Swire Hotels has built two distinct hospitality propositions: Upper House, shaped around a residential luxury ethos, and EAST, a lifestyle business hotel designed for guests who value informality, community, and choice. In this Brand Insiders conversation, Dean Winter explains how Swire’s “thinking differently mindset” shows up in people culture, design freedom, sustainability, and a carefully curated growth strategy across Asia Pacific and beyond.
What is the elevator pitch for Swire Hotels?
Swire Hotels is a subsidiary of Swire Properties,
Winter said, with Swire Properties being a Hong Kong developer well established… for some fifty odd years.
The hotel business started in 2006 with two brands, the House Collective and EAST hotels,
and it operates with an owner operator approach.
Upper House is positioned at a premium international level, while EAST is a lifestyle business hotel
that aligns naturally with Swire Properties’ commercial hubs in markets such as Hong Kong, Beijing, and Miami.
What makes Upper House and EAST innovative?
Winter framed innovation as practical and guest oriented, not technology for its own sake. Swire was early on paperless arrivals and departures, and among the first in Hong Kong to offer Wi Fi in limousines. The guiding principle is that technology should be not more of an interference, but more of an enabler.
The deeper differentiator is cultural. We have a very kind of trusting management style,
he said. We embrace the fact that things are going to go wrong. It is really about how you recover and how you keep it real.
Swire teams aim to avoid overly scripted service, because they try to sort of not work from a script or too many operating procedures and keep it real as much as possible.
Who are your guests, and how do you think about lifestyle?
Winter questioned traditional segmentation because travel intent is increasingly blurred. You never really know, are these guests here on business or are they here on leisure,
he said, unless the stay is clearly driven by a negotiated corporate contract.
For EAST, he offered an intentionally human description of the brand’s audience: young fifty year olds and old thirty year olds.
The appeal is a mix of informality and competence, a kind of casual professionalism
, with the bureaucracy stripped out of arrival and departure.
Upper House guests expect a little bit more love,
he said, but the reasons for travel remain varied, from meetings to shopping to referrals and repeat stays.
What makes Hong Kong so influential in hospitality?
Hong Kong’s hotel legacy is tied to its role as a connector. It has long been a gateway to China,
Winter said, and he believes that will remain central to its future identity.
He also pointed to accessibility and infrastructure, including an incredible airport that was built very early on,
and the city’s real estate history, which helped nurture hospitality brands connected to development portfolios. Hong Kong has always been a fertile place for luxury brands,
he said, with hospitality as a natural extension.
How has Chinese travel changed in the last decade, and since Covid?
Winter shared a striking shift in Upper House Hong Kong’s mainland China business over time. When Upper House Hong Kong opened in 2009, mainland share was five percent.
By 2015, growth accelerated as numbers were doubling every year.
During Covid, affluent travellers who could not leave the country began looking for domestic experiences that were a departure from the ordinary mainstream popular international brands.
Swire saw traction in Chengdu, a destination with cultural resonance, including a journey to the West
narrative familiar to many Chinese travellers.
By late 2025, Winter described demand as more dynamic and sophisticated, spanning budget travellers to premium families booking multiple rooms, and increasingly considering emerging domestic destinations again.
What does “Houses, not hotels” mean in practice?
Upper House is built around reducing formality and increasing genuine recognition. Winter described a conscious attempt to deconstruct culturally this notion of some sort of subservience
found in some luxury service models.
Execution begins with hiring. We do hire based on attitude rather than ability,
he said. It continues with small but specific personalisations designed to feel residential rather than generic. If a guest has known interests, the team may place a relevant book or magazine with a handwritten note. We do not do the sort of ubiquitous fruit bowl,
he added. If we know you like cherries, we put cherries in the room.
The aim is a stay that feels like a private residence. It actually feels like your own home. It does not feel like a hotel,
he said.
How does design support the Upper House experience?
Swire’s design approach is unusually liberated. We do not have brand standards,
Winter said, beyond technical guidelines. That freedom allows each property to be shaped by its neighbourhood and culture, rather than by a fixed global template.
