Life House Raises $40M to Launch Its Technology-Driven Hotel Brand
Life House, a Silicon Valley-backed lifestyle hotel company has secured $40 million in funding to accelerate the development of its lifestyle boutique hotel product and proprietary technology platform.
The company will use this technology to drive direct bookings, optimize operations and foster a social community for travelers much like today’s modern direct-to-consumer brands.
Life House was co-founded in 2017 by Rami Zeidan, a seasoned hotel and real estate executive and Yury Yakubchyk, a technology expert and serial entrepreneur.
Life House will launch its first two hotels in Miami this fall, followed by a property in Brooklyn, N.Y., in early 2019.
“Just like today’s direct-to-consumer lifestyle brands, nearly all hotel revenue is generated through online channels, but traditional hotels still structure and operate themselves like brick-and-mortar management businesses,” said Zeidan, Life House’s co-founder & CEO. “We are applying the best practices from the ecommerce space to lifestyle branded hotels and are thrilled to have investors who believe in our technology and growth strategy.”
Life House is a vertically integrated platform. The company not only operates hotels, it develops and designs them for real estate owners who want to own high yielding lifestyle hotels but are underserved by institutional developers and operators. The Life House technology platform will also feature a social network for travelers to meet other guests prior to their arrival, powered by a best-in-class proprietary booking experience that makes traveling alone or in a group much more seamless.
Investors include Comcast Ventures, Trinity Ventures and Henley Investments.
Life House properties will be locally rooted destinations for travelers and locals with rich social culture and community flavor. It will provide the benefits of an affordable boutique hotel to its guests and the benefits of an institutional operator to its real estate investors. All properties will offer a selection of private and bunk-bed rooms and communal spaces through local food and beverage partners, developed and designed to fit the characteristics and charm of these neighborhoods.