Short answer: no single app owns the hotel lobby AI trend. The tools with a ready-made template are trend sites: Starrd, Kavel, TrendAI, Media.io, Renoise, our sister site myrapduo.com and Raindance AI (us). They differ most on sound (the original song, a new verse with your names, or a silent clip), length (4 to 30 seconds), whether you get a free try, and how the clip is made (your faces swapped into the original performance, or a new performance generated from your photos). Where a dollar price per video can be worked out, one clip costs about $5 to $11. General video apps such as Kling, PixVerse, Hailuo or Higgsfield have no hotel lobby template: you'd write the prompt or supply the source clip yourself.
What should a hotel lobby app do?
The trend recreates Quavo and Takeoff's "Hotel Lobby" performance from A COLORS SHOW: two people, two vintage microphones on stands, a bright solid-orange backdrop, a verse traded back and forth. So the tests are:
- Two people, each at their own mic. One raps, the other answers and reacts. A one-person clip is a different trend.
- The look. The orange backdrop is the version people recognise; some apps add other stages.
- The sound. Either the original song underneath, or a new verse rapped in your voices. A silent clip leaves the audio to you.
- Faces that stay the same for the whole clip, which is hardest when two people are moving and talking.
How to do the hotel lobby AI trend, step by step covers the photos and the lyrics.
Comparison table
Everything below is what each tool's own pages said on 8 October 2026. Prices and limits change often, so treat it as a snapshot and check the tool's current pricing before you pay. "Not stated" means the page didn't say.
| Tool | Photos | Length / format | Sound | Free try | One video (USD) | Watermark | How it's made |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starrd | 2 (pets work) | 15 s, 9:16 | The original "Hotel Lobby" track (per its own how-to article) | 20 credits at sign-up, which its article says is not enough for a video | About $5: the smallest pack is 100 credits for $4.99, and a video starts at 100 credits | Not stated | Generates a new scene; no custom lyrics |
| Kavel | 2, left and right (pets work) | Up to 30 s (priced at 12 s); 480p or 720p | Generated with the clip, not the original track | Yes: sign-up and weekly check-in credits, up to 2 videos | No per-video dollar price; plans from $8.30/month billed yearly | Free videos carry a small corner mark; paid are clean | Generates a new scene; no frame of the original is used |
| TrendAI | 2, each as a set of portrait and full-body shots | 15 or 30 s, 16:9 landscape, 480p or 720p | Keeps the original song and audio | Not stated | 4,063 credits for 15 s at 480p; the one-time 5,000-credit pack is $39.99 | Not stated | Motion transfer: your people perform the original moves |
| Media.io | 2 (also pets or babies) | Not stated | Not stated | Free credits at sign-up | Not stated | Its pages disagree | Faces swapped into the original scene |
| Renoise | 1 or 2 (pets, one photo each) | 4 s default, up to 15 s; 9:16; 480p, up to 1080p | Silent: add the sound in TikTok or Instagram | First video free after following its social accounts | No per-video dollar price; plans from $20/month | Free videos watermarked; paid are clean | Generates a new scene |
| myrapduo.com (our sister site) | 1 or 2 (pets, one photo each) | 12 s default (5 to 15 s); 9:16, 16:9 or 1:1; 720p, 1080p on higher tiers | A new song: lyrics written around your topic, two AI voices, a new beat | No | $10.99, or $5.49 as a first order | No watermark | Generates a new performance |
| Raindance AI (us) | 2, or 1 photo of both (pets work) | 12 s default (5 to 15 s); 9:16, 16:9 or 1:1; 720p, up to 1080p | A new verse with your names in it, in two voices, on an original trap beat | No: new accounts start with 0 credits | $9.99, or $6.99 as a first order (30% off the first credit pack) | No watermark | Generates a new performance on four stages: orange backdrop, chandelier lobby, neon studio, graffiti street |
Two notes on the table. A tool that keeps the original performance or song (TrendAI, Media.io) gives you the exact clip people recognise, with your faces or bodies in it. A tool that generates a new performance (Kavel, Starrd, Renoise, myrapduo.com, us) gives you your own version: a different verse, a different stage or both. Neither is better; they're different products.
What about CapCut, Kling, PixVerse or Higgsfield?
We found no one-click hotel lobby template on CapCut's or Dreamina's own pages; Dreamina publishes a guide with a prompt to paste into its video model, with two photos and a 15-second, 9:16 setting. Higgsfield has no hotel lobby preset either, but its Motion Transfer can copy the moves from a 4 to 30-second clip you supply. Kling, PixVerse and Hailuo are general image-to-video tools: they can make a two-person rap clip if you write the whole prompt and accept a few failed tries. If you already pay for one of them, that's the cheapest route.
How do you choose?
Stop at the first yes.
- Do you want the original song in the clip? Starrd and TrendAI keep it. Keep in mind that a file carrying a commercial recording can be matched when you upload it; adding the sound from TikTok's own library avoids that.
- Do you want your names in the lyrics? Pick a tool that writes a new verse: myrapduo.com or Raindance AI. Type both first names and the occasion.
- Do you want to try it for free first? Kavel (up to two watermarked videos) and Renoise (one free video after following it) are the clearest free tries.
- Do you want a longer clip? Kavel and TrendAI go up to 30 seconds.
- Do you only have one photo of the two of you? Raindance AI, myrapduo.com and Renoise accept one photo with both people in it.
- Is it for your pets? Starrd, Kavel, Renoise, myrapduo.com and Raindance AI all take pet photos; ours keep the animals as animals, trading bars about treats and naps.
What to check before paying anywhere
- Is it the duo or just a filter? Look for two photo slots and examples with two people at two mics.
- Sound. A silent clip is fine if you'll add the sound in TikTok. A clip with new lyrics in your voices is the version people can't make anywhere else.
- Landscape or vertical. TikTok and Reels want 9:16; a 16:9 clip gets bars or a crop.
- Watermark on the paid tier. Free tries are usually marked. Check that the paid one isn't.
- Whose photos they are. Only upload photos of people who agreed to it. Raindance AI is for adults only, and uses your photos only to make the video.