4 days ago
Rude Hotels by Vir Sanghvi: Room at the top
It is one of the most famous stories in luxury hoteliering. Adrian Zecha, a former publisher who had revolutionised deluxe hotels in Asia by founding the Regent chain, decided to build a home for himself in Phuket, Thailand, after selling his Regent stake. The Amanpuri's residences-plus-hotel model has been copied all over the world
A few friends joined him and they found a location outside the city to build their villas. But, as construction commenced, they realised that the area lacked the basic infrastructure required to support luxury homes.
So, Zecha decided he would build a small hotel next to their homes that would provide the generators, boilers, laundry, security, etc needed to provide support services to their homes. He called the hotel Amanpuri, and by the time it opened in late 1987, a business model had emerged. Zecha and his friends sold more land around the hotel to other millionaires who built their own luxury homes. Amanpuri managed the properties and, if the millionaires so chose, they could offer their homes up for rent when they were not using them for their own vacations.
Adrian Zecha built Phuket's Amanpuri in 1987 to offer support services to his friends' luxury homes.
The Amanpuri experience had two consequences. The residences-plus-hotel model began to be copied all over the world. It was good for guests because they got to spend holidays by renting the homes of millionaires. It was good for the millionaires because they earned money from their vacation homes when they were not using them. And it was good for hotel developers because they made an immediate return on their investment by selling luxury residences on the hotel site.
But there was also a second consequence. Zecha priced the hotel rooms in Amanpuri at such high rates that most hoteliers thought he was crazy. The hoteliers were wrong. Amanpuri became a rage and guests flocked to Phuket.
Zecha had found a new niche: Super-rich travellers who were willing to pay a fortune for small, luxury hotels. Zecha got back into hoteliering full-time and created the Aman chain of exclusive, expensive hotels. He started out with many Asian locations (he is Indonesian) but expanded to such unlikely destinations as Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
I did a TV show on Aman hotels at the height of Zecha's success and stayed at many of the hotels. I was struck by several things. One: The hotels were all very different and were united only by Zecha's whims, quirks and fancies. Two: Though some of the hotels had great exteriors designed by such brilliant architects as Ed Tuttle, the interiors and rooms could be sparse, boring and impractical for guests. Once you checked in, you didn't always find super-luxury experiences. And three: The food was usually disappointing.
Aman has developed the Japanese restaurant Nama, and the Italian Arva in-house.
Though Aman became a hugely influential chain in concept terms, it struggled financially and many of the quirkier hotels lost money. At one stage, aggressive investors removed Zecha. He returned only to eventually sell the company to India's DLF (which retained his management) before finally losing control completely when DLF sold it to a group of investors led by Vladislav Doronin, a Swedish citizen of Russian extraction who had made a fortune in property and trading, and had dated such glamorous figures as Naomi Campbell.
Though the transition to the new regime was rocky within the old Aman team, Doronin has proved to be good for Aman. He has moved from Zecha's quirkiness to providing a solid luxury experience, stabilised the company's finances, expanded to new locations, attracted corporate investors and turned Aman, which is the preserve of a small number of wealthy guests ('Amanjunkies') into the international hotel group of choice for the global super-rich.
The food is finally worth the prices the hotels charge (Arva and Nama, new, high-quality Italian and Japanese restaurant brands have been developed in-house). The managers are trained professionals, which they weren't always in the Zecha era. The newer hotels offer a consistent luxury experience.
Vladislav Doronin (who once dated Naomi Campbell) now owns the chain and is shaking things up.
Most important, Aman has finally succeeded in moving beyond the resorts category. The old regime screwed up with its first city hotel (now The Lodhi in Delhi; DLF held on to it when it sold Aman) and its Tokyo property was stuck in limbo until it opened, post-takeover, to win fame as one of the world's best hotels. The Aman in New York is the city's most expensive and exclusive hotel. And the Aman Nai Lert, which opened in Bangkok earlier this year, is the region's hottest hotel, winning the loyalty of top-tier guests despite charging nearly double of what The Oriental, previously Bangkok's top hotel, charges.
I stayed there shortly after it opened, and everyone I met in Bangkok (mostly from the hospitality business) asked: 'Wow! Tell us what it's really like!' When a hotel evokes that level of awe, it tells you something about the esteem with which Aman is regarded.
What accounts for Aman's exalted position in the hotel world? It's a hard question to answer.
In the Zecha era, Aman was tapping into a premium market that other hoteliers had not addressed. But now that there is no shortage of luxury hotels with huge villas and massive private pools, wealthy guests have many other options.
Probably the best way to describe why Aman is still at the top nevertheless, is that its hotels manage to create an alternate reality that is peaceful, refined and exclusive. Of course the design is outstanding (the lobby in Bangkok designed by Jean Michel Gathy is breathtaking) and the rooms are super luxurious. But it's more than that: The hotels smell of restrained elegance and good taste. Aman is less in the business of selling hotel rooms and more in the business of creating a sophisticated environment, where every detail is perfect. The super-rich think that they are different from the rest of us. Aman reminds them that they are absolutely right to feel that way.
In keeping with that philosophy, Aman now has several brand extensions. In 2018 a skincare line was successfully launched. In 2020 came Aman fragrances. In 2022 a clothes line became available.
A few years ago, as prices of hotel rooms skyrocketed, Aman created a new hotel brand, Janu, at a lower price point, but with the same sensibility as the flagship.
It's all a long way from the original conception of Amanpuri as a place for Zecha and his friends. The world has changed. But Aman has kept pace with the changes and to its credit, it is now better than it has ever been.
From HT Brunch, Aug 16, 2025
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