How to Do the Hotel Lobby Trend: Free, Step by Step (2026)

The Hotel Lobby trend puts two people into Quavo and Takeoff's famous orange-booth performance of "Hotel Lobby" from A COLORS SHOW. Since early September 2026 it has been everywhere on TikTok, Reels and Shorts: best friends, couples, cats, presidents and TV characters trading verses in that orange room.

Here's how to do the Hotel Lobby trend yourself, the free options, and what each method actually gives you.

Three ways to do the Hotel Lobby trend

1. An AI video generator (both faces, a new performance). You upload one photo of each person and the AI renders a brand-new video of the two of you rapping together on an orange Hotel Lobby stage, lip-synced to an AI-generated rap and beat. This is what AI Rap Video does. You get two real faces performing together without filming anything. (Using Higgsfield instead? Here's how the Higgsfield Hotel Lobby method works.)

2. A CapCut template (face swap on the original clip). Templates take the original performance and swap a face onto it, keeping the real song. They're free, but you are limited to what the template supports, templates come and go, and the result is a face pasted onto someone else's body rather than a performance of your own. (Here's how to find and use the Hotel Lobby CapCut template.)

3. Filming it yourself. Two people, an orange backdrop, two mics and a lot of rehearsal. The most authentic version, and the hardest.

How to do the Hotel Lobby trend with AI, step by step

1. Pick your duo. You and a friend, you and your partner, two friends who live in different cities: the photos do not need to be taken together.
2. Take one clear photo of each person. Front-facing, well lit, no sunglasses or masks. A normal selfie works best.
3. Open the Hotel Lobby AI video generator on your phone or computer, upload your vocals and a face photo.
4. Keep the orange Hotel Lobby stage (it is selected by default) or pick another stage.
5. Optional: tell it what to rap about. "Sam's 30th birthday", "best friends since kindergarten", an inside joke. Leave it blank and the two of you rap about being the greatest duo in the game.
6. Tap "Make our rap video" and wait about a few minutes. You get a vertical, roughly 12-second video sized for TikTok, Reels and Shorts.

Hotel Lobby trend variations: one photo, pets, and what came next

• One photo of both of you. Already have a picture of the two of you together? In the generator, switch to One photo of both and add just that one; both faces come from it.
• With your dog or cat. The same orange-stage rap works with two pets, or your pet and you: see the pet rap video maker.
• Newer trends, same way. If your feed has moved on, the Raindance AI trend, the Gas Station AI trend and the AI zombie trend are made the same way: your photos, one tap, a short video in a few minutes.

How to do the Hotel Lobby trend for free

• AI Rap Video: full videos are paid, because rendering AI video costs real money. Pricing is pay-per-video: one 720p video is $8.88, three are $16.99 and ten are $29.90, with no subscription. A render that fails is refunded.
• CapCut: search the template library for "Hotel Lobby". Free, with the limits above.

Be careful with sites that promise "unlimited free" Hotel Lobby videos: rendering AI video costs real money, so free usually means a watermark, a queue or your photos used for something else. Read what happens to your photos before you upload them.

Tips for a better Hotel Lobby video

• Use photos with similar lighting and framing so the two of you look like you are in the same room.
• Give it a topic. A birthday, an anniversary or a running joke makes the lyrics personal, and personal videos get shared.
• Post it vertically, as is. The video is already 9:16. On TikTok, tag it #hotellobby or #hotellobbytrend so people searching the trend find it.

Original song or AI song?

Viral Hotel Lobby clips usually play the original track. An AI generator like AI Rap Video writes and performs an original rap instead, so the mouths match the words and there is no copyrighted song in the file. If you'd rather post with the original "Hotel Lobby" sound, you can pick it from TikTok's sound library when you post, but the lip-sync will not match the new audio.

Do it respectfully

Takeoff passed away in November 2022, a few months after the COLORS performance, and some fans have mixed feelings about seeing it turned into an AI gag. Put yourselves in the video rather than impersonating the original artists, only use photos of people who agreed to be in it, and if you are new to the song, watch the original and read its story.

Not sure who to do it with? Below are 12 Hotel Lobby duo ideas.

Ready? Make your Hotel Lobby AI video: Vocals + a photo, one tap, ready in a few minutes.