Style meets technology in new Lark Hospitality JV

PORTSMOUTH, New Hampshire – Lifestyle brand and management company Lark Hotels has formed a joint venture with brand and operator Life House to create Lark Hospitality LLC, generating some property volume and tech expertise with an aim to become more appealing to developers and owners looking for alternative management.

The new entity will have nearly $1 billion in assets under management, and represent accommodations in 27 states and Mexico, more than 3,000 keys (97 properties), nearly 1,500 employees in peak season, and total annual revenue of more than $150 million under management. Lark will have controlling interest.

As part of the transaction, among the Life House stakeholders, both Inovia Capital and Thayer Investment Partners will continue to support this joint venture.

Combining their expertise to form Lark Hospitality, Rob Blood (founder, Lark Hotels), Peter Twachtman (CEO, Lark Hotels), and Marc Ghobriel (CEO, Life House) join forces with Blood as chairman, Twachtman as CEO, and Ghobriel leading the Life House transition team.

In addition to doubling Lark’s footprint, the combined entity grows the company’s centralized team by bringing key positions over from Life House, allowing for continued solutions for customized hotel management, day-to-day operations, hiring, technology, and marketing services.

The company said it plans to continue to leverage its robust loyalty program to deliver exceptional experiences for guests and valuable direct revenue for hotel owners. “Lark’s unique combination of best-in-class management, supported by a nimble tech stack and a choice of meaningful brands that deliver both the benefit of flexibility and the assurance of connection, gives real estate developers and hotel owners many paths to success with Lark,” a statement read.

“There is no company that has made everyone at Lark Hotels sharpen their pencils more than Life House,” Blood said. “Over the last five years, they have made us think deeply about who we are as a company, what our value proposition is for our stakeholders, and who we want to be going forward. As we come together, we look forward to incorporating the best practices of both of our companies to deliver exceptional experiences for our guests, investors, hotel owners and teams.”

“We’re eager to continue focusing on delivering a great experience, to guests at the properties we manage, as well as to their owners, and we plan on investing in building a strong portfolio of brands across North America,” Ghobriel said.

Lark will focus on further developing its individual brands (Lark Hotels, Bluebird by Lark, Blind Tiger, AWOL, and Lark Independent) as well as the Life House brand, by partnering with aspiring and existing hotel owners, family offices, private equity firms, and real estate developers.

The news comes after former Life House CEO and Founder Rami Zeidan resigned in March. His departure followed an article published by The Information in February that said a least a third of Life House’s 50 hotel customers had tried to terminate their contracts. The article cited current and former Life House employees, hotel owners and internal documents.

Founded in 2017, Life House has developed, designed and operated boutique hotels using what it describes as a proprietary suite of technology solutions for revenue management, marketing, financial management and property operations, with a focus on driving direct bookings and controlling costs.