joke, so 40 minutes can turn into 80 very easily. There’s also a metro station inside the mall. Long story short, this is not a hotel for first timers in Istanbul. It’s more business oriented or for people who’ve been in Istanbul already and want to visit a different part of the city or are just looking for a relaxing stay without leaving the premises.

Property/Room: The hotel has the largest rooms offered by any hotel in the city. Their entry level room is 650sqft which is giant! All the rooms come with enormous balconies with either a city view, Bosphorus view or a mix of both. The spa and gym are some of the best I’ve seen in Istanbul; they offer a membership for locals too so it’s really well kept. They have an outdoor pool and indoor pool which are also a nice addition (none of the pools are heated) for those who want to have a “staycation”. We were upgraded to the Junior Suite which is almost 1400sqft with views overlooking the entire city. I felt like a sultan!

Food/Breakfast: Their main restaurant is a fusion between Turkish and Japanese food which was very good. Breakfast was at the same location and was okay. What you’d expect from a breakfast buffet at a hotel of this caliber. Perhaps what stood out the most was the service.

Service: Their strongest selling point. Service was immaculate. All rooms come with their own butler and unlike other hotels that offer the same service (St. Regis Venice!) you actually feel their presence. We had 2 butlers during our stay who communicated with me via WhatsApp and you could ask them pretty much anything. They left us beautiful gifts all around the room every single day (I know some people love these little touches, myself included), from traditional hammam bath items, perfumes, key chains, bath salts, etc.

When we checked in, it took 20 minutes for the room to be ready and instead of asking us to wait in the lobby, they invited us to the Bosphorus Lounge to have a complimentary drink and some snacks.

We felt truly pampered throughout the entire stay.

Pricing: The hotel’s pricing starts a bit lower compared to the other luxury options in the city, but where you truly feel the price difference is for the suites. A suite the same size at any other hotel would cost 2 to 4 times more. Of course the tradeoff is the location. For peak summer, the entry level room starts at $530/night. Our suite was $1,090/night.

Final thoughts: If you’re not coming to Istanbul to tour the city, this is a great hotel. I had a lot of work to do and didn’t need to leave the hotel so having a suite so spacious, service so attentive and such great amenities made for a perfect stay. That said, if I had to take a 40 minute car trip everytime I want to go explore the city, and another 40 minutes when I want to get back, I wouldn’t be very happy. This is more of a “staycation” type of hotel. If you need to relax for few days, work, or even do some shopping, you’ll love it.

Happy to answer any questions!

A small spa hotel centred around an idyllic mountain lake, with luxurious spa facilities, huge, cozy lodge accommodation, but service which doesn’t quite live up to the rest. Would I come back? Absolutely, but it’s be for the hard product this hotel has in spades.

Where: in the hills above Merano, South Tyrol. For most visitors this region means “The Dolomites”. San Luis is located just to the west of the famous rock formations and has more of an alpine character. Perched at 1400m above sea level, you get fabulous views of some of Italy’s highest mountains to the West and North.

Accessing the hotel requires a car - for short stays a taxi is fine, but for longer visits I’d wholeheartedly recommend hiring a car since it frees you up to tour the areas wineries, castles and Tyrolean towns as long as you can manage the mountain roads.

When: a 3 night stay as part of a 9-night trip taking in Venice and the Dolomites in late June and early July. This trip we also stayed at the Adler Ritten (a frequent recommendation in r/chubbytravel) because we couldn’t choose between there and here!

Who: a couple in mid-late 30s. The San Luis doesn’t allow children under 12 and most of the patrons were well-heeled older couples, but we also saw a handful of families with older/grown children. Overall the clientele was about 1/3 Italian, 1/3 German-speaking and 1/3 American. My wife and I were the only Brits.

The hotel and facilities (10/10): in terms of hard product, this place oozes quality. Exteriors of pine and glass, interiors all roaring fires, cozy sofas and dark wood.

The focus of the hotel is the swimming lake and spa comprising:

• an indoor/outdoor heated pool surrounded by the comfiest loungers I’ve experienced
• an outdoor jacuzzi on a platform in the middle of the lake
• a small but very well-equipped gym including brand new machines, free weights, plyo boxes and a Pilates reformer
• a Finnish sauna, hay sauna and steam room (given the location, you’re expected to go nude here, but my wife and I had these to ourselves whenever we went in)
• a minor miss - I’d love them to add a cold plunge.

There are a few more common areas though mostly the focus is the lake and the spa, but if you want to find a quiet spot to relax with a book, you won’t have a problem.

The hotel has one restaurant and bar though that’s all you need given the size - it has indoor and outdoor seating and either can be used, weather depending.

The room (9/10): San Luis offers room sizes from 1 to 6 people. For couples visiting I recommend either the Lake Chalets which have direct access to the lake and catch the morning sun for breakfast outdoors, or the Loft Chalets which have large wraparound balconies with panoramic views over the mountains.

We stayed in the aforementioned Loft Chalet which offered a small kitchenette, dining area, living area with a big corner sofa, superking bed, open plan bathroom with double sinks and a free standing tub, as well as separate WC and shower, the aforementioned balcony, and a private sauna and outdoor hot tub.

