You are right, Kage. The phrase Amanjunkie was always meant to be ironic. Adrian Zecha and the majority of the old team loathed the word 'luxury' as it was (and still is) so overused that it became meaningless.

AZ and team never advertised. They knew that their Amanjunkies would do it for them and introduce like-minded people to the resorts. They also did very little PR. It was always a word of mouth thing.

The Amanjunkie t-shirts were never intended to be true status symbols. Once again, they were meant to be ironic. In the early days of Amanresorts, a sense of humour was prevalent amongst many of the GMs - Anthony Lark (Australian), Guy Heywood (Australian), François Richli (British/French), Henry & Char Gray (British/Canadian).

Sometimes, people from other countries take offence at the often cynical/satirical British sense of humour (and Australian for that matter). I recall that whole episode with Amanda Hyndman and was bemused that many were offended by her comments.

I have a sneaky feeling that Amanjunkie t-shirts today ARE worn as status symbols. They were never meant to be.

To understand the Amanjunkie moniker, you have to go back to 1988 when Amanpuri opened. That Christmas/New Year, the big yachts coasted towards the beach and tenders ferried the villa 'investors' towards Amanpuri, but even the first pavilion guests felt as though they were, somehow, making history, just by being there. They knew that Amanpuri would change the face of hotel-keeping.

Lifelong friends were made that Christmas/New Year and many of the guests returned the following year, and the year after, and the year after, and now, in some cases, 28 years later. These days they would call it networking. In those days, it was just a bunch of Amanjunkies getting together at one of their favourite places.