There was a fascinating hotel brand launch that occurred just after Earth Day, courtesy of none other than Adrian Zecha, founder of Aman. Even though this lasted rural hotspot is only 24 villas, it’s actually part of a half-century trend that explains the huge boom in farm hospitality, nature-driven ultraluxury resorts and other growth categories.
Azuma Farm Koiwai is the first outpost for the Azuma brand nestled in the Japanese countryside. It’s advertised as a return to farm life, completing the agriluxury craze with uber-minimalist design, hikes, horseback riding and other traditional experiences, all for rates well north of $1,000 USD.
The driver underpinning the growth of all these incredibly successful farm hospitality properties harks back to a core principle of human nature – finding harmony amidst the chaos of a digital, urban and hyper-capitalist world. Right now there’s so much noise out there: emails, texts, spam, social media, doom-and-gloom news, AI slop, app notifications, TV shows, DOOH ads, video meetings, alarms, noise pollution, air pollution. It’s too much for the human mind to comprehend, and it’s stressing us all out.
Farm hospitality is a return to our roots. We are pastoral beings yearning to be liberated from the chaos of urban life in order to refocus on what truly matters – family, friendships, community and a sense of purpose. Agriluxury works because it helps us find a signal within all the noise. It’s a form of wellness resort that’s drawing in huge capital as well as seemingly endless demand.
In a Japanese context, the word that informs this conceptual direction is ‘monozukuri’, meaning the art of making things with soul. Used in the previous century for manufacturing, it’s gaining as a buzzword now to denote places, objects and experiences that gently awaken their intended subjects or, in our case, guests. The Japanese culture understands that there’s a hidden and often forgotten pleasure of making things, observing one’s surroundings, standing in awe of nature and being fully present with something real.
If the modern world’s attention economy hinges on distracting you via noise, monozukuri inscribes the presence of the mind and immersion in the present moment. In this sense, calmative places like Azuma Farm Koiwai share an ‘ego dissolution’ quality with all the various psychedelic retreats that have popped up throughout Latin America.
As agriluxury comparisons, there are many properties that excel at offering guests a return to more bucolic times. For further research, some of our favorites include:
- Babylonstoren (Western Cape, South Africa)
- Southall Farm & Inn (Tennessee, United States)
- Sumaq Machu Picchu Hotel (Peru)
- The Farm at San Benito (Philippines)
- The Newt in Somerset (England)
- Villa Petriolo (Tuscany, Italy)
Azuma is another entry into this territory, but it approaches it from the perspective of hyper-minimalism to clear guests’ minds from all clutter. Spaces are firmly godai – polished woods and stone, and not much else. You won’t even find the marble or artistic flourishes of other ‘minimalist chic’, purposefully appointed brands like Aman, Edition or Nobu. In other words, there’s nothing to distract from the genuine human-to-human interactions that will transpire on premises.
This isn’t just value engineering to save on construction costs. It’s purposeful in every material and programming selection.
And rounding out this core design are farm experiences, exceptional-yet-simply-presented food menus, a group sauna, and localized activities like pensive horseback riding, nature hikes, tranquil tea ceremonies and traditional ironware creation.
Now to think about it as a 50-year trend, the farm hospitality or agriluxury trend has many similarities to the Romanticism Era in the 19th century. The artists and novelists of that period expressed through angst against the grayish, soot-filled London, Paris and other rapidly industrializing cities via quixotic escapes to the countryside. History doesn’t repeat but it certainly rhymes!
Moreover, there are elements of this that can be applied to every hotel, especially those resorts looking for a repositioning concept that works. For those that can’t escape for the farm life, guests in urban locations are nevertheless looking for some semblance of ‘noise reduction’ in their hotel stays This can be interpreted from the physical side of noise-cancelling materials or a white noise machine in the room. It also means removing the noise of ‘travel friction’ – complex check-in, confusing signage, difficult communication via the virtual concierge and so on.
Fundamentally, the future of farm and wellness hospitality is about more than just relaxation. It’s about delivering a sense of calm and peace in order for guests to discover what’s really important in life. And that’s why it’s a 50-year trend, not just a flash in the pan trend for 2026 and 2027. The deeper we get into an AI-filled world of slop, spam and noise, the more people will yearn for simplicity, and be willing to pay huge nightly rates for it!
As a postscript: Adrian Zecha has now launched Aman, Azerai (Vietnamese resort brand) and most recently Azuma. Eventually this hospitality phenom will have to move on to “B” with his new brand names!
