Journey locations the world over are battling a brand new type of traveler: A youthful millennial or Gen-Z vacationer, hungry for experiences fairly than cookie-cutter accommodations.
Right this moment’s vacationers are “on the lookout for a perspective,” inside designer André Fu defined on the Fortune Brainstorm Design convention in Macau on Tuesday. In different phrases, they’re on the lookout for a particular ambiance or design ethos in selecting the place to remain or eat.
And, Fu defined, this even extends to the luxurious resort house. “Luxurious will not be concerning the materials. It’s not concerning the marble. It’s about feeling. It’s about connection. It’s concerning the emotion that you just get once you’re in an area,” he mentioned.
“When you’ve that feeling that this can be a house that’s designed round you, fairly than you being only a particle in that atmosphere—that sense of resonance is so invaluable,” Fu mentioned. “And I suppose that degree of connection…is what designers are thriving for nowadays.”
Swire Inns deputy chairman Toby Smith agreed that journey patterns have been altering. “We’re discovering that persons are extending their journey. They’ve acquired a enterprise journey, and so they would possibly lengthen the journey by a day or so to essentially discover town or the placement they occur to be in,” he mentioned. That opens up a chance for customized service, corresponding to resort workers personally escorting somebody staying on the Higher Home Shanghai via town’s historic French Concession district.
Fu’s first resort mission was the Higher Home Hong Kong, a small luxurious resort developed by Swire Inns, which is below the umbrella of conglomerate Swire Pacific. The property developer is now planning to increase its luxurious resort model, the Higher Home, to a number of cities in mainland China and East Asia.
The impetus behind the Higher Home and its tagline “Homes not Inns”, Smith defined, was that youthful vacationers “have been on the lookout for one thing a little bit bit younger, maybe a little bit extra dynamic, much less stuffy, much less formal.”
Lucas Schifres for Fortune
Higher Home accommodations are additionally small, with the Hong Kong property having simply over 100 rooms. “It’s very arduous to ship true personalization and luxurious for a property that has way more than 100 keys,” Smith mentioned.
In mid-October, Swire Inns rebranded its upscale Home Collective model as “The Higher Home,” and pledged to open a number of extra properties throughout the area. The subsequent resort, Higher Home Shenzhen, will open in 2027, and options designs from German structure agency Büro Ole Scheeren.
Swire will observe Shenzhen with new initiatives in Xi’an, Tokyo, and Bangkok—which would be the model’s first branded residences in a mission designed by Foster + Companions.
Inns and hospitality are “more and more aggressive,” Smith defined. “Development prices are extremely excessive, so I believe the one solution to get worth is to construct luxurious and cost extra for it.”
Swire Inns generated 441 million Hong Kong {dollars} ($56 million) in income for the primary six months of 2025, a slight lower year-on-year. The corporate cited a slower-than-expected restoration in Hong Kong’s resort market and combined efficiency in mainland China. General, Swire Properties generated 8.7 billion Hong Kong {dollars} ($1.1 billion) for the primary half of the 12 months. Swire Properties’s shares are up simply over 35% for the 12 months up to now.
Nonetheless, Asian tourism—which has lengthy relied on vacationers from sources like mainland China, Europe and the U.S.—was beginning to diversify. On Tuesday, Smith pointed to the Center East and India as growing sources of luxurious vacationers.
“We’re very assured about our model,” Smith mentioned. “If we persist with our rules…then we are going to proceed to develop on the tempo that we need to develop.”
