Aman resort cancels a YouTuber's booking and goes viral — but the full story is more complicated

Aman Cancels YouTuber's Booking—But the Viral Video Tells Only Half the Story

Ryan Walker, a 150,000-subscriber YouTube luxury travel reviewer, arrived at Amandvari, Aman's newly opened Mexican resort, on August 3 to check in for a one-night $4,663 stay. What happened next became a 700,000-view viral moment that triggered thousands of comments trashing the property—and a Wall Street Journal investigation that painted a fundamentally different picture.

Walker's video shows him turned away at an unfinished wooden guard hut. Staff inform him he has no reservation. He claims in the video that police were called to escort him away. His narrative: Aman bungled the opening week and rejected him unfairly.

The Wall Street Journal's reporting reveals a more complicated dispute, one where nearly every major claim carries a competing account.

The reservation timeline

Aman had emailed Walker five days before his visit, during the resort's opening week, informing him they could not accommodate content creators until a month-long media blackout ended. The resort suggested he reschedule. Walker replied that staff should treat him as a standard guest. Aman agreed to welcome him, clarifying he could post content after the exclusivity window closed.

Walker proceeded with the booking anyway.

The police claim

Walker's video title references police involvement. In the footage, a staff member says, "I need to call the police now." Walker narrates off-camera, "Yep, she's calling the police right now."

Aman's incident report made no mention of law enforcement. The resort says it did not call police. Later, when the Journal told Walker that Aman denied calling police, he said he hoped that was true and that the information would make him reconsider how the resort handled the situation. He told the Journal he did not see police arrive on-site.

The staff member's statement may have been unrelated to Walker entirely.

The gate and the email

Walker's footage shows him approaching an unfinished staff entrance rather than the main gate. His driver followed GPS directions that led to that entrance. Aman says Walker bypassed the main entrance, ending up at staff access points instead. Audio in his own footage captures someone saying, "This is the employee entrance." Walker told the Journal he never heard that remark.

When Walker's video surfaced on August 4, he included an email he claimed to have received "late the previous night" from Aman canceling his stay due to scaled-back opening-week capacity. When pressed by the Journal, Walker revised his timeline to say the email arrived "the previous morning." He did not amend the timeline in his video or a subsequent livestream.

The larger pattern

Walker has built his channel on a brand promise: he pays full price for hotels himself, refusing free trips in exchange for positive reviews. This independence model mirrors Doug DeMuro's car-review strategy. The pitch is credibility through paid access.

Aman refunded Walker's booking in full and offered to cover additional travel and cancellation costs plus a rebooked stay. Walker took the refund but declined the other offers and showed up anyway.

The Internet took his side. YouTube comments flooded in: "We'll never book another Aman property again," among more than 5,000 remarks expressing similar sentiment.

Wall Street Journal readers saw it differently. The top comments praised Aman for banning influencers during a sensitive opening window. One commenter: "It takes a special sort of [person] to make me side with the ultra luxury resort with holistic wellness temples."

What this reveals

The dispute exposes a structural tension between hotels protecting their opening moments from content coverage and creators chasing dramatic narratives. Jack Ezzon, CEO of luxury travel advisory Embark Beyond, notes that hotels retain the right to cancel reservations or deny access. He advises travelers to avoid being "the guinea pig" at newly opened properties and suggests waiting six to eight months.

For luxury properties, a 18-room resort like Amandvari faces a particular vulnerability: a single negative creator moment can reshape public perception faster than facts can correct it. The competing accounts matter less than who posts first.

Aman's brand rests on discretion and seamless service. A YouTuber filming at the gates during a media blackout period—one he was explicitly informed about and overruled—complicates that promise. The full story is less about a hospitality failure and more about a creator who knew the terms, booked anyway, and framed a gate-access miscommunication as a scandal.