Can cool and focus coexist—let alone thrive—when it comes to trendy lifestyle brands and billion-dollar hotel holding companies?
Hyatt and Standard International will be the latest test of whether lifestyle hotels can thrive after an acquisition, following Hyatt’s previous takeover Dream Hotel Group and Two Roads Hospitality (which offers the company’s brands such as Thompson Hotels and Alila).
Competitors like Hilton have acquired lifestyle hotel brands. Graduate And NoMad Last year, Accor took a majority stake in lifestyle hotel group Ennismore (owner of The Hoxton) in 2021, while IHG Hotels & Resorts made a splash in 2015 when it acquired Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants — widely considered the originator of the lifestyle hotel-turned-boutique concept.
Lifestyle brands are a lot like celebrities: Their star power can grow stronger just as quickly as it fades. But while brands like W and Kimpton may have encountered a few stumbles here and there about maintaining their star power, The standard continues to be high. and made headlines 25 years after its West Hollywood debut.
Hyatt’s upcoming acquisition of Standard includes The Standard, The StandardX, Bunkhouse Hotels, The Peri Hotel, and The Manner brands, which have a global presence (some brands have more presence than others). While you’ll have to wait a bit for these brands to be integrated into World of Hyatt network, here’s what you need to know about each brand coming to the Hyatt ecosystem.
Standard
It’s perhaps an insult to consider Standard International’s more-than-cool eponymous brand the “queen” of the entire business. Everyone from Madonna to Billie Eilish continues to show up to perform or just hang out at the brand. Standard, HighwayThe Standard is the pinnacle of the lifestyle hotel orbit, with bars like Le Bain and restaurants like The Standard Grill getting just as much, if not more, buzz as the rooms upstairs.
But it’s a lifestyle hotel concept that’s expanding beyond its High Line and East Village locations in New York City. While the original West Hollywood location is no longer around, there are now eight Standard check-in options around the world. The brand’s colorful aesthetic has captured the hearts of discerning travelers across the globe, from London and Miami to BangkokAdditional standard hotels are being built in cities such as Singapore, Lisbon and Dublin.
Each Standard property has a massive array of bars and restaurants, each of which seems to have a simple mission: To be the hottest ticket in town. The rooms and suites are unpretentious, albeit on the more luxurious end of the lifestyle hotel spectrum. The Standard staff is also part of the appeal—acting like your new best friend in an exotic location. If you ask me, Hyatt has finally hit its mark in the lifestyle hotel acquisition wave with the Standard brand alone, as these properties are significantly better maintained than some of the older Dream Hotels I frequented.
StandardX
One of Standard’s newest services is StandardXa “rebellious younger brother” acting according to The Standard Tommie is Thompson Hotels. This more affordable brand launched in Melbourne, Australia, this year and has global ambitions for distinctive cultural neighbourhoods around the world.
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“[The StandardX hotels] “We’re going to be in neighborhoods that we think are right for this new brand,” Amber Asher, CEO of Standard International, said in an interview with TPG earlier this year. “We didn’t create the brand just to grow it. We created the brand to have the opportunity to be in a neighborhood and explore things in a different way.”
While the StandardX has a similar vibe to its older sibling, guests should expect a more streamlined experience at a more affordable nightly rate. So expect cozier rooms—though more spacious than what you’ll find at competitors like Marriott’s Moxy or Ennismore’s The Hoxton—and bars and restaurants that blend in with the surrounding neighborhood. Introductory rates at The StandardX in Melbourne start at $168 a night.
Before launching the StandardX brand, Asher specifically singled out areas like Brooklyn, East Austin in Texas, and Shoreditch in London as places that would be a good fit for StandardX. The next official property — The StandardX, Bangkok Phra Arthit — planned for Bangkok’s old town. Cities that might not be able to afford The Standard’s nightly rates could also be good candidates for The StandardX.
Peri Hotel
Standard International fans in Asia have their own brand of “family-friendly, approachable style” with Peri HotelPeri currently operates two locations in Thailand. The brand is currently geared toward entertainment with locations in the beach destination of Hua Hin and near Khao Yai National Park. But the first urban Peri is expected to open soon in Bangkok, according to the Standard International website.
Guests can expect simple, clean, colorful designs in the rooms. Amenities include bars and specialty restaurants that reflect the local surroundings (Hua Hin’s surf lodge feel versus Khao Yai’s mountain lodge aesthetic).
To compare prices: Budget overnight rates at Peri Hotel in Hua Hin average around $64 next month, while rates at the Standard, Hua Hin (one of the most affordable hotels in the Standard network) start at $94.
Bunkhouse Hotel
One of the most surprising growth drivers at Standard International comes from a brand you may not know about. Bunkhouse Hotel is the company’s platform of smaller hotels in states like Texas, California, and Kentucky, as well as Mexico. These smaller lifestyle hotels range from renovated motels to trendy boutique hotels in markets that might not be able to afford a full-scale Standard — but still like to party.
“There are great cultural elements in many small cities that might not be gateway markets,” Asher told me in an interview last summer“A lot of the creative class is moving to cities where life is less stressful, so this is a huge opportunity.”
The typical Bunkhouse hotel has between 14 and 120 rooms and maintains a distinct, unique brand identity. There are five Bunkhouse hotels in Austin alone: Austin Motel, Carpenter Hotel, Magdalena Hotel, Saint Cecilia Hotel And San Jose Hotel.
“I think one of the biggest gaps is and continues to be in operating smaller hotels because there are so many privately owned hotels, whether they are family owned in Asia or anywhere in the United States,” said Asher.
How to
Not opened yet but still creating a lot of buzz How toAn upcoming luxury concept called Standard is opening in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood. Details are scarce at this time, but the company’s development website notes that the brand’s spirit “embodies the generosity, privacy, and ease of being with friends in New York’s most fashionable neighborhood”—that is, being with friends who have a flair for luxury design.
ONE Daily Features of Women’s Clothing As for the upcoming hotel, The Manner is said to be the grown-up sibling of The Standard, so expect a more refined atmosphere with greater attention to detail and service. The hotel will have dedicated spaces for guests to enjoy cocktails and coffee on the rooftop terrace, but there will also be restaurants open to the public.
How All This Affects Hyatt and Beyond
There is a perception in the industry today that smaller, high-profile hotel brands like Standard International feel they are inevitably being swallowed up by larger conglomerates like Hyatt, Hilton and Marriott. But what happens after the dust settles is a bit unclear.
Industry cynics would say these big conglomerates are where the fun goes to die. But newly acquired lifestyle brands are increasingly being given autonomy, as some of these hotel parent companies seem to realise they need a different creative approach to keep their brands relevant.
Standard has more brands to absorb than some of the other lifestyle brands, so it will be interesting to see if Hyatt keeps all of these or if some will be swallowed up by soft brands like JdV by Hyatt and Unbound Collection.
Meanwhile, we’ll be curious to see what happens in the next few years outside the realm of the big hotel groups.
Are people just waiting to be swallowed up and tapped into large loyalty networks? Or maybe a next generation Ian Schrager and Bill Kimpton-style hoteliers emerged to seize the opportunity to fill the void.
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