Over the past few years, the travel and hospitality industries have experienced significant disruption. A new generation of thriving travel companies is catering to consumer demands for customized and intimate experiences. Companies like Sonder, redefining how travel experiences are delivered, and SnapCommerce and Hopper, reimagining how travel-related businesses acquire new customers, are hitting their stride.*
One part of the industry that we believe is ripe for change is independent hotel management. Like many SMBs, independent hotels represent an underserved market that’s been slow to adapt to advancing technology. These hotels are attractive destinations for customers as they offer a more intimate experience, which guests appreciate versus larger, traditionally branded establishments.
Unfortunately, independent hoteliers often spend their resources on low leverage front- and back-office administrative activities at the expense of their bottom line and a reliable guest experience. Additionally, most of their bookings typically originate from online travel agents (OTAs), further eroding profit margins.
Finding ways to become more operationally efficient will be critical to ensuring their long-term survival.
The Shopify for Independent Hotels
Inovia growth team’s newest investment, Life House, perfectly addresses independent hoteliers’ needs and pain points. The tech-enabled hotel management platform seeks to make hotels operationally autonomous, and today offers a suite of solutions to automate tasks ranging from check-in and guest management to scheduling staff, HR, and marketing. Owners and operators can trust that their financial performance is optimized with ease and focus on providing superior guest experiences. In many ways, a Shopify for hotel owners, Life House gives independent hotels the same operational efficiencies that their larger competitors enjoy for a fraction of the cost.
A More Efficient Path to a Road Less Traveled
We believe Life House will scale well among its fragmented customer base of independent hotels, many of whom do not have the in-house expertise to manage their operations efficiently or to price and generate enough leads.
We are impressed by their experienced management team, led by Rami Zeidan, who has a genuine understanding of what it means to elevate the operations of independent hotels.
Life House recently generated a lot of excitement when it signed an exclusive agreement with Kayak to manage its newly launched group of Kayak branded hotels, the first of which was launched in Miami (March 2021) with two additional properties recently opened in Mexico.
With all these exciting projects in the pipeline, we see a bright future ahead for Life House and look forward to partnering with them to help build a best-in-class product team in Montreal.
Want to learn more about our thoughts on the tech travel space? Get in touch.