Lark Hotels CEO on Building an AI-Ready Hotel Portfolio
How do you modernize the technology behind 70 hotels without overwhelming the people responsible for running them?
In this episode, Peter Twachtman, CEO of Lark Hospitality, explains how one of the fastest-growing independent hotel management groups is building a scalable technology and operating model across more than 70 properties in 22 states, Mexico, and Canada.
Lark specializes in independent and branded hotels with fewer than 150 rooms. After growing from roughly 20 hotels and merging with Life House, Peter and his team consolidated the portfolio around a core technology stack that includes Mews, Akia, Toast, and Hotel Investor Apps.
The surprising lesson is that selecting the technology may be the easy part. The harder challenge is determining which data should serve as the source of truth, introducing change at a pace hotel teams can absorb, and remaining willing to replace systems that stop evolving with the business.
The surprising lesson is that selecting the technology may be the easy part. The harder challenge is determining which data should serve as the source of truth, introducing change at a pace hotel teams can absorb, and remaining willing to replace systems that stop evolving with the business.
In this episode we go through:
- How to establish a reliable hotel data foundation. Peter explains why Lark prioritized clean financial, PMS, and point-of-sale data before attempting more advanced analytics or AI applications.
- How to manage technology change across a large hotel portfolio. Learn how Lark communicates upcoming initiatives, gathers frontline feedback, adjusts implementation timelines, and prevents technology projects from disrupting hotel operations.
- How to evaluate vendors as long-term innovation partners. Peter shares why hotel companies should continuously assess whether their PMS, ERP, POS, loyalty, booking, and guest-journey platforms are keeping pace—and why loyalty to a vendor should not become technology lock-in.
- How Lark is approaching AI with both urgency and discipline. The conversation covers internal AI experimentation, data-access guardrails, information security, and the importance of slowing down at the right moments while still taking calculated risks.
- Why traditional hotel metrics may no longer be enough. Peter discusses moving beyond RevPAR and cost per occupied room toward more revealing measurements such as revenue per square foot, revenue per guest, and guest lifetime value.
Peter also challenges the common prediction that hotel technology will consolidate into fewer platforms. He believes the opposite may occur: lower barriers to software development could produce even more specialized systems, increasing both innovation and complexity for hotel operators.
Throughout the conversation, Peter makes the case that curiosity, empathy, strong listening skills, and ego-free leadership are essential to successful hotel technology transformation. The best insights often come not from senior leadership, but from the employees closest to the guest and the daily operation.
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