“Water adapts to any shape it encounters,” she says. “That’s what I want my hotels to do – fit into people’s lifestyles while staying true to our sense of pride and identity as hosts.”
She was inspired by her six-year stint at Michelberger. “I joined at the front office and then in the end, I was in charge of the property, especially when the owners were away. They have this flat hierarchy, there’s no concept of position or anything, I liked the flow and flexibility of it.”
From real estate roots to hospitality vision
In 2015, she got the call to return to the family business. Lee’s father had built one of Korea’s most established construction and real estate firms and that year, acquired one of the country’s oldest construction and real estate companies. “I came back with the hope of managing one of the assets but in the end, he sold it. He kind of tricked me,” she laughed.
She quickly realized that pure development often ended with a sale, leaving little space for vision.
Instead, she began to add value to her father’s real estate play by bringing in concept, brand, and soul, and operations. Her first property was The Week& Resort in Incheon. She had bought it in an auction under her own company, Trinity D&C. “When I saw its location, I couldn’t understand why it had gone bankrupt.”
She applied her “be water” mantra to the property. “I wanted to set the philosophy of the brand first and make sure that we have the five elements of life in place – water, air, earth and fire – and the fifth element, our soul or spirit.”
After that, she identified her target market – the millennials. “Basically, I use me as the type of clients we want – people just starting to have their own families and they still want to be close to their parents as well. So, they want to travel as family somewhere and feel comfortable and welcomed.”
The success of Week& gave her the confidence to start her second hotel in Seoul, The Connoisseur Residence, where she developed the design philosophy, operated the property, and proved that a real estate asset could yield stronger long-term value with thoughtful hospitality layered on.
That project has since attracted globbal interest with a potential acquisition in the works.
A new form of luxury and hotels as “offline platforms”
She believes travellers like herself are redefining the word “luxury”. “I don’t associate with luxury in the traditional way, I associate with a new form of luxury which is about creativity, contemporary lifestyle, and feeling genuinely welcomed.
“Even when I stayed in expensive hotels with my kids, I often felt out of place. I wanted to create a place where everyone feels they belong,” she says.
Her next idea pushes the boundaries further. “The hospitality industry is a very closed world, so I want to mix it up,” she says.
She envisions hotel rooms as “offline platforms” where brands – from beauty to lifestyle to even K-pop – can take over a room for a period of time. “Usually, hotels have brand exhibitions but they are over in a few days, so why not have brands take over rooms for longer periods – up to a year.”
Imagine sleeping in an Aesop-designed suite or a room curated by IKEA, or a BTS-themed room. “Why not let hotels become living showcases for brands, while giving guests fresh experiences every visit?” she asks.
Her plan is to use The Week& Resort as a testbed.
Meet Leah, the YouTuber
And as though she’s not busy enough, running her father’s business which is expanding to markets such as Vietnam, and managing her own, Leah has also started her own YouTube channel to share stories of her life as a hotelier.
“In Korea, most hoteliers are old men. I want to give people a feeling of what it’s like to be a hotelier, to take them behind the scenes so they get an understanding for the business, make us more human and approachable,” she says.
She also does reviews of the hotels she visits, but from a hotelier’s perspective. “I talk about my trips, the food I eat, how to eat soup properly. We have more Koreans travelling and it is important we project the right image abroad.”
Currently, she only does Korean content. “I am just starting out. I have about 1,200 subscribers but some of my videos are getting 20,000, 50,000 views so that’s quite encouraging.”
Carrying the legacy forward
Lee acknowledges her privilege in inheriting a family business, but she also feels the weight of responsibility. Korea’s construction market is tough, she admits, but she sees her role as adding resilience and vision. “Real estate can be commoditized,” she says, “but only I can bring soul to a building. That’s how I add value to what my father built.”
For Leah Lee, being water is not just a mantra, but a way of leadership – fluid, adaptive, and quietly transformative. And as she carries her father’s legacy into the next generation, she’s showing how hospitality can flow beyond bricks and mortar into something that feels alive.
by Yeoh Siew Hoon
