I guess it depends on the hotel. If the hotel is just 5 tents or bungalows set atop some mountains and has a restaurant/ bar facility which is only used at certain times of the day, then fine. Large city hotels which try to do away with the lobby just look and are being cheap, in my opinion. Just as nobody asked to take away the desk or the closet from modern rooms, nobody is asking for hotels to take away lobbies - they're just trying to squeeze in more rooms.