Hospitality Industry Visionary - Adrian Zecha - Receives Lifetime Achievement Award

Mr Adrian Zecha, a true visionary and pioneer within the hospitality industry, as well as founder of, among other things, Aman Resorts, has received the inaugural SHTM Lifetime Achievement Award from the School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU).

The SHTM Lifetime Achievement Award has been established by SHTM to honour outstanding personalities who have contributed substantially to the development of hospitality and tourism industry in Hong Kong, the region and around the world.

PolyU President Professor Timothy W. Tong, said, “Widely recognised as a visionary, Mr Zecha continues to create, develop and operate hotels and resorts throughout his career. His contribution to the international hotel sector is without parallel and he is truly a deserving recipient of the School’s Lifetime Achievement Award.”

In a career spanning more than 40 years, Mr Adrian Zecha has founded a series of successful hotel and resort companies, conceiving and developing more than 100 internationally-applauded properties around the world.

Initially a journalist and leading publisher, Mr Zecha's entry into hospitality was as one of the founding members of Regent International Hotels.

Selling his interest in Regent International in 1986, he went on to partner with Georg Rafael in the Rafael Hotel Group, which focused on the acquisition and management of luxury five-star hotels and resorts in Europe and the US. The company was eventually sold to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group.

Mr Zecha also founded Beaufort Hotels, which opened luxury hotels in Brisbane, Darwin, Singapore and Bangkok.

In 1987 he independently developed, with a group of investors, a small resort and villa property named Amanpuri in Phuket, Thailand. This property went on to become the flagship for Amanresorts, a world-renowned benchmark for luxury hotel living.

Mr Zecha currently serves as non-executive Chairman of General Hotel Management, which develops and operates three, four and five star hotels and resorts throughout Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas, including the highly-successful Setai in Miami.

“It is a tremendous compliment for me to be awarded the SHTM Lifetime Achievement Award,” said Mr Zecha. “The SHTM has gone from strength to strength and is now a highly regarded hotel and tourism school in Asia. The school is uniquely positioned to cultivate the human capital needed to drive the overall development of the industry. I’m very much encouraged to witness such a remarkable commitment in education partnership right here. It is this dedicated level of partnership between academia and industry that propels us forward.” 

See other recent news regarding: SHTM, PolyU, Adrian Zecha, Lifetime Achievement