Indonesian hotelier Adrian Zecha never intended to build a empire with Aman Hotels. In the mid-1980s, he simply wanted a private holiday retreat on a spectacular headland in Phuket, Thailand. Yet the site proved too extraordinary to keep to himself, and what emerged on 1st January 1988 would fundamentally reshape the luxury hospitality landscape for generations to come. Amanpuri, meaning “place of peace” in Sanskrit, opened with just 40 pavilions scattered across a coconut grove overlooking the Andaman Sea, introducing a radical new philosophy that would spawn an entire movement in resort design and cultivate one of the most devoted followings in travel history.
Working with American architect Ed Tuttle, Zecha created something entirely novel for the era. Amanpuri’s design drew inspiration from Thai temple architecture, employing teak, local stone and long, contemplative sightlines that dissolved boundaries between interior and landscape. The scale was deliberately intimate, the aesthetic profoundly serene, and the service hushed to the point of invisibility. Where contemporary luxury resorts favoured grand lobbies and obvious opulence, Amanpuri offered pavilions that felt more like private villas, with staff who anticipated needs before they were voiced and grounds that prioritised space and tranquillity over programmed activities. The estimated four million dollar build cost seemed modest, yet the property’s impact proved incalculable.
The architectural DNA that defined a generation
This architectural DNA became Aman’s signature as the brand expanded through the 1990s, moving from Bali’s Amandari to the French Alps’ Le Mélézin whilst maintaining an unwavering commitment to place-first design, ultra-low room counts and profound respect for local materials and craftsmanship. By 1999, despite operating fewer properties than competitors, Aman generated 50 million dollars in revenue and 15 million dollars in profit, with average rates that exceeded local competitors by multiples. The secret lay not in scale but in scarcity, transforming exclusivity itself into the ultimate luxury amenity.
The brand’s design philosophy extended beyond mere aesthetics into a holistic approach that made place the primary amenity. Architects like Kerry Hill brought ryokan-influenced serenity to urban settings, whilst Tuttle’s work established templates for tropical luxury that countless properties would attempt to replicate. Most resorts maintained room counts well under 60 keys, trading volume for space, intimacy and remarkably high average daily rates. This commitment to small scale created properties that felt less like hotels and more like intimate villages, where returning guests could rediscover favourite pavilions and familiar faces amongst the staff.
Turbulence behind the serene façade
Yet behind this serene façade, Aman’s ownership structure proved turbulent. The late 1990s and early 2000s saw boardroom disputes and investor jockeying that Forbes chronicled in a 2000 piece titled “Poison in Paradise,” capturing both the brand’s brilliance and its fragility. In November 2007, Indian property developer DLF acquired control of Aman’s parent company Silverlink Resorts for 400 million dollars, including 150 million dollars of assumed debt. Financial pressures eventually forced DLF’s exit, and in February 2014, a joint venture led by entrepreneur interests purchased Aman for 358 million dollars, excluding Delhi’s property which DLF retained and rebranded.
The 2014 sale immediately triggered a brutal power struggle between the acquiring partners. London’s High Court briefly reinstated Zecha as chief executive for 17 days in July 2014 before litigation ground on for nearly two years. The March 2016 settlement finally confirmed Russian developer Vladislav Doronin in sole control of Aman, bringing governance clarity that proved essential for the brand’s next evolution. Whilst the courtroom drama seemed antithetical to Aman’s peaceful ethos, the resolution provided the single-owner structure and risk appetite necessary to pursue dramatically ambitious projects without diluting the intimate resort DNA that defined the brand.
The cult of the Amanjunkie
View this post on Instagram
The phenomenon of the “Amanjunkie” emerged during this period, describing travellers who planned entire journeys around Aman properties dotted across the globe. These weren’t merely repeat guests but devotees who had found in Aman a hospitality philosophy that resonated at a deeper level. The brand’s discretion became legendary: understated arrivals with no ostentatious signage, staff who remembered returning guests by name and preference, and an atmosphere closer to a private residence than a commercial hotel. This cultivated intimacy created extraordinary loyalty in an industry where brand switching remained commonplace, establishing Aman as something closer to a movement than a hotel collection.
The Amanjunkie community developed its own rituals and references, with devotees often visiting a dozen or more properties and planning future trips around new openings. This organic following provided Aman with perhaps its most valuable marketing asset: authentic advocacy from guests whose enthusiasm stemmed not from incentives but from genuine connection to the brand’s philosophy. The phenomenon demonstrated that in luxury hospitality, creating emotional resonance could prove more valuable than traditional scale, and that a small but intensely loyal customer base could sustain premium pricing that seemed impossible by conventional metrics.
The urban evolution
Doronin’s boldest move came with the Crown Building on Fifth Avenue, transformed into Aman New York through a gut renovation with a total project cost reaching 1.3 billion dollars. When the property opened in August 2022 with 83 suites, two restaurants, a subterranean jazz club and a three-storey flagship spa, it represented Aman’s full commitment to urban luxury. Entry-level suites command approximately 3,200 dollars per night, whilst the exclusive Aman Club charges 200,000 dollars for initiation and 15,000 dollars annually in membership fees. The economics seemed audacious, yet the property achieved record residential sales, including a 135 million dollar penthouse transaction reported in 2024.
This urban evolution had actually begun a decade earlier with Aman Tokyo, which opened in December 2014 as the brand’s first true city hotel, bringing architect Kerry Hill’s ryokan-influenced serenity to the Japanese capital’s skyline. These metropolitan flagships served as “beacons” that elevated brand awareness whilst feeding demand for the resort properties that remained Aman’s soul, a strategy that proved commercially astute even as it risked diluting the brand’s original retreat-from-the-world positioning.
From resort collection to lifestyle platform
The financial trajectory validates Doronin’s vision. In August 2022, Saudi Arabia‘s Public Investment Fund and Cain International invested 900 million dollars for minority stakes, implying a three billion dollar valuation for Aman Group. A follow-on round in September 2023 brought approximately 360 million dollars from Mubadala Capital and Alpha Wave, providing capital to support continued expansion whilst maintaining the careful, considered pace that prevents Aman from becoming just another luxury chain.
Today, Aman operates 36 properties across 20 countries from its Swiss headquarters in Baar, with major projects advancing in Los Angeles (Aman Beverly Hills, targeted for late 2027), Miami Beach (2027), and a 183-metre Aman at Sea superyacht under construction for a 2027 debut. Bangkok marked another milestone with Aman Nai Lert Bangkok’s April 2025 opening, completing a symbolic circle back to Thailand where Amanpuri launched the entire journey 37 years earlier.
What began as one man’s holiday house in a Thai coconut grove has become the template for quiet luxury in hospitality, proving that in an industry obsessed with scale, the most powerful strategy might be radical intimacy. From Amanpuri’s 40 pavilions to billion-dollar urban icons, Aman has remained faithful to Zecha’s founding vision whilst evolving it for a new era, creating not merely hotels but a philosophy of place that continues to reshape how we understand luxury itself.
Quick Summary – Aman hotels
- 📍 Origin: Amanpuri, Phuket, Thailand (1988)
- 👤 Founder: Adrian Zecha
- 🏗️ Architectural legacy: Ed Tuttle, Kerry Hill
- 🏨 Portfolio: 36 properties in 20 countries
- 🧘♀️ Philosophy: Quiet luxury, intimacy, sense of place
