How a former bellhop went on to run the No 5 hotel on The World’s 50 Best Hotels 2024, The Upper House in Hong Kong
Fourth-generation Hong Kong native Kristina Snaith-Lense talks about her career journey, striking a work-life balance, and embracing her multicultural upbringing
Both sides of my family have lived in Hong Kong for multiple generations, with my children the fourth generation born here. I have an 89-year-old grandmother living in Repulse Bay, who now has 13 great-grandchildren aged between one and 10, all living in Hong Kong. My parents met when my mother was 17 years old, and were married the day after her 19th birthday. They had their wedding at The Verandah in Repulse Bay, where my husband and I also got married.
Everyone welcome
I feel extremely lucky to have grown up in Hong Kong, and that’s why we have made the decision to stay and raise our children here. I grew up not thinking about the colour of someone’s skin or religion because of the open-minded household and society I was raised in. We got to choose how much we swayed towards our Hindu roots or our Christian roots; as children we celebrated Diwali, Christmas and Chinese New Year. It’s a privilege to grow up in a multicultural society, and doing so enables me to engage in my job as a hotelier with people from all over the world very naturally.
Friends forever
As a child I was obsessed with Enid Blyton books like Malory Towers and The Twins at St Clare’s, so it was exciting for me to transfer to Wycombe Abbey, an all-girls boarding school in the UK. I went there with my head filled with images of lacrosse and midnight feasts, and that was my reality from age 11 until I went to Bristol University. I met my six best friends at boarding school and we are still close 35 years on. Having long-standing relationships are important to me and my family. I saw the way my mom, who is a role model for me, looked after her relationships and friendships, and saw the positive effects that come from it.
Picking a path
I did catering jobs when I was at boarding school, from the age of 14, as a friend’s mum owned a catering company in Henley (England). My first official job was when I was 16, at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong, working in the food and beverage department, which is not my forte. Traditionally, in hotels you choose a path; rooms or F&B. I’ve gone down the rooms path.
