The Upper House

The Upper House is Hong Kong's design-and-service hotel: 117 André Fu rooms above Pacific Place in Admiralty, ranked No. 10 in The World's 50 Best Hotels 2025 and holding two MICHELIN Keys. Be clear before booking, it has no pool and no conventional spa, only a 24-hour gym and in-room treatments.

"Andre Fu design and two Michelin Keys make this the service benchmark of Hong Kong, though there is no pool and no conventional spa."

Aggregate 9.6/10 on our editorial scale (Room & Design, Service, Location). Independently scored; see our methodology. This is our opinion, not an aggregate of user reviews.

Affiliate disclosure: we may earn a commission from bookings at no cost to you. We never accept payment for placement. Hotel status, room product and Michelin ratings were verified against official sources and the 2026 Michelin Guide in July 2026.

What makes The Upper House special?

The Upper House wins on service and design rather than facilities, and its awards record says exactly that. It was ranked No. 10 in The World's 50 Best Hotels 2025, voted No. 1 Best Hotel in Hong Kong in the Condé Nast Traveller UK Readers' Choice Awards 2025, and took Best Service in Hong Kong at Tatler Best 2025. MICHELIN gave it two Keys in the inaugural 2025 Hong Kong selection, citing the harmonious marriage of modern luxury and urban quirkiness. Those are Keys, a hotel award, not restaurant stars: the property has no MICHELIN-starred restaurant and Salisterra is not starred. The hotel opened in October 2009 under Swire Hotels, occupying the upper floors of the Pacific Place complex in Admiralty, with just 117 rooms. Interiors and architecture are by André Fu, built around a design idea the hotel calls the Upward Journey, and the entrance is framed by Thomas Heatherwick's Stone Curtains façade. What the building does not have is a swimming pool or a conventional spa, which is the single most common booking-stage surprise here and the first thing to settle before you reserve.

Which room should you book?

Entry accommodation at The Upper House is unusually large for Hong Kong, which is the practical reason to book it. Studio 70 rooms run to around 70 square metres and Studio 80 rooms to around 80 square metres, in a city where a standard luxury room is often half that size. Above them sit the Upper Suites, the André Fu Suite and the Penthouses. All 117 rooms are the work of André Fu and follow the design idea the hotel calls the Upward Journey, arranged around the outlook rather than around gilt and pattern. The catch is the outlook itself: many rooms look over Admiralty and towards the Peak rather than Victoria Harbour, and a true harbour view is confined to the higher and more expensive categories. There is also a Sky Lounge and a lawn used for private events, plus a separate Pacific Place Apartments product for longer stays. Ask for the harbour side explicitly if the water matters to you.

Where should you eat and drink?

Dining here is small and design-led, and it holds no MICHELIN stars in the 2026 guide. Salisterra is the headline room, a 49th-floor Mediterranean restaurant designed by André Fu, with the outlook that most of the guest rooms do not have. It is not starred, and neither is anything else in the building, so guests chasing MICHELIN cooking should look at Four Seasons or Rosewood and treat The Upper House as the place to sleep rather than the place to eat. The rest of the offer is deliberately compact: the Green Room, the Chef's Room and The Tea Room, which between them cover casual dining, private dining and tea service. The hotel also runs a Hong Kong-inspired afternoon tea created by Executive Sous Chef Tony Leung, available to 31 October 2026. With only 117 rooms and a single principal restaurant, book Salisterra ahead; guests regularly report pressure on tables at peak times.

Where is The Upper House, and how do you get there?

The Upper House sits at Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, in Admiralty, on the Hong Kong Island side rather than in Kowloon. That is a working-city address rather than a harbourfront one: Pacific Place puts luxury retail, cinemas and a supermarket directly beneath the hotel, Hong Kong Park is a short walk, and Central's offices and bars are one MTR stop or a walk along the elevated walkways. Admiralty MTR station connects through the Pacific Place mall, roughly 5 minutes under cover, which matters in summer humidity and in rain. Central Star Ferry Pier is about 15 to 20 minutes on foot, or two MTR stops. Hong Kong International Airport is roughly 40 minutes by car; Airport Express passengers use Hong Kong Station in Central, one MTR stop away. The trade-off is water: this is not a harbourfront hotel, most rooms look inland, and the promenade is a deliberate walk rather than a step outside.

What do guests consistently say?

Guests describe this as the most personal hotel at the top of the Hong Kong market, and the awards back that reading. It took Best Service in Hong Kong at Tatler Best 2025, No. 1 Best Hotel in Hong Kong in the Condé Nast Traveller UK Readers' Choice Awards 2025 and No. 10 in The World's 50 Best Hotels 2025, while MICHELIN's two Keys cited the harmonious marriage of modern luxury and urban quirkiness. The recurring praise is room size, the André Fu interiors and staff who work without a script. The recurring shock is facilities. Guests regularly report that the absence of a pool and a conventional spa is discovered at or after booking rather than before, and a further complaint is lift waits and pressure on Salisterra at peak times in a 117-room hotel with its lobby high in the tower.

Honest cons: who should skip it?

Be direct about the biggest one: The Upper House has no swimming pool of any kind and no conventional spa. Wellness here is a 24-hour gym with Technogym equipment and free weights, in-room treatments, and a rotating roster of visiting Wellness Residencies. The hotel won Hong Kong's Best Wellness Retreat at the World Spa Awards 2025 on that model, but it is a genuine shortfall at this price in a city where rivals put infinity pools over the harbour. Second, scale cuts both ways: with 117 rooms and a lobby high in the tower, guests regularly report lift waits and pressure on Salisterra at peak times. Third, the view. Many rooms look over Admiralty and the Peak rather than Victoria Harbour, and the true harbour outlook is confined to higher and more expensive categories, so the postcard view is an upsell rather than a given.