Hotelier Adrian Zecha, who founded luxury hotel brand Aman, has opened a new hotel in Luang Prabang, Laos, described as “the first chapter of a new story and brand of hotels.”

Azerai Luang Prabang takes its name from a combination of Zecha’s initials, AZ, and the Persian word ‘caravanserai,’ which means a resting place with a central courtyard for travellers.

The 53-bedroom hotel includes a ‘massage retreat,’ which offers a menu of traditional therapies of body massages and foot massages, with a choice of private treatment rooms or a common area for social occasions. The massage retreat includes one common room with four to six recliners that focus on the feet, hands, shoulders, neck and head, as well as four private single treatment rooms and one double treatment room for body treatments. Therapists are inspired by traditional Laotian and Asian techniques, and fitness options include a fully equipped gym and yoga offerings.

The two-storey building is the result of architect Pascal Trahan’s two-year reconstruction of a 100-year-old site that was first used as French officer quarters, and later by the Laos government. In 1961, the building was converted to the Phousi Hotel, which operated at the site until 2014, when it closed and construction on Azerai began.

The design has been inspired by the town’s traditional Lao and French colonial architecture, and the hotel is built around a leafy courtyard with a 25m (82ft) swimming pool and an old shade-bearing banyan tree with a sacred legacy. Rooms are designed with an open-plan living experience, with a simple, contemporary design aesthetic.

Zecha opened the first Aman resort, Amanpuri, in Phuket, Thailand in 1988. He stepped down from his position as CEO of Aman in 2014, amid a very public legal battle, when Russian real estate investor Vladislav Doronin took over the company.

Zecha is also involved in the One Riverfront Project in Miami, where he will "curate" the on-site wellness centre.