Rami Zeidan Resigns from Life House

Rami Zeidan, founder and CEO of hospitality company Life House, has confirmed to PhocusWire that he has resigned from his positions as CEO and board member with the company.

The news of his departure was first reported by The Information Monday afternoon, which cited an email sent by Life House board member Chris Hemmeter to shareholders. Hemmeter is managing director of Thayer Ventures, which has invested in Life House.

Early today, Hemmeter told PhocusWire that Zeidan and Life House reached “an amicable resolution” regarding his separation and that “The Life House vision is solid and the team in good hands. We are enthusiastic about the future.”

According to The Information, Hemmeter’s email named two new interim leaders for the company, both from Flighthub: Christopher Cave as CEO and Marc Ghobriel at chief financial officer.

In a statement to PhocusWire, Zeidan said he is “incredibly proud of what Life House has achieved and grateful to have had the opportunity to serve [his] employees, investors and customers these past seven years and is looking forward to applying [his] learnings towards his next company.”

His departure follows an article published by The Information on February 14 that said at least a third of Life House’s 50 hotel customers have tried to terminate their contracts with the startup in recent months. The article cited current and former Life House employees, hotel owners, and internal documents.

Founded in 2017, Life House has been a fast-growing startup that develops, designs, and operates 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.

The company was on PhocusWire’s list of Hot 25 Travel Startups of 2020.

The startup gained credibility in March 2021 when Kayak announced it would take over a Life House property in Miami Beach and re-brand it as Kayak Miami Beach, with Life House tasked with managing it. Later that year, in December 2021, Kayak led the company’s $60 million Series C funding round. Kayak CEO Steve Hafner is listed as an advisor on the Life House website.

According to Crunchbase, Life House has raised more than $100 million to date. In 2021, Zeidan spoke on PhocusWire’s How I Got Here podcast about how he had launched and planned to grow the company.