The guest journey is designed from arrival onward, including lighting, materials, and art. Winter gave an example from a new project in Shenzhen, where the team debated whether even an elevator call interface should be conventional or more seamless, while still feeling residential. In contrast, he noted that Xi’an’s historical context suggests a different tone.
The goal is longevity. Swire is beginning renovation discussions for Upper House Hong Kong, but Winter noted they have not made major changes for years, which he sees as proof of early design thoughtfulness. He added one exception: restaurant spaces typically follow a shorter renewal rhythm, closer to a seven year cycle.
How do you keep hotel restaurants relevant, and why a lighter footprint?
Swire Hotels aims to serve the local community rather than building excessive outlet counts. We are not egotistical about our restaurants and bar business,
Winter said, and the company studies what is already thriving in the surrounding district and retail ecosystem.
In many cases, eighty or ninety percent
of patrons are local, he explained, so the goal is to complement the destination rather than compete with it by repeating the same concepts.
What is the Michelin Green Star, and how did Chengdu achieve it?
Winter described the Michelin Green Star as a relatively new recognition focused on provenance and sustainability practices, including local sourcing, carbon footprint reduction, and vendor standards. It is evidence based and demanding. It certainly takes two or three years of inspections, documentation,
he said.
Importantly, it is not a performance for an external rating system. It is woven into the tapestry of how you run your restaurant,
he said. It is not a thing that is done to keep Michelin happy.
In Chengdu, the story is also place led. Swire’s vegetarian tea house concept draws inspiration from proximity to an active monastery, where monks are vegetarian, and it has evolved into a high demand restaurant that is now difficult to book.
What is in the Upper House pipeline, and why unify the name?
Winter summarised the Upper House portfolio and upcoming openings:
- Upper House Hong Kong (opened 2009)
- Upper House Chengdu (opened 2015, previously The Temple House)
- Upper House Shanghai (opened 2018, previously The Middle House)
- Upper House Shenzhen (planned opening 2027)
- Upper House Xi’an (planned opening 2028)
- Upper House Tokyo, Shibuya (planned opening 2029)
The naming unification was driven by growth logic and a residential opportunity. Looking ahead, Swire needed a consistent naming convention for new deals, and the Bangkok branded residences project helped make the choice clear. Upper House Residences had a nice ring to it,
Winter said, even without an adjacent hotel, and it ultimately liberates us
to deploy the brand in residential settings as well.
What does “alternative thinkers” mean for EAST?
For EAST, Winter emphasised choice and community energy. The brand is less about corporate negotiated volume and more about understanding the individuals that choose to stay with us.
The hotels attract creative communities, and EAST teams actively host and enable moments that create social texture, from running clubs to pop ups. Winter described a Sunday morning coffee rave in Hong Kong with a DJ and guests dancing in the lobby. These events are not built from a boardroom value extraction model. We are not sitting around a strategy table thinking, right, how can we generate more value here,
he said. They happen because teams are empowered and connected to local culture.
Why does EAST invest so much in gyms and wellness space?
Winter described the gym as essential for the EAST guest, particularly because the brand is not spa led. If you undercapitalize the gym option,
he said, then the hotel may fail to meet the expectations of travellers who prioritise maintaining routines while on the go.
He acknowledged the financial reality. It is a cost center. It is not a revenue center,
he said, even though some markets can support memberships. Operationally, access matters too. Our gyms are open twenty four hours a day, seven days a week,
he said, because restricted opening hours can undermine the guest experience.
Where will Swire Hotels be in 2030, and which markets are most intriguing?
By 2030, Winter expects six, seven properties open,
with additional potential depending on timing. Longer term, he sees a path toward fifteen to eighteen hotels opened and signed
over roughly a decade.
He also expects Swire to manage growth carefully to preserve brand nuance. How do we hold on to the nuances, those little nuggets that are delivered every day,
he asked, pointing to leadership development and internal talent growth as core priorities.
On markets, Winter called out Seoul as an amazing city
, with Japan continuing to intrigue, including rural opportunities. He also mentioned London as a compelling possibility: there is not an Upper House in London,
he said, and he is deeply intrigued
by how the market would respond.
