Hotel Lobby AI Trend
Two people. One orange booth. Bars.
Key Metrics & Impact
COLORS original: 135,070,669 YouTube views
Quavo's 'The Original' X post: 9.35M impressions, 129.5K likes
Complex: 'hundreds of thousands' of versions circulating (unsourced estimate)
Hotel Lobby peaked at No. 78 on the Hot 100; certified platinum Nov 30, 2022
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What does "Hotel Lobby AI Trend" mean?
The Hotel Lobby AI trend uses AI to replace Quavo and the late Takeoff in their 2022 A COLORS SHOW performance of "Hotel Lobby (Unc & Phew)", the one in a bright orange booth, with two other faces: friends, celebrities, characters or animals. It took off on TikTok in early September 2026 after a version with two cats went viral, and by September 27 Complex counted hundreds of thousands of Hotel Lobby AI versions. Quavo reposted the original on September 23, while some fans criticized the trend because Takeoff was killed in 2022.
Evolution Timeline
Quavo & Takeoff (Unc & Phew) release 'Hotel Lobby'.
COLORS uploads the A COLORS SHOW performance of 'Hotel Lobby' (10:00 PT).
Takeoff is shot and killed in Houston.
@glorify_studio posts a Suits (Harvey & Mike) AI version at 18:37 PT (Sep 16 UTC) — KYM's earliest known AI version.
@glorify_studio follows with a Breaking Bad version, naming its own platform Glorify.dev.
X user @ogfeitoza posts a two-cats version (09:52 PT) — earliest cat version found.
@cuba4si posts Napoleon & Mbappé version on X (00:33 PT).
@itsREDIC posts a Spider-Man version on X.
Quavo reposts the untouched COLORS clip on X as 'The Original #HotelLobby' (09:33 PT); on Facebook he wrote that he and Take were viral again.
Complex explainer: tools Starrd, Summrs, CapCut; criticism over using Takeoff's likeness.
Know Your Meme adds an entry for the trend.
Notable Iterations & Variations
Hotel Lobby | A COLORS SHOW
YouTubeCreator: COLORS · 2022-06-17
Suits Harvey & Mike
TikTokCreator: @glorify_studio · 2026-09-15
Breaking Bad
TikTokCreator: @glorify_studio · 2026-09-16
Two cats
XCreator: @ogfeitoza · 2026-09-18
Napoleon & Mbappé
XCreator: @cuba4si · 2026-09-19
Spider-Man
XCreator: @itsREDIC · 2026-09-22
Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce
TikTokCreator: @afaraj23 · 2026-09-25
One Piece
TikTokCreator: @pokito.ai · 2026-09-27
The Original #HotelLobby
XCreator: Quavo (@QuavoStuntin) · 2026-09-23
Origin & Key Figures
Fact-Check & Disclosures
Investigative Findings
Q: Exact date of the original COLORS episode (sources say 2022 and Black Music Month, so likely June, but no exact date was fetched)
June 17, 2022 (YouTube upload, 10:00 PT).
Q: Takeoff's exact date of death (only '2022' and 'not long after the release' confirmed in fetched sources)
November 1, 2022, shot in Houston.
Q: Complex article itself could not be fetched; the 'hundreds of thousands' count, the early-September TikTok cat video and the September 23 repost come from our input file
Complex article (Mark Elibert, Sep 27, 2026) now fetched: it does say 'hundreds of thousands of versions', says cat videos drove early-September traction (no link given), and Quavo reposted on Sep 23 — the X repost is confirmed directly.
Q: Who made the first cat version and whether @glorify_studio is its author
Earliest cat version located: X @ogfeitoza, Sep 18, 2026. @glorify_studio's first entries are humans (Suits Sep 15 PT, Breaking Bad Sep 16), so it is not the cat author. Complex's 'early September' cat videos could not be located.
Q: Quavo's reported Facebook post saying they were 'viral again'
Complex quotes the Facebook caption as 'Aye Take we viral again The original!!! #HOTELLOBBY' (Sep 23). The Facebook post itself was not opened; his X post the same day reads 'The Original #HotelLobby'.
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