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Swire Hotels’ new head of wellness Kristina Snaith-Lense outlines vision for Upper House Shenzhen

06 Jan 2026

Upper House Shenzhen will be the first new hotel to be operated by Swire Hotels in nine years when it opens in 2027, in China.

The property will be located in the Greater Bay Area, which is a mega economic zone project to link Hong Kong, Macau and nine cities in Guangdong province together for seamless infrastructure and collaborative development, including Shenzhen.

The Upper House Shenzen will form part of the mixed-use Houhai Hybrid Campus – a series of four urban towers in Shenzhen's western district. The 1.4 million sq ft site is being designed by Büro Ole Scheeren.

The property will be helmed by Kristina Snaith-Lense, who has a dual role as GM of the Upper House Shenzhen and head of wellness for Swire Hotels.

Snaith-Lense has been part of Swire Hotels for almost 14 years, most recently as general manager of Upper House Hong Kong and part of the pre-opening team for Upper House Shanghai.

In an exclusive interview with Spa Business, Snaith-Lense explained that as head of wellness she is now overseeing the group-wide strategy for the existing houses as well as a pipeline of new openings. These new sites will include Houses in Tokyo, Japan; Bangkok, Thailand; and Xi’an and Shenzhen in China.

Shenzhen Upper House

Shenzhen Upper House will have 110 guest rooms and 51 serviced apartments when it opens near the cultural complex called the Shenzhen Bay Culture Square, which launched in November.

In addition to being in charge of all wellness initiatives for Upper House, Snaith-Lense is also the newly appointed GM of Upper House Hong Kong. She said the governmental plan to create the Greater Bay Area is having an effect on the region. 

“You can get to Shenzhen from Hong Kong on a train in 20 minutes,” she said. “Shenzhen is much more affordable than Hong Kong so people cross over for dinner or to go shopping. Shenzhen is really hot at the moment and other luxury brands also have plans to launch here too.” 

Upper House wellness

The wellness pillars and concept are being developed and repositioned at the moment by Snaith-Lense, based on her experience and research.

She has used the Upper House Hong Kong and sister hotel Upper House Shanghai to incubate particular treatments and business models to encourage wellness guests to visit.

“We introduced hyperbaric chambers and red light therapy two years ago in Hong Kong,” said Snaith-Lense. “Five years ago, we added an exercise programme called Family Form that took place in an infrared-heated room and guests wore ankle weights. We now have resident practitioners such as a chiropractor and an oracle who carries out chakra therapy.”

“Our next residency at Upper House Hong Kong will be a six-month partnership with a TCM clinic – starting in January 2026 – that offers acupuncture, cupping and TCM beauty for aesthetic longevity,” continued Snaith-Lense. “This involves acupuncture for the face and collagen soups.”

Other tried and tested experiences include a traditional seven-step Korean scalp spa treatment and day-long flash sale tattooing experiences with popular visiting tattoo artists.

The group introduced a concept called House of Healing at the Upper House Shanghai this year that was extremely successful. The hotel made all its treatments, lunch and a smoothie available to guests for a one-day urban retreat at an affordable rate of around £70 (US$88, €82).

“We are driving community and allowing guests to tailor-make their day and treat the House as if it’s their own,” said Snaith-Lense.

The treatments and residences that do well are then rolled out to other properties in the collection.

Swire Hotels

Swire Hotels operates hotels in Hong Kong, mainland China and the US under two brands: Upper House and East Hotels. 

Upper House became the name given to international properties that were previously part of Swire Hotels’ The House Collective. This group of unique Houses inspired by their locations included The Upper House in Hong Kong; The Temple House in Chengdu; and The Middle House in Shanghai. These are all Upper House properties now.

New openings for this brand that are set to join the collective in the next four years will be the ones mentioned earlier in Shenzhen, Xi’an, Tokyo and Bangkok.

Sister brand East Hotels’ properties are described as locations for alternative thinkers who are curious, creative and sustainability-minded. There are East Hotels in Hong Kong and Beijing in China and Miami, US.