Aman Resort is a network of luxury hotels spread across various parts\nof the world. Aman Resort is renowned for its distinctive cultural\naesthetic, which attracts travellers from many countries. Accommodation\nprices at Aman Resort vary, with average nightly rates reaching tens of\nmillions of rupiah. In Indonesia, one of the most famous Aman Resort\nproperties is located in Magelang, Central Java. Named \u2018Amanjiwo\u2019,\nguests can enjoy spectacular views of Borobudur from a unique vantage\npoint.<\/p>\n
However, it is remarkable that the figure behind one of the world\u2019s\nlargest hotel chains originally came from Sukabumi, West Java.<\/p>\n
Currently, Aman\u2019s CEO is a Russian national named Vladislav Doronin.\nHowever, long before Doronin took control, Aman Group was founded by\nAdrian Willem Ban Kwie Lauw-Zecha, also known as Adrian Zecha.<\/p>\n
His life story proved quite difficult. He was an entrepreneur who was\nexpelled from his homeland, yet managed to achieve great success by\ncarving out a major career in the global hospitality industry.<\/p>\n
Adrian first established Aman Resort in 1988, and it now operates in\n20 countries. He grew up in a prominent and wealthy ethnic Chinese\nfamily. In The Chinese of Sukabumi (1963), Mely Tan described his family\nas the \u2018upper branch\u2019, referring to a wealthy and successful ethnic\nChinese family in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
His father, William Lauw-Zecha, was the first Indonesian to graduate\nfrom Lowa University in the United States in 1923. Meanwhile, his\nsiblings successfully held top positions in the colonial government.\nGiven these privileges, it is little wonder that Adrian enjoyed many\nadvantages.<\/p>\n
He is recorded as having studied in Pennsylvania around the 1950s.\nHowever, his family\u2019s honourable position in Indonesia collapsed during\n1956-1957.<\/p>\n
Family Business Nationalised<\/p>\n
During that period, Indonesia\u2019s first President Soekarno undertook\nthe nationalisation of private enterprises in the country. The\nnationalisation was accompanied by increased sentiment against\nnon-Indonesian residents. As a result, the Zecha family\u2019s business was\nforcibly taken over by the state. The entire family was forced to\nrelocate and settle in Singapore.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, Adrian was still in the United States at that time\nbecause he had continued working as a journalist at Time. Indeed, long\nbefore entering the hotel business in 1988, Adrian pursued a career as a\ntravel journalist for various media outlets.<\/p>\n
Working as a travel journalist allowed him to travel the world, from\none tourist destination to another. This experience fostered his growing\ninterest in tourism and hospitality.<\/p>\n
According to Martin Roll\u2019s Asian Brand Strategy (2015), Adrian\u2019s\nfirst involvement in the hotel business occurred in 1972, when he helped\nestablish Regent International Hotels before eventually founding his own\nhotel company in 1988.<\/p>\n
A Dissatisfaction with Hotels Worldwide<\/p>\n
The story of how he came to establish his own hotel is quite\ninteresting. The creation of his own venture stemmed from Adrian\u2019s\ndissatisfaction with the prevailing hotel concept at the time, which\noffered large spaces with varying class levels. For him, this type of\nconcept required hotels to be built as large structures that obscured\nthe natural beauty of the surrounding location.<\/p>\n
As a result, he wanted to create hotels with a different\nconcept\u2014exclusive and small, with just 50 rooms. This smaller footprint\nallowed remote tourist destinations to have hotels without overwhelming\nthe landscape.<\/p>\n
He first realised this concept in Phuket, Thailand. Together with his\nfriend Anil Thadani, they invested jointly and built a hotel there at a\ncost of US$4 million.<\/p>\n
In December 1987, the hotel was completed and named Amanpuri. As the\nname suggests, \u201cAman\u201d is derived from Sanskrit, meaning \u201cPeace\u201d. He\nwanted his hotel to provide a sense of peace to visitors.<\/p>\n
Based on this founding philosophy, Amanpuri featured fewer than 50\nrooms, designed to maintain exclusivity for guests. Adrian believed that\nthe fewer rooms available, the more he could ensure service quality\nwould be maximised, thereby delighting guests. This differs from other\nhotels that pay less attention to service despite having many more\nrooms.<\/p>\n
According to Asian Brand Strategy (2015), with this strategy, Adrian\nand Aman successfully provided guests with a differentiated experience,\nwhich increased their fame. In addition to this, the success stemmed\nfrom Aman\u2019s skill in identifying and securing locations in remote\ntourist destinations.<\/p>\n
Whenever a remote tourist destination became available, Adrian would\nimmediately select and develop an Aman property there.<\/p>\n
Today, Aman Hotel has become one of the world\u2019s largest hospitality\ncompanies. Whenever you see a hotel with \u201cAman\u201d in its name, such as\nAmanjiwo, Amanpuri, Amankila and others, it falls under the Aman Group\numbrella, founded by this man from Sukabumi.<\/p>\n
Considering its history, Indonesians can take pride in the fact that\nthe renowned Aman Resort brand, known worldwide, originated from the\nbrilliant idea of a son of Indonesia.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/sukabumi-man-expelled-from-indonesia-becomes-king-of-global-hotels-1772329967", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }