Life House Launches First Hotels in Miami, Next Up Denver, Brooklyn
The Silicon Valley-backed company, founded by Rami Zeidan, a hotel and real estate executive and Yury Yakubchyk, a software entrepreneur, has raised $70 million in funding to date between venture and real estate capital.
NEW YORK CITY—Fledgling lifestyle hotel chain Life House reports it has launched its first properties in Miami’s Little Havana and South Beach neighborhoods.
The Silicon Valley-backed company, founded by Rami Zeidan, a hotel and real estate executive and Yury Yakubchyk, a software entrepreneur, has raised $70 million in funding to date between venture and real estate capital. Among the firms that have invested in the hotel venture include Global Founders Capital, Comcast Ventures, Trinity Ventures, Henley Investments, among others.
Life House begins taking reservations today with its doors opening shortly thereafter in the heart of Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood, quickly followed by a second location in South Beach. The hotels offer a mix of room types catering to all travelers who appreciate an experience at a conscious price point. The brand will always offer a room category that is less than $149 per night, and for a limited time, rooms will open at $109, the company reports.
Life House is expecting to have more than 20 hotels under development in the US by the end of 2019. After Miami, the team will open new hotels in Denver and Brooklyn.
“The problems in the hotel industry are multi-faceted and stem from technology and real estate—not solely price, or solely experience,” says Zeidan. “The ability to bring prices down and improve the guest experience requires a holistic solution to the technology, real estate, operations and branding. Life House is focused on all of these components, and our capital and expertise provides us the opportunity to make it happen.”
Life House signs long term management agreements instead of leases, a rarity in Silicon Valley. Despite the popularity of leases in the real estate tech space, the company is being cautious of signing leases with mismatched duration in a cyclical hotel market. This approach allows the company to scale its revenues without increasing its expenses.
Life House’s diverse expertise allows for vertical integration, from construction, design, technology, food and beverage, and operations. Through this model, Life House creates cohesive, expressive hotels, while drastically reducing the cost and time to develop and operate them. Those savings are passed on to investors who in turn pass them on to travelers, providing them a 4.5-star hotel experience at a fraction of the price, the company states.
In addition, to power the company’s digital marketing, pricing and distribution, finance and accounting, and on-property operations, Life House created its own technology platform, a single hub of data that can be used to target customers, and innovate as needed. The company also offers an intuitive and branded booking experience, akin to what modern consumers have become accustomed to from other direct to consumer brands.