Adrian met the true love of his life – in the business sense – when a friend asked him to help the Marriott Hotel chain, by brokering out affordable land across Asia. This allowed him to join forces with Robert Burns and Georg Rafael to establish the Regent International Hotel in 1972, later one of the first group of luxury hotels in Asia. They built 12 hotels, before Adrian sold 30% of his shares for USD 30 million in 1986. He went on to become a real estate speculator, gathering funds to buy and refurbish places like the Bangkok Regent Hotel and London Dorchester Hotel before reselling them.
When visiting Phuket, Thailand, Adrian found a great site, when idling along Pansea Beach: a coconut plantation sited perfectly for his planned entertainment facility. He rapidly developed the idea to build a small boutique resort, in partnership with his longtime friend Anil Gupta.
Zecha and Gupta used their own funds, as no bank wanted to finance their idea of constructing a luxury 50- room resort instead of the usual 500- room grand “hot business” hotel. The Amanpuri was open for business in January 1988. Its founders spent only USD 4 million to construct this 40-room facility. This is in line with Adrian’s vision of creating an “Aman” space for his guests – as it means “Peace” in Sanskrit.
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Naturally, his sincere wish and hard work to provide a peaceful stay for his guests made the venture a success. After all, the Amanpuri has fewer than 50 suites to ensure exclusivity of service to its guests. This is harder to accomplish in mega hotels with multiple chambers, as they tend to spread the staff too thin.
With the next hotel, the Amandari in Bali, also a success, Adrian established the trend of the minimalistic boutique resort chain in exclusively remote areas that bring its guests closer to nature in a luxurious setting. All the other hotels in the Aman Group – the Amanjiwo, Amanpuri, Amankila – all owe their existence to a gentle son of a gentry clan, from the humble hills of Sukabumi in Indonesia. (rp)