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Adrian Zecha

Indonesian hotelier

Adrian Willem Ban Kwie Lauw-Zecha (born 1933), better known as Adrian Zecha, is an Indonesian hotelier and founder of several international hotel companies including Aman Resorts, Regent Hotels, GHM Hotels and Azerai Resorts. He is best known for founding Aman Resorts and for his influence on the development of luxury resort design and branding worldwide.2

From Wikipedia’s article on Adrian Zecha (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born 1933.1

About

Zecha was also part-owner of the renowned London’s Dorchester Hotel, and Bangkok’s The Sukhothai Hotel through his investment company.

From Wikipedia’s article on Adrian Zecha, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2

Companies

Early life and education

Personal life and education

Zecha was born in 1933 in Sukabumi, in what was then the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). He attended school in Jakarta before going on to study at Phillips Academy and later at Oxford University, where he read English literature.

Family background

Zecha was born in Sukabumi, Indonesia into the Lauw-Sim-Zecha family, part of the Cabang Atas or Chinese gentry of colonial Indonesia. His family is of Peranakan Chinese and Bohemian roots. He is a great-grandson of the late nineteenth-century magnate and mandarin Lauw Tek Lok, the first Luitenant der Chinezen of Bekasi (a high-ranking post in the civil bureaucracy) by the latter's controversial interracial marriage to Louisa Zecha, an Indo plantation owner of Bohemian descent. On being widowed, Louisa Zecha went on to marry another Chinese magnate, Sim Keng Koen, the first Kapitein der Chinezen of Sukabumi, where her great-grandson Adrian Lauw Zecha was born.

Zecha's father, the plantation owner Aristide William Lauw-Zecha, was the first native-born Indonesian to graduate from any American university, Iowa University, in 1923. The connection with America continued with Zecha and his four brothers, who were all educated in the United States.

Zecha is also a cousin of the Malaysian royal, Che Engku Chesterina (née Sim-Zecha). His brother, Austen Zecha, was the founder of TBWA-ISC Group, an agency that is credited with the award-winning “Malaysia Truly Asia” campaign for Tourism Malaysia in 1999. Another brother, Alwin Zecha, was the founder and executive chairman of the Pacific Leisure Group, a destination management company with offices in 38 countries worldwide, and also served as a board member and Chairman for numerous other organizations, including PATA.

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Early life and career

Zecha attended Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. Following graduation, he briefly attended Johns Hopkins University to pursue a medical degree on his father’s wishes, but later dropped out and instead pursued a Master in Journalism from Columbia University.

In 1956, when President Sukarno nationalised the country's private businesses, many members of the Lauw-Sim-Zecha family fled to Singapore, the Netherlands, and the United States. At the time the 23-year-old Zecha was in New York, working at Time magazine. Between 1956 and 1958, Zecha worked at the magazine's Tokyo office. He took up a residence in Azabu-Jūban and rented a villa in Aburatsubo. During his time in Japan, he developed an appreciation for ryokan-style hotels.

In 1961, Zecha launched Asia Magazine, the first regional newspaper colour supplement in Asia. When the magazine faltered a year later, Rupert Murdoch was persuaded by Zecha to invest in the magazine (in what was his first Asian investment). The magazine was a part of English speaking families until 1998. It was held above water for its last ten years by Giro Semba and Olav Mueller-Uri until it finally closed in 1998.

In 1970, Zecha started a new travel and lifestyle magazine named Orientations based in Hong Kong. With the advent of in-flight magazines, Orientations dropped its travel content and progressed over the years to become a publication focused on the arts of East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia and the Himalayas. It is now the leading magazine in this field and its contributors are renowned scholars and researchers from around the world.

From Wikipedia’s article on Adrian Zecha (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Career

Occupation: hotel manager.6

  • Date not recordedFounded Azerai3
  • Date not recordedFounded The Asia Magazine4
  • Date not recordedFounded Aman Resorts5

Zecha began his career in hospitality in the 1960s and was involved in the early development of Regent International Hotels in partnership with Four Seasons Hotels. He later co-founded GHM (Global Hotel Management), a company that operated luxury properties in Asia and beyond.

In 1988, Zecha founded Aman Resorts, opening the first property, Amanpuri, in Phuket, Thailand. The brand became known for its low-density, design-focused luxury hotels and played a significant role in shaping the high-end resort market in Asia and later globally.

From Wikipedia’s article on Adrian Zecha (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Personal life

  • Born1933, Sukabumi7
  • CitizenshipSingapore8

Awards

  • 2021Asia's Most Influential Indonesia9 10

Sources

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