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independent hotels were being underserved . “ There are a lot of operators that operate branded hotels and try to manage them like independent hotels , but they ’ re completely different animals ,” he said , noting the rigidity that most branded hotels encounter due to certain requirements that often include having to use the brand ’ s proprietary systems . “ Independents are more of a blank slate and have flexibility .”
Life House is first and foremost focused on a hotel ’ s owner and providing them a turnkey tech product that enhances profitability . And it works with different types of properties : its Denver hotels was a ground-up development , while Palm Springs was a motel conversion . “ The whole idea here is that owners don ’ t know hotel operations and usually don ’ t know hotel branding and concept development ,” Zeidan
A suite at Life House , Palm Springs in California . The hotel is inspired by California conservationist Minerva Hamilton Hoyt .
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said . But Zeidan also calls technology “ a bottleneck to innovation ,” with hotel management companies often beholden to third-party software and frequently resistant to change , wanting to stick with a tech stack they are accustomed to , only , maybe , easier to use . “ When you think about innovation , it ’ s not do the same thing slightly easier ,” Zeidan said . “ It ’ s how do we rethink how we do all things altogether ?”
The idea , Zeidan said , behind Life House is to “ radically ” simplify the hotel tech stack . It looks at it through the lens of two basic modules : back office and front office . “ The challenge ,” Zeidan said , “ is to make money with software , you need scale . It ’ s expensive to sell to small hotels because of the little revenue . Everyone tries to go to the chains .” The problem
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arises , he said , when the larger chains agree to buy software , but only if it can be adapted to and enhance existing legacy features . “ There ’ s a concept in tech land called being either a product company or a feature company ,” Zeidan said . “ Product companies actually solve problems and feature companies don ’ t .” Zeidan rebukes SaaS companies , employing “ features ” as a pejorative to describe companies building what the customer is driving versus their own roadmap .
The smaller- and mediumsized hotels typically operate with smaller labor pools . The upshot to that is they are more focused on automating processes that help fill the gap and manpower . That is the sweet spot for companies like Life House and Kasa . “ Smaller hotels need to be more radical about costs , so the product
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roadmap is very different between them and larger chain hotels ,” Zeidan said . At some of its “ motel-like ” properties , guests won ’ t find a front desk , a move that Zeidan said , can drop $ 100,000 straight to the bottom line . “ That ’ s really impactful for a small hotel ,” he said .
Whether Kasa or Life House are tech companies or hotel companies is a bit like quibbling over semantics . Life House , for instance , builds software that , Zeidan said , didn ’ t yet exist in the marketplace and puts a focus on financial reporting , revenue management , performance marketing , metasearch , managing OTAs , HR processes and more . If you had to label them , they are tech-enabled managers “ to start with ,” Zeidan said , adding that Life House also will sell its tech stack directly to hotels without formally picking up management of it .
At one point , Life House partnered with metasearch engine Kayak to operate Kayakbranded hotels . The first was in Miami Beach , but , in 2023 , Kayak exited the hotel business altogether .
Zeidan said that 20 % of the company ’ s revenues are from their software and around 70 % of its business comes through its direct channel . “ It is a hybrid . If you build tech and don ’ t operate hotels , you don ’ t have trust that your technology is going to help ,” he said . The idea in building out Life House , which currently only manages a handful of hotels , compared to Kasa , which manages more than
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40 hotelsmag . com May / June 2024 |