LIFE HOUSE OPENS ITS FIRST BOUTIQUE HOTEL IN MIAMI’S LITTLE HAVANA NEIGHBORHOOD

Life House Little Havana Combines New-Age Hospitality with the Culture, Community, and Cuisine of Miami’s Historic Neighborhood

Photo Credit: Life House

Life House opens its first boutique hotel in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood. Life House is a new collection of hotels inspired by the people, places, and stories of a neighborhood. Life House Little Havana offers genuine hospitality and unique culinary programs, along with the first social network for guests to meet other travelers and immerse themselves in the lifestyle and experiences happening in and around the hotel.

Life House was founded in 2017 by Rami Zeidan, a seasoned hotel and real estate executive, and Yury Yakubchyk, a software entrepreneur to make it easier for travelers to immerse themselves in local culture, get more out of their experiences, and create environments that foster genuine connections to people and places.

The Life House Little Havana building is a historic 1920s icon in Little Havana and incorporates elements of the Mission style and art deco movement. Located just minutes from the vibrant Calle Ocho, Life House Little Havana features 33 rooms, a first floor living room lobby, library and coworking space, courtyard garden, and opening soon, its veg-forward cafe, Parcela. A rooftop bar and restaurant is scheduled to open in spring 2019 inspired by Latin infused street foods and color palettes. Life House Little Havana will also be home to an on-property food forest where ingredients will be sourced as part of the company’s in-house food and beverage program.

Each Life House property has its own unique identity that is thoughtfully designed to embody the spirit of the neighborhood. Life House Little Havana takes the form of a high-born expeditionist mansion in tropics, featuring vintage furniture and fixtures that depict various places and global perspectives. The rooms feature work from Hans Wegner, Cassina, Jeanneret, as well as Afro-Cuban ceramics, collected books and local plants that once migrated from the Caribbean. Life House Little Havana will offer curated music, artwork, and programming, and a retail shop for guests and the community that capture the vibrancy of Little Havana and bring to life the spirit of the tropical mansion.

“We believe in finding the subtleties and nuances of the neighborhood and finding a way to bring those bits to life inside the hotel,” said Rami Zeidan, Co-Founder & CEO of Life House. “It’s not as simple as saying ‘copy what’s there’, which is why we are not so literally “Cuban”. Rather we spend time to discover and create something that celebrates what’s there, caters to who’s there, and adds some new element of energy that brings locals, travelers, and the rich history together in harmony. While each neighborhood we enter has a story to tell, Little Havana has a particular cultural richness and in the context of the hotel market in Miami, we’re really excited to open this special property to our guests and to our neighbors.”

The Life House experience is powered by its mobile app equipped with its own social network that will allow travelers to connect with each other and even coordinate meetups. Coming soon Life House will partner with verified local members to foster community and conversation between guests and locals, as well as organize events and activities. Guest who check-in using the app can do so automatically to bypass the lobby’s check-in kiosks and access their room with mobile keyless entry, plus chat or make serve requests with staff, and request late check-outs. The app will launch prior to the first guest’s arrival at Life House Little Havana.

Guests and locals will be able to indulge in immersive food and beverage experiences at Life House Little Havana. Parcela will make its debut in early January, celebrating the neighborhood’s local flavor with a modern veg-forward approach inspired by the urban agriculture movement of Havana, Cuba. The cafe draws inspiration from Miami’s rich fabric of Latin cuisine to inspire fresh plates and inspired combinations. To supplement the property’s yields, Parcela fosters local partnerships, with makers and growers who aim to produce quality goods through sustainable practices.

The creative direction for Life House’s Miami culinary and bar programs will come from Brian Griffiths, who previously worked at Freehand Miami Broken Shaker and much like the Life House brand he sees Little Havana as unconventional location that is full of potential. Chef Leo Pablo, a Venezuelan born culinary creator who moved to Miami twelve years ago to pursue his passion, spent 6 years within Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s restaurants, and will oversee the culinary programs on site. Together Pablo and Griffiths will develop and launch Parcela,  and the rooftop restaurant and bar, which will open in the spring.

The hotel is located at 528 SW 9th Avenue in East Little Havana, just a few minutes away from Brickell. Life House Little Havana will always offer a room category that is less than $149 per night, and for a limited time select rooms will be available for as low $119. A second location in South Beach is planned for Spring 2019. To learn more about Life House and reserve a room, please visit https://www.lifehousehotels.com.

About Life House:

Based in New York City, Life House creates high quality boutique hotels with locally inspired design and food & beverage and Silicon Valley backed technology and operations. Co-founded by real estate and hotel executive, Rami Zeidan and software entrepreneur, Yury Yakubchyk, Life House is the first vertically integrated solution for the hotel industry offering travelers a new kind of hotel stay: experience-driven, inexpensive, for everyone. For more information, visit https://www.lifehousehotels.com.