Amar Lalvani, president and creative director of Hyatt's Lifestyle Group, is focused on combating a pervasive issue in the hotel industry: sameness. His group oversees brands including Thompson, Andaz, The Standard, and Dream.
Lalvani defines a "lifestyle hotel" not by superficial design choices, but by its ability to resonate with a specific guest and foster a desire for people to be there, even if they aren't staying overnight. "The simplest test is whether people who aren’t staying at the hotel still want to be there," he said. "Do they want to eat there? Meet someone at the bar? You can’t manufacture that by painting the walls purple, serving craft beer and calling it lifestyle."
He identified The Beekman, a Thompson hotel, as a personal favorite. "It is also one of the most beautiful buildings ever made into a hotel," Lalvani noted. He recalled a past regret of not acquiring the property earlier in his career, only for it to eventually become part of his portfolio at Hyatt.
Reflecting on the acquisition of The Standard brand from André Balazs in 2013, Lalvani described it as a brand with "incredible soul." He characterized The Standard as "bold, irreverent, culturally plugged in and occasionally inappropriate, in the best possible way," emphasizing that the hotels were destinations in themselves, not just places to sleep.
Lalvani sees "sameness" as hospitality's biggest challenge today, attributing it to industry-wide trends. "Everybody uses the same words, hires the same agencies, follows the same trends and then wonders why the guest chooses on price," he stated.
He also highlighted the dichotomy of ideal and poor hotel guest experiences. The best hotel gesture, in his view, is anticipating a guest's needs, citing an instance where a hotel delivered a dry martini to his room without him ordering it, noting, "The spirit of that is amazing because it’s very hospitable and it puts you in a certain mood."
Conversely, Lalvani finds long lines at check-in to be one of the worst hotel experiences. "You just spent eight hours getting somewhere, and the hotel’s first act of hospitality is asking you to stand behind six other people while somebody types into a computer," he said. He also views unnecessary, elaborate check-in rituals as almost as bad. Lalvani advocates for intuitive service, where staff recognize and act on a guest's immediate needs, whether through conversation, a thoughtful gesture, or simply providing a room key efficiently.