In 1988 a man who wanted a holiday home on Phuket built a resort so small that no bank would lend for it. The idea behind it has barely changed since: stillness, privacy, and a place that is allowed to speak for itself.
A holiday home that got out of hand
Adrian Zecha did not plan to start a hotel company. By the published accounts, he was looking for a site for a holiday home on Phuket and came across a coconut plantation on Pansea Beach. The American architect Ed Tuttle was hired in 1986. The holiday home turned into a very small resort, and because the banks would not lend for a project with so few rooms, Zecha and three friends paid for it themselves.
It opened in January 1988 as Amanpuri, a name usually read as “place of peace”. Zecha had already founded Regent Hotels, so he knew what a luxury hotel was supposed to look like. Amanpuri looked different: very few guests, a setting that comes before the building, and a pace set by the place rather than a timetable. Everything Aman has done since grew out of that first small resort.
A name, and an idea
Aman takes its name from a Sanskrit-derived word for peace. The company describes the idea as the unassuming, warm hospitality of a gracious private home, where the guest is received as in the home of a close friend. That is closer to the truth than the word hotel.
It does not use the usual measures of the category. It talks about seclusion, serenity and privacy, and about a level of service it calls peerless in every way. The properties are small, usually under 55 rooms, and each is meant to be true to the geography, design and cultural heritage of where it stands. Nothing is meant to announce itself.
There is a discipline in that. Most hotels are designed to be noticed from the road. An Aman is designed to frame what is already there, a bay, a rice terrace, a city skyline, and then to step back.
Each place speaks for itself
The early years show the method. Amandari opened in Ubud in 1989, Aman Le Mélézin in Courchevel in 1992, Amanwana on Moyo Island in 1993 and Amankora in Bhutan in 2004, with five lodges set across separate Himalayan valleys. No two look alike, and none was meant to.
The sense of place goes beyond views. Amanwana lives in 15 tents on a remote Indonesian island. Aman-i-Khás at Ranthambore offers ten Mughal-inspired tents. Amanwella, on a coconut-fringed cove in Sri Lanka, gives every suite its own plunge pool and terrace. Amantaka sits among the 32 temples of Luang Prabang. At Amanyangyun near Shanghai, 50 Ming and Qing dynasty villas were carried from Fuzhou and given a second life, which says a good deal about the brand’s attitude to the past.
Fifteen Aman properties stand close to or within UNESCO-protected sites. Aman goes where there is already something worth protecting, and tries to add nothing that shouts.
Angkor is the clearest case. Amansara in Siem Reap was once the guest villa of King Norodom Sihanouk. It stands ten minutes from the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Angkor and carries the New Khmer architecture of the 1960s, and the temples are still the reason to stay.
The city, quietly
For a long time Aman meant remote shores and mountains. In December 2014 it opened its first city address, Aman Tokyo, in the upper part of the Otemachi Tower, a tower designed by KPF with interiors by Kerry Hill Architects. The question was whether stillness could be built into a capital. The answer was yes, if the city is treated as a landscape too.
Aman New York followed in August 2022, in the Crown Building on Fifth Avenue, a landmark of 1921 restored for the purpose. Guests arrive on the 14th floor, in a double-height atrium. Every suite has a working fireplace, which the hotel announced as a first for New York City. There is a three-storey spa of 2,300 square metres, a jazz club, and murals based on a 15th-century Japanese screen of pine trees. Manhattan is the view, and the building is the retreat.
In 2020 the company launched a sister brand, Janu, whose name means “soul”: the same eye for design, with a more social, more energetic rhythm.
Beyond the stay
Guests who return often begin to ask for more than a room. Aman Residences answer that: private homes designed and serviced in the manner of the hotels, which the brand describes as sanctuaries for the select few who want the Aman way of life to become permanent. In New York there are 22 of them. In Bali, Amankila offers 11 hideaways. At Niseko, in Hokkaido, 31 residences are planned.
The world of Aman now includes Aman Interiors, Aman Skincare (launched in 2018), Sva supplements, a fine fragrance from 2020 and The Essentials by Aman from 2021. And the sea: Aman at Sea will begin with Amangati, which is planned to set sail in spring 2027 with 47 suites and 94 guests.
Aman where we work
The brand's story touches the places our readers know best.
Phuket. Amanpuri, where it began, remains on the west coast. Aman Residences are offered there, too.
Bali. Amandari in Ubud, Amankila at Manggis, Aman Villas at Nusa Dua, and Amanwana on Moyo Island.
Bangkok. Aman Nai Lert Bangkok, the brand's address in the Thai capital.
Dubai. Aman Dubai and Aman Residences, Dubai are listed by the company as "coming soon", with no date on Aman's own pages. Construction has started; completion is planned for the fourth quarter of 2029, according to the developer's schedule.
The next few years
According to Aman's own pages, as shown on 29 October 2026:
- Now open: Amanvari, East Cape, Mexico.
- Reopening soon: Amangani, Jackson Hole, USA.
- Opening 2028: Aman Miami Beach and Aman Beverly Hills, USA.
- Opening 2030: Aman Niseko, Hokkaido, Japan.
- Coming soon: Aman Dubai (UAE), Amansamar (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia), Aman Singapore, Aman Seoul, Amanolu (Maldives), Amancaya (Exuma, The Bahamas), Amansanu (Texas Hill Country, USA), Aman Karingani (Mozambique).
The company says ten further projects have been announced. The map is widening, but the idea is not: a few places, chosen with patience, and left in peace.
Aman residences in development
Residences from the Aman group that are still under construction are available through us on request: current availability, terms and a named advisor.
Aman Residences, DubaiDubai Peninsula, DubaiApproximate handover: Q4 2029
Aman Residences, MaldivesVaavu Atoll, MaldivesApproximate handover: 2028
Janu Residences, DubaiDIFC, DubaiApproximate handover: Q4 2027
Janu Residences, Al Marjan IslandAl Marjan Island, Ras Al KhaimahApproximate handover: 2028–2029Realtimo Luxury is an independent platform and is not affiliated with Aman. This is an editorial article based on information published by Aman and, where stated, independent sources. It is not an offer. Dates and statuses are as published on aman.com on 29 October 2026 and may change.