A Hospitality Startup’s Promises Fall Short for Hotel Customers

A little over a year ago, Brittany Doyle had high hopes for the Taos Motor Lodge, a renovated, 28-room motel in New Mexico’s high desert that she was opening.

To help her run the business, Doyle signed a contract with Life House, a hospitality startup that has raised over $100 million from Tiger Global Management, Trinity Ventures and other investors. The startup provides a wide array of management services to boutique hotel owners, from operating their websites to hiring staff to, in some cases, overseeing renovations that turn them into Instagram-chic destinations.

Doyle soon came to regret signing the deal, however. The property has churned through staff, including four general managers hired by Life House, Doyle said. One of the general managers wrote himself unauthorized checks totaling $9,000 out of the property’s operating expense account after he quit, she said (Life House eventually repaid the money).