The Standard hotel NYC created a virtual lobby so you can meet fellow guests IRL
The Standard is here to play. Sort of. As the hotel industry figures out how to navigate hospitality in the age of Airbnb, the boutique hotel chain is focusing on its strengths. "It's forced us to do better what we're really good at, and what we're really good at is bringing people together," says Standard International CEO Amar Lalvani. "That's something [Airbnb] can never do."
That's where the hotel lobby-and The Standard's new Lobby app-comes into play. The idea behind the app is simple: Hotel lobbies used to be a place for spontaneous conversations, to meet and mingle with people from around the world. "I think of it kind of like the movie Lost in Translation, the beautiful, spontaneous, unexpected things that can happen in a hotel," says Lalvani. "Now what happens in a hotel lobby is everyone is looking at their phone."
