Spend an afternoon at any given point in a Hoxton lobby and the picture looks a little different from the traditional hotel lobby. Laptops sit open next to coffee cups, meetings happen across low tables, locals catch up over cocktails and hotel guests move through it all. The lobby is no longer simply an arrival point, and increasingly, it is somewhere people choose to stay. It reflects a broader shift in how people use shared spaces. As working patterns have become more flexible and the lines between work and social life less rigid, there is a growing appetite for hospitality spaces that can accommodate both.

Image credit: The Hoxton London Southwark

For The Hoxton, that idea has been part of the brand from the beginning. Its lobbies are conceived as the neighborhood’s living room, open to the people who live and work nearby just as much as those staying on property. The design supports that feeling, with reception deliberately tucked away and the lobby taking focus on arrival. Mid-century-style furniture is typically custom made or sourced by the AIME Studios design team from flea markets and antique stores, then paired with carefully selected accessories, plants and soft, low-level lighting to create a warm, homey atmosphere. This approach is consistent across locations, while the palettes, patterns, architectural details and social atmosphere reflect each city.

Image credit: The Hoxton Williamsburg

At The Hoxton, Williamsburg, that can mean working or meeting over coffee during the day before the lobby shifts into a more social setting, with regular programming including live jazz and Hox Gallery events. Downtown LA offers its own version, with Moonlark’s Dinette opening directly onto the lobby and giving locals and guests a place to stop in for coffee and breakfast. In Shoreditch, the lobby recently became The Collectors Lounge as part of Travel Light, a collaboration with design studio Slancha during London Design Festival, filling the space with collectible furniture and lighting from Slancha’s creative community. The brand maintains a consistent open-house mentality across its properties, giving locals the freedom to use the spaces as their own, while creating more ways to engage with the hotel through cultural programming and community initiatives.

Image credit: the Hoxton Chicago

The success of that model also led naturally to Working From_, The Hoxton’s coworking concept. Before its launch, the brand had already watched entrepreneurs, freelancers and local makers turn its lobbies into unofficial workplaces. Those habits, along with feedback from regular lobby workers, helped inform Working From_, which debuted at The Hoxton, Chicago in 2019 and today has locations in Southwark, Chicago’s Fulton Market and Brussels. The offering takes the social ease of the lobby and applies it to a more dedicated work environment. A mix of dedicated work and communal spaces gives members the flexibility to work in different ways, while retaining the sense of community that first drew people to work from Hoxton lobbies. And that community extends beyond the workday, with programming that brings members together for everything from speaker events and career coaching to comedy nights and wine tastings.

What is emerging is a more fluid idea of what a hotel’s public spaces can be. The most successful lobbies are no longer defined solely by the people staying in the building, but by the life happening around them. For The Hoxton, that means creating a place where checking is only one of many reasons to walk through the door.

Main image credit: The Hoxton Shoreditch