THE LEGEND
ADRIAN ZECHA IS BIGGER THAN THE ICONIC BRANDS HE HAD A HAND IN DEVELOPING .
By BARBARA BOHN , MANAGING EDITOR
Adrian Zecha ’ s father wanted him to become a doctor , so he majored in pre-med . He talked his way out of continuing and instead got a master ’ s degree in political science . After acing a civil service exam in his native Indonesia , he pivoted and became a journalist – against his father ’ s wishes – then a publisher . For a while , he was a retired publisher with a skiing habit .
He was many things before he became a hotel developer . But don ’ t call the 86-yearold a visionary . “ He hates that word ,” longtime associate Trina Dingler says .
“ Why don ’ t you tell them that I am the luckiest guy in the world ?” asks Zecha in a recent interview at his colonial-era home in Singapore . “ I ( always ) say , I ’ m not very bright , but I ’ m not dumb , but I ’ m very , very lucky … Luck means you are given something that you never expected and never thought of – not that you were planning it .” He adds , “ after that , of course , you have to work .”
A third element emerges – one that began with his grandfather on Java , who ran the family tea plantation and other ventures , and continued with his trader father , whose friendships established Zecha and his four brothers with U . S . educations . Relationships , and the connections that come with them , define Zecha ’ s career .
During a wide-ranging conversation flanked by iced tea and a couple of boxes of Cuban cigars , Zecha ’ s matter-of-fact discussion of his bona fides includes names like Rupert Murdoch , Henry Luce and Indonesian president Sukarno . His life story , so far , underlines the disparate experiences and creative ambitions that culminated in arguably the most envied and emulated luxury hotel brand , Amanresorts . What separated Aman properties , says Dingler , the company ’ s former group executive director , was Zecha ’ s geographic literacy . “ He was so well-traveled . He had seen so much as part of his own life that he was aware of places in the world . So if there was an opportunity , or there was a little window , we never had to really search for things because they seemed to somehow gravitate ( to him ).”
She and others point to his gift of visualizing the potential in a plot of land , along with avoiding replications among Aman properties , which eventually numbered 28 hotels in 18 countries before Zecha ended his association with the company in 2014 .
Raymond Bickson , former CEO of Taj Hotel Group , was fresh out of hotel school in 1979 when he began working for Zecha at Regent International , another iconic brand Zecha helped develop . “ He created this brand that ( represented ), I would say , a full circle lifestyle of living , eating , travel , culture , to a higher level . He raised the bar ” with Aman , says Bickson , who today runs a hotel consultancy in New York . “ He created something different .”
BUILDING AN ICON Many people know the story of Amanpuri , the Aman flagship in Phuket , Thailand , that started out in the mid-1980s as a second home for Zecha . (“ I like second homes ,” he says , despite the protestations of his wife , Bebe , that he travels too much to visit
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