Our take: Today, technology and hospitality go hand-in-hand. VR, AR, and AI have enhanced hyper-personalized trip planning, hotel stays, and even design charettes. Meanwhile, with its recently launched Experiences program, Airbnb has asserted itself as a hospitality company, tech firm, and an online travel agency. With the rise of similar businesses—including Europe’s Sweet Inn, with City Lobbies that welcome travelers to one of the company’s 500 apartments—and full-service apps, notably GenFriends, a social networking platform to connect guests staying at Generator hotels, it’s easier than ever to find good hospitality from the palm of your hand.

Spacious, New York: A recent Gallup survey revealed 36 percent of Americans—or 57 million people—make up the gig economy of independent workers. With this in mind, tech startup Spacious has taken the coworking concept and turned it on its head. Launched in 2016, the company serves freelance urbanites while making use of underutilized spaces. Members can reserve spots to work at sought-after restaurants around New York, including Leuca and Hearth, that are normally closed during lunch hour. (The company recently debuted in San Francisco and will soon set up shop in Boston.) Spacious provides a host, coffee and water, wifi, and power strips, while the restaurant benefits from profit sharing and potential happy hour customers. CEO and cofounder Preston Pesek equates the business more to a coffee shop than a traditional coworking space. “We recognize that how people are using the city is not necessarily how the city is designed. Spacious allows people to do what they’re doing anyway,” he says. Part of Pesek’s longterm plan includes rehabilitating vacant stores and restaurants into dedicated Spacious locations, including the recent opening of its fourth outpost in a former TGI Friday’s in New York’s Union Square. “We don’t want to become a cookie-cutter business; we want to stay true to the neighborhood and our neighbors,” he says. “We’re the anti-franchise franchise.”