 | |
| Azerai Resorts | |
| Type | Private limited company |
| Industry | Hospitality |
| Founded | 2017 |
| Founder | Adrian Zecha |
| Headquarters | |
Number of locations | 3 resorts (2021) |
| Website | azerai |
Azerai is a Singapore-based multinational hotel chain. [1] [2] The company currently operates three hotels in Vietnam. The company was founded by Indonesian-hotelier Adrian Zecha, and commenced operations in 2017 with the opening of the group's first hotel in Luang Prabang, Laos. [3]
After leaving Aman Resorts in 2014, Adrian Zecha founded Azerai to operate affordable-luxury lodging, competing in the 3-4 star hotel category. The brand operates small hotels, each typically having no more than 80 rooms, and targets the millennial demographic. [4] The company's background is traced back to the Serai Hotel in Karangasem, founded by Zecha to offer various frills and design features reminiscent of an Aman Resort albeit competing at a lower, affordable price point. The Serai concept later served as the precursor of Azerai after The Serai was rebranded to create the first Alila hotel. [5] The company's name originated from a portmanteau of Zecha's initials and the now-defunct Serai brand, the latter's name of which was derived from the suffix of the Persian word caravanserai . [6]
In an interview with Hong Kong's Prestige magazine, Zecha stated that "Azerai resorts are designed in an elegant, refined and understated manner, and seek to embrace and blend into the locations in which they are set". [7]
In 2017, the first Azerai opened in Luang Prabang, occupying the premises of the 53-room Phousi Hotel. [8] The hotel closed in 2018 and reopened as an Avani Hotel operated by Thailand-based Minor International. [9] Following its closure in Luang Prabang, the company opened Azerai Can Tho in Vietnam in 2018, which was followed by second hotel in Hue in 2019. [6]
In 2019, Time magazine named Azerai La Residence in its list of the world's greatest places to stay. [10]
Azerai operates three hotels in Vietnam, with one hotel planned for Indonesia.
Vietnam
Indonesia
Evidence for modern human presence in the northern and central highlands of Indochina, that constitute the territories of the modern Laotian nation-state dates back to the Lower Paleolithic. These earliest human migrants are Australo-Melanesians—associated with the Hoabinhian culture—and have populated the highlands and the interior, less accessible regions of Laos and all of South-east Asia to this day. The subsequent Austroasiatic and Austronesian marine migration waves affected landlocked Laos only marginally and direct Chinese and Indian cultural contact had a greater impact on the country.
Luang Phabang, or Louangphabang, commonly transliterated into Western languages from the pre-1975 Lao spelling ຫຼວງພຣະບາງ as Luang Prabang, literally meaning "Royal Buddha Image", is a city in north central Laos, consisting of 58 adjacent villages, of which 33 comprise the UNESCO Town of Luang Prabang World Heritage Site. It was listed in 1995 for unique and "remarkably" well preserved architectural, religious and cultural heritage, a blend of the rural and urban developments over several centuries, including the French colonial influences during the 19th and 20th centuries.
The Road of Heritage Sites in Central Vietnam is a tourism program initiated by the Administration of Tourism of Vietnam. This road will link World Heritage Sites in the Middle of Vietnam, namely: Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, ancient capital of Huế, ancient trade port city of Hoi An and My Son Champa ancient capital. This road will also link other World Heritage points of Angkor Wat (Cambodia) and Luang Prabang (Laos) in another tourism program called "Vietnam - Laos - Cambodia, 3 countries, one destination".
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Adrian Willem Ban Kwie Lauw-Zecha, better known as Adrian Zecha, is an Indonesian hotelier and founder of several international hotel companies including Regent Hotels, GHM Hotels, Aman Resorts, and Azerai Resorts, among others. Zecha was also part-owner of the renowned London’s Dorchester Hotel, and Bangkok’s The Sukhothai Hotel through his investment company.
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Minor Hotels is an international hotel owner, operator and investor from Bangkok, Thailand with more than 550 hotels in 55 countries across Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, the Indian Ocean, Europe and the Americas. The hotel group operates as a subsidiary of Minor International PCL, one of the largest hospitality and leisure companies in the Asia Pacific region. The group operates hotels under the brands of Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas, Avani Hotels & Resorts, NH Hotels, NH Collection, nhow Hotels, Tivoli Hotels & Resorts, Oaks Hotels & Resorts and Elewana Collection.
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Francisca Louisa Zecha (1848–1939), usually known as Louisa Zecha, was a prominent, colonial Indonesian community leader and the Indo-Bohemian matriarch of the Lauw-Sim-Zecha family, part of the 'Cabang Atas' gentry of the Dutch East Indies. She attracted significant attention due to her controversial interracial marriages to two Peranakan Chinese magnates, Lauw Tek Lok, Luitenant der Chinezen of Bekasi and Sim Keng Koen, Kapitein der Chinezen of Sukabumi. The posts of Kapitein and Luitenant der Chinezen were high-ranking civil administration positions in the Dutch colonial bureaucracy. Zecha's community leadership, philanthropy, personal bravery and longevity earned her widespread respect and admiration in colonial society by the time she died in 1939.
Sim Keng Koen, Kapitein der Chinezen was a Chinese-Indonesian bureaucrat and the patriarch of the influential Lauw-Sim-Zecha family, part of the 'Cabang Atas' gentry of the Dutch East Indies. He was married to Louisa Zecha, the Indo-Bohemian widow of Sim's former employer, Lauw Tek Lok, Luitenant der Chinezen of Bekasi.
Lauw Ho, also spelled Lauw Houw, was a prominent tax farmer (pachter), tycoon and ancestor of the Lauw-Sim-Zecha family, part of the 'Cabang Atas' gentry of the Dutch East Indies.
Aristide William Lauw-Zecha (1899-1983), usually known as William Lauw-Zecha, was an Indonesian plantation owner, businessman; and – as an alumnus of the class of 1923 of Iowa University – he was the first Indonesian to graduate from an American university. He belonged to the Lauw-Sim-Zecha family, part of the 'Cabang Atas' gentry of the Dutch East Indies, and is the father of the hotelier Adrian Lauw-Zecha, founder of Aman Resorts.
Edward Burnham Tuttle Jr. was an American architect and interior designer best known for his works of hotel architecture. Among his most celebrated works is the Amanpuri hotel in Phuket, for which he was credited with setting a novel standard in resort design. Tuttle's design style has been described as simple, orderly and tranquil, and focusing on the comfort of a space. In 1977, he founded Design Realization in Paris, where he had been based until his death in 2020.
Jaya Pratomo Ibrahim was an Indonesian interior designer best known for his works in hospitality design. A protégé of British actress-turned-designer Anouska Hempel, his works are characterised by a trademark colour-coded symmetrical design. Often described to be calming and tranquil, amongst his most celebrated works are the interiors for The Legian in Bali and The Setai in Miami.
