THE LEGEND
Amanpuri set a new standard for luxury hotelkeeping .
“ Adrian has an uncanny sense for what defines gracious living ,” says longtime business partner Anil Thadani .
“ If there ’ s anything I have contributed , I spot the sites . I still do that . I go and I find the sites . And then I imagine what I would like to see there ,” Zecha says . “ If other people happen to own their share , that ’ s fantastic . But I didn ’ t do it just because I think everybody ’ s going to love it . Oh , I love it . I want to do it .”
He says he still loves the Aman properties like his own children . Amid courtroom dramas regarding ownership , he eventually relinquished his share .
“( Amanpuri ) opened to such accolades that we realized we had stumbled upon a business idea ,” says Anil Thadani , a founding director on Amanresorts ’ board and majority owner until he sold the business in 2009 . He was one of the original villa owners , walking the property with Zecha . He describes Aman as a “ lifestyle business .” “ Adrian has an uncanny sense for what defines gracious living ,” he says . “ We designed and built the Amans to basically cater for a lifestyle that we wanted for ourselves – but clearly there were a lot of other people who loved that , too .”
CONNECTED DEVELOPER His foray into the hotel business started , as usual , with a relationship : He was skiing in Europe after selling his publishing company when he was offered the opportunity in 1972 , at age 39 , to scout potential properties for Marriott in Asia . That was shortly after current Executive Chairman Bill Marriott had taken over .
“ Just make the deals for us ,” he was told . Through his connections , he found three – in Singapore , Hong Kong and Bangkok – but Marriott ’ s interest was derailed by the oil crisis of 1973 , and a year later the relationship ended with no money changing hands .
Regent International hotels , founded in 1970 by Bob Burns , ex-Hilton , and joined by Georg Rafael , ex-InterContinental , became Zecha ’ s first hotel partners .
Zecha says he got his education at Regent doing the deal for the flagship Hong Kong property ( IHG ’ s purchase of the Regent brand in mid-2018 includes returning that property , currently an InterContinental , back to its original branding .). But Rafael and Burns “ get the credit for the fantastic reputation that Regent built ,” he says . Rafael and Zecha eventually sold their shares to Burns in 1986 , who sold to Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts in the ’ 90s .
“ You can only admire his vision and creativity ,” says Rafael , who continued a reciprocal relationship with Zecha on Amanresorts as he developed Rafael hotels ;
20 hotelsmag . com April 2019