Three members of the Swire Hotels Senior Management team are progressing into new roles from this month. Brian Williams, Toby Smith, and Dean Winter have all worked with the company for over a decade, each contributing to the launch and growth of EAST Hotels and The House Collective brands.
Toby Smith will replace Brian Williams as Deputy Chairman, whilst Dean Winter will take over from Toby as Managing Director. Following 14 years at Swire Hotels, Brian Williams will take up the role of Senior Advisor to Swire Hotels from his new base in the UK.
People are the core of Swire Hotels, which encompasses a collection of intriguing urban hotels under two distinct brands; EAST and The House Collective. In their new assignments, Toby, Dean, and Brian will continue to inspire teams across the brands to act with intuition and spontaneity to create engaging, meaningful connections with guests; a trait that has become synonymous with Swire Hotels.
Toby joined the Swire group as a Management Trainee in 1991, and has since held positions within the group’s shipping and aviation sectors, taking him to far-flung countries across the globe including Papua New Guinea, Vietnam, Australia, Turkey, Sri Lanka, France, Singapore and Hong Kong. As Deputy Chairman, Toby will lead Swire Hotels’ growth strategy for both Swire Properties owned developments and Hotel Management Agreements with third party owners.
Taking over from Toby as Managing Director, Dean has over 25 years of experience as a hotelier and restaurateur across London, Hong Kong and Singapore, and will oversee all aspects of the day to day running of the existing hotel and restaurant businesses. Speaking on his new role, Dean said, “I am honoured to be following in the footsteps of Brian and Toby, who have helped Swire Hotels to grow immeasurably over the past decade. In many ways, our culture feels very much like a start-up; we still have a long way to go, but we have built an incredible team of hoteliers and restauranteurs, and I am very excited about the future of the brand.”
Dean came onboard with Swire Hotels in October 2006 to concurrently manage operations and preopening preparations for The Opposite House in Beijing, The Upper House and EAST in Hong Kong, before opening The Upper House as General Manager in 2009.
Brian originally joined Swire Hotels as Managing Director before becoming Deputy Chairman and will now relocate to the UK as a Senior Advisor to the brand on a part-time basis. He will continue to support the development plans of the group as well as act as a brand ambassador to raise the profile of EAST and The House Collective globally.
Swire Hotels Chairman, Guy Bradley, said, “I would like to thank Brian for the immeasurable contribution he has made to the growth and success of Swire Hotels during his time in Hong Kong.”
