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The Upper House Hong Kong is the type of hotel that travel writers seldom review and even fewer have anything negative to say. It’s a feature, not a bug since the property does very, very little by way of marketing, relying instead on word of mouth much like what I’m doing here with this review.
It is why The Upper House cinching fourth place in the inaugural The World’s 50 Best hotels is a worthy accomplishment given how extremely low-key their marketing is. What’s not low-key though is their impeccable and faultless ratings on the world’s leading booking sites — 9/10 on booking.com, 5 stars on Tripadvisor, 9.1/10 on Agoda, 4.6 stars on Google. The people have spoken and the people love, nay, adore The Upper House.
A bonsai at the Andre Fu Suite. (Photo: The Upper House)
The Upper House owes its moniker to many levels of distinction — both literally and metaphorically. First, semantically, the hotel starts on the 36th floor of Pacific Place and stretches for a mere 10 floors upwards, capping it off with Salisterra restaurant.
Secondly, location wise, it’s perched on a gently sloped hill — the kind that might make you breathless if you’re less inclined to activity. (For the less athletic, you can access the hotel directly from the escalator-friendly mall below.)
Thirdly, the views each room commands, high up almost in line with the clouds of Hong Kong, afford lush expanses of either the harbour, the undulating city or the verdant green hills of Aberdeen Park.
It’s upper — and then some.
The Andre Fu effect
The dining room in the Andre Fu Suite. (Photo: The Upper House)
On a recent visit, I stayed at the 1,230 square feet Victoria-Harbour-facing Upper Suite, which, at the size of a typical five-room HDB flat in Singapore, is, as you can imagine, rather expansive for a solo traveller.
The other room sizes are equally spacious and range from the 730 square feet Studio 70 to the 1,960 square feet Andre Fu Suite. They all come with a bathtub, rainfall shower, soft bathrobes, marbled walls, and toiletries from Bamford, in a toilet that I can only describe as cavernous.
The living room in the Andre Fu Suite. (Photo: The Upper House)
Hong Kong’s interior architect darling, Andre Fu himself designed the property back in 2009. The result is a hotel that is a blend of contemporary luxury with a calm, understated aesthetic. The 117 rooms are bathed in hues of creams and oak, with not a single handle jutting intrusively out of doors, drawers or wardrobes. It’s all very gathered — to say the rooms honour the views it accord would be a severe understatement.
Obviously Fu was going through a design phase because when tasked to reinvent The Upper House’s restaurant Salisterra in 2023, colours came to play. We’re talking terracotta orange, burgundy, mineral blue, dusty turquoise, and golden caramel. We’re talking sculptural chandeliers and effortlessly vintage light fixtures that look like they all have a story to tell — if you stayed long enough to listen.
The newly opened Salisterra restaurant. (Photo: The Upper House)
Still, while there is a timelessness to the entire hospitality enterprise, I can’t help but think of how certain parts of the hotel could do with a touch of modern sensibilities and technical updates.
I recall the lift buttons not immediately responding upon touch, perhaps from wear and tear. The in-room light, drapes, and media control also feels clunky and challenging to manoeuvre — especially since the remote controls only have icons by way of communication and are not exactly the most intuitive to navigate. I beg you patience especially if “Hey Google” and “Hey Siri” is a regular fixture in your life.
In service of service
Thus far, I’ve avoided the term ‘luxury’ to describe The Upper House. But there’s no better way to describe the 21 Suites, two penthouses, and 94 rooms. In ultra-dense Hong Kong, luxury is not merely furnishing or thread counts so soft it’s like sleeping on clouds — no. Here, luxury is space. As is the personal touch.
The living room of The Upper Suite. (Photo: The Upper House)
Some hotels go above and beyond to provide the best possible service. At The Upper House, the staff goes above, beyond, and out of the way to not just offer service par excellence but also to remind you that they’re constantly listening and anticipating.
Case in point. An off-hand comment about how I loved the bottle hotel scent I got on my last visit resulted in another bottle of the property’s signature fragrance on my table the very next day. One night, I came back to a flask of hot chamomile tea on the dining table because Hong Kong was experiencing a particularly chilly January.
All the rooms at The Upper House afford lush views of Hong Kong. (Photo: The Upper House)
And even before you breathe Hong Kong’s eclectic air, The Upper House will reach out via email with a series of questions — “Have you been to Hong Kong before?”, “Are you coming for a special occasion or celebration?”, “Any special dietary preferences that you would like us to know about?”, and my personal favourite, “Could you share something special about yourself with us?”. What criticism could you possibly level at a property that takes care of you pre, during, and post stay?
And even after all that, I still don’t think I can ever do The Upper House justice through mere words. The hotel is one that needs to be experienced to be believed — a tactile exploration of all the senses and a level of service that even the semantic nature of the term ‘excellence’ fails to aptly capture. If you ever have a chance to stay at The Upper House, I implore you to take that leap of faith. You will not be disappointed.
