Every major hotel group has one, and most have several: the "lifestyle" brand. Hilton has Canopy and Curio, Hyatt has Andaz and Thompson, IHG has Kimpton and voco, Marriott has W, Autograph Collection, and a whole shelf of others. But ask what the term actually means and you'll get shrugs — which is exactly the problem, according to a recent piece from One Mile at a Time.
In theory, the definition is sensible enough. A lifestyle hotel is meant to blend the character, design flair and personal feel of an independent boutique property with the practical perks of a big chain: loyalty points, reliable distribution, consistent service. The best of them are built around a strong food-and-drink or social concept that turns the hotel into a hangout — not just for guests, but for locals too. Think of the lobby-bar scene at a W or the busy restaurant at a Kimpton.
The trouble is that hotel groups have stretched the label to cover almost anything. Marriott officially files AC Hotels, Aloft, Moxy, Element and Tribute Portfolio under the same lifestyle umbrella as W and Autograph Collection. The author's argument is blunt: AC, Aloft and Moxy are fine, even good, hotels — but their whole appeal is being identical everywhere, which is the opposite of what lifestyle should mean. Nobody plans a dinner out at their local Moxy.
It's part of a broader pattern in travel marketing, where buzzwords do the heavy lifting: "farm-to-table" menus at airport hotels, "seasonal" fruit plates in January, "private" chefs serving 48 business class passengers at once, "Michelin dining" cooked in a catering facility. Travellers have become so desensitised to inflated descriptions that a label like lifestyle barely registers any more.
The useful takeaway is a simple two-part test the next time a booking page slaps "lifestyle" on a property. First, does the hotel have real design character — or is it the same look you saw in the last city? Second, are its bars and restaurants genuinely buzzing with a mix of locals and guests, making the place a small destination in its own right? If both answers are yes, the label is probably earned. Size doesn't matter; how alive the place is relative to its scale does.
Why should a traveller care? Because marketing categories often say more about what hotel companies want to sell investors than what you'll actually experience. If you're booking points with a chain and want something with personality, it's worth checking recent guest photos, the hotel's food outlets and its neighbourhood presence rather than trusting a brand's self-declared vibe. Some of the so-called lifestyle brands genuinely deliver; others are a slightly moodier version of the standard playbook. Two minutes of digging will tell you which one you're getting.
One Mile at a Time
