Laos forum

not stayed in any mid-range places there before. but you could look through this website: http://www.luang-prabang-hotels.com
for each property, click on the tab 'your host' & that should tell you if it's Lao-owned (although this info is missing for at least one of the Lao-owned places listed on that site).

owning a mid-range place would put the owners in the 'upper(most?) income bracket' of locals...guess that's why most Lao-owned places are in the budget range - many many in the Ban Wat That + Ban Houa Xieng neighbourhoods.

have stayed in the Lao-owned & -run (by family) Vanvisa Guesthouse (budget range) twice, & they've just (as of late Dec 09) completed an extension right next door that looks more mid-range. more info here: http://vanvisahome.com/index.html (info on the extension yet to be added, prob hafta contact them & ask)

if budget places are fine with you, many of the budget ones in the Ban Wat That/Ban Houa Xieng area listed on Travelfish are Lao-owned. also many that are unlisted e.g. Oudomphong, Vongchampa, Nittaya, etc. & last month i saw even more new places 'freshly converted' from family homes - for mid-Feb should be no problem just turning up without a booking & looking around, practically every other home in those two neighbourhoods has morphed into a guesthouse.

to me there can be a difference in atmosphere between 'Lao-owned' (where employees come & go, just like in foreign-managed places) & 'Lao family-run' (e.g. Vanvisa, Oudomphong, Rattana, Chanthy Banchit, Cold River, etc).