The Block Island Beach House hotel on Block Island, Rhode Island, is one of around 100 hotels owned or managed by Lark Hospitality. Photo by Read McKendree | Courtesy of Lark Hospitality

Portsmouth-based Lark Hotels announced its merger with hotel brand and operator Life House.

The new entity will be known as Lark Hospitality and will own or manage around 100 hotels and 33 restaurants and bars in the United States and Mexico.

Lark Hotels’ Rob Blood and Peter Twachtman will continue as Lark Hospitality’s chairman and CEO, respectively, the company said in an announcement.

“There is no company that has made everyone at Lark Hotels sharpen their pencils more than Life House,” Blood said in a statement. “Over the last five years, they have made us think deeply about who we are as a company, what our value proposition is for our stakeholders, and who we want to be going forward. As we come together, we look forward to incorporating the best practices of both of our companies to deliver exceptional experiences for our guests, investors, hotel owners and teams.”

Lark Hospitality’s brands now include Lark Hotels, Life House, Bluebird by Lark, Blind Tiger, AWOL and Lark Independent, and its owned or operated hotels will now total around 3,000 keys.

In New Hampshire, Lark owns or runs the Ale House Inn and Hotel Portsmouth in downtown Portsmouth, plus the Bluebird Sunapee next to the Mt. Sunapee ski area and North Conway’s Cranmore Inn.

In its announcement, Lark Hospitality said it plans to continue adding new hotels to its portfolio via partnerships with “aspiring and existing hotel owners, family offices, private equity firms, and real estate developers.”