The room was huge and sympathetically decorated in pine and neutral tones. If felt comfortable in the summer, but would be even more so in Winter as it had a huge log burner in the centre of the chalet.

A couple of very minor nitpicks - the bed was generously outfitted with a lot of pillows, but they were all the same (big and squishy) so not great for side sleepers, and the light switches took some getting used to.

Food and Drink (8/10): this requires some explanation - your room rate includes three meals a day as well as a (very tasty) daily cake and gelato buffet between 3 and 5pm.

Breakfast is ordered the day before and is served in your chalet at the time of your choosing. The ordering system is via a web app and you can choose between a big selection of hot and cold drinks, pastries, fruit, cheese, cold meats and cereals. If you want eggs, these are included but you have to cook them yourself in your kitchenette. Every day they also offer a handful of supplemental à la carte items.

You can close off the breakfast area in the room and housekeeping will lay out your breakfast at the chosen time - I’ve included a picture to show how cute it looks!

In terms of quality it’s pretty good but not exceptional - their granola, salami, home-made honey and fresh OJ were highlights. My wife and I loved the relaxed pace we could eat at, and the privacy it afforded, but the fact you had to choose your breakfast in advance, sight-unseen wasn’t ideal, and neither was the lack of hot options.

Lunch is served buffet-style and is mostly antipasti with a few supplemental à la carte options. Everything in my experience was very tasty here and we ate outside on the terrace each day.

At dinner you’re assigned a table for your room and you go to the same table each day, though on hot days they also offer outdoor seating. This “assigned table” has been pretty common in South Tyrol in my experience but if you don’t like your table then there’s not much you can do about it, which isn’t great. The meal itself is a 4-5 course affair of antipasti buffet followed by a choice of three antipasti, primi (usually two pastas and a tyrolean choice), main course and dessert. It’s not fine dining but everything served at dinner was delicious with the exception of one overcooked duck dish.

Drinks are not included and are charged at fairly typical 5* hotel rates (i.e. pricey but not unreasonable). Wine was fine but a little disappointing given South Tyrol is a really underrated wine region, but cocktails were potent and delicious.

Activities (hard to score): I say hard to score because I don’t think you come here for activities. You come for the spa and the hiking in the area, which is really fantastic as there are a lot of good hiking routes nearby including a short (40 mins there, 30 back) walk to the “Knottnkino” aka the Cinema on the Rocks which offers mind-blowing views of the valley and mountains beyond.

For outside activities, the hotel mostly parters with local businesses and has a variety of day trips and other things to do.

Service (5.5/10): here’s where it gets a bit tricky as the service was pretty up and down. Our arrival experience summed this up well:

We arrived about 2.5 hours later than expected as we were delayed due to bad weather on a hike trapping us up a mountain as they shut down the cable car for safety. We were met by a man who didn’t seem to quite be expecting us, and my “können wir Englisch sprechen, bitte?” was met with a firm no. He proceeded to give a very cursory explanation of the spa in rapid German and took us to check-in. Then the mood changed - he offered us an aperitif (with a choice of sparkling wines) and we were brought a delicious and abundant plate of meats and cheeses. Wow! Then the receptionist came to check us in and she also would only speak to me in German - I strained my schoolboy Deutsch and did my best to understand, while my wife (with no German at all) sat mute.

Then she left us to enjoy our wine and snacks, but with no clear timeline - she was just gone for a long time. I took my time to wander around the beautiful lobby and eventually were shown to our room - but by another member of staff who could only speak Italian.

To pause here: I get that we’re visiting a region where German and Italian are the spoken languages. But this is a luxury hotel with International travellers paying >€1,000 per night and I’m sure they’d want their guests to feel welcome. I assure you we did not at this point.

All of this melted away once we made it to the spa which, frankly, would make any stresses melt away, but it resurfaced a few times through our stay:

• The head waiter was Italian but spoke great English, but some of the other serving staff seemed extremely monolingual - for example I had a tough time conversing in either German or English with another waiter whose service generally was rough around the edges including hitting my wife’s wine glass hard with her plate as he set it down and leaving without an apology.
• We noted a couple (speaking Italian) who were unhappy with their assigned dinner table (next to a wall) and who were refused a change of location.
• One day we were relaxing in the spa and a member of staff, addressing us in English this time, strongly hinted at us to leave that room and go relax outside so they could spend less on their heating bill(!) Uncomfortable, even through a language barrier.
• We were checked out by the same guy and this time he was friendly, charming and helpful, even proactively rearranging our taxi to the airport so we could stay longer in the hotel.

The Cost: we spent €3,370 for 3 nights, which equates to around $1,280 per night, which included all meals.

The Verdict (8/10): if you speak German or Italian to a conversational level, I think you’d have an amazing time here. I had a stay that was at times outstanding thanks to the hard product, the food at dinner and the beautiful surroundings, and at other times frustrating because of the service niggles that I suspect would be ameliorated by speaking the local language.

My wife and I were split on whether we’d return - for me the impeccable hard product and charming location mean I’d for sure come back, perhaps brushing up on my German beforehand. For my wife, the service stuff was more impactful and maybe that’s fair - there are a lot of great options in the region after all. We also stayed at the Adler Ritten which didn’t hit the heights of hard product or room quality, but excelled at the service aspect. If I get the chance, I’ll post a review of there too.