Switchbot sells Ble device as standalone, and Hub targeted devices (which obviously rely on a Switchbot Hub (& possibly cloud dependent);
You can consider using a cheap ESP32 board instead of using Homey Ble, and tuck it somewhere upstairs
Connecting to SwitchBot devices via BLE is generally much more efficient than with the their hub and is my preferred method. However, Homey also has the same range limitations as the hub and you might not be able to position Homey as optimally as the hub.
If you are a bit technical:
I also provide code for a cheap ESP32 module (can be purchased from Amazon for around 10 GBP). You use the Arduino IDE to program my code into the ESP32. Once setup you can place one or more of these around the hou…
