Swire Hotels Brings Together Young Talent to Drive Innovation in its First-Ever Hackathon

The multi-staged competition is themed around accelerating the future of luxury hospitality, which sits in line with its forward-thinking and progressive ethos.

30 January, 2023, Hong Kong – Embodying its brand purpose “Think Differently”, Swire Hotels is hosting its first hackathon this February. In a two-part event hosted online and in person in Hong Kong, young innovators will gather to develop real-world solutions for real business pain points in the luxury hospitality industry. 

“We always challenge ourselves to think differently in all areas,” says Dean Winter, Managing Director of Swire Hotels. “We’re excited to be hosting our first Hackathon – an event which celebrates and rewards new ideas and boundary-pushing innovation in the younger generation, just like we do at Swire Hotels.”

The Swire Hotels Hackathon aims to nurture creativity and originality, serving as a fresh platform for young talent to spark new ideas and disrupt industry norms. It also represents Swire Hotels’ community and people-orientated philosophy, connecting a diverse pool of talents for an inspiring and rewarding experience. Participants will be offered a stimulating and fun upskilling experience that not only ends with dazzling prizes, but also valuable opportunities for professional growth. Support from industry professionals will be provided throughout all stages, inspiring and guiding participants through ideation, development and pitching as they push their limits.

To kickstart the event, teams will choose from three case study challenges to propose a solution to our judging panel before shortlisted teams meet for an in-person presentation in Hong Kong. The judging panel is comprised of industry veterans including Bianca Ho (Director of IT, Swire Hotels); Dean Winter (Managing Director, Swire Hotels); Quince Chong (JP, Chairman, Hong Kong Association for Customer Service Excellence and Chief Corporate Development Officer of CLP Power Hong Kong Ltd); Victor Chong (Head of Enterprise Commercial, Microsoft Hong Kong), Olivier Klein (Chief Technologist, APJ, Amazon Web Services (AWS)), Cherry Fung Regional Director, Fortinet Hong Kong, Macau and Mongolia) and Sunny Lee (JP, Chairman and Board of Directors of ASTRI). 

The Swire Hotels Hackathon is open to any young talent enthusiastic about innovation and disruption. University students, including bachelor and master candidates, as well as young professionals with working experience are welcome to apply. An array of exciting prizes include up to a one-night staycation at The Upper House or East, Hong Kong, plus HKD $17,000 cash prizes, fast-track interview to internship/ job opportunities, and direct admission to HKSTP’s Ideation Programme which rewards up to a HK$100,000 financial grant.

Registration is available through Eventbrite, here.

For inquiries, please contact at SHGHackathon@swirehotels.com