Adrian Zecha, the Publisher Who Built Aman

Adrian Zecha was born in 1933 in Sukabumi, in the Dutch East Indies, and became an Indonesian national. He began as a journalist: he worked for Time magazine in New York and in its Tokyo office in 1956-58, launched Asia Magazine in 1961 and started the magazine Orientations in Hong Kong in 1970.

From Regent to Aman

In 1972 he co-founded Regent International Hotels, and in 1986 sold his 30 per cent stake. Two years later, in 1988, he opened Amanpuri in Phuket, the first property of Aman Resorts; the story of the hotel is told in How One Phuket Hotel Invented the Modern Asian Resort. The architect was Ed Tuttle.

A career of returns

He resigned as chief executive of Aman in 1998 and came back as chairman and chief executive in 2000. In 2007 DLF of India agreed to acquire a controlling interest in the group, and in 2013 Zecha was removed as chief executive. The ownership story is told in who has owned Aman.

Azerai and Azumi

In 2017 he launched the Azerai hotel brand, whose Vietnamese property is Azerai Can Tho. In 2020 came Azumi, a ryokan-style brand developed with Naru Developments, whose first property, Azumi Setoda, opened on the Seto Inland Sea. He received lifetime achievement awards in 2011, from the International Luxury Travel Market in Shanghai, and in 2018, from the International Hotel Investment Forum.