Personalized Hospitality Leads The Guest Experience At Short Stories Hotel
The West Hollywood boutique emphasizes guests from the moment they arrive
Location: West Hollywood, CA
Perfect For: Those looking for a boutique stay close to shopping, museums, and more.
In an age of ever-increasing automation replacing authentic interactions, one West Hollywood hotel is focusing on the human element of hospitality.
At Short Stories Hotel in West Hollywood, the personalized guest experience begins upon arrival. It’s a deliberate effort to emphasize customer service, as Leo Grifka, Owner and CEO at real estate development company Grifka Group, tells A HOTEL PODCAST.
“Short Stories was born out of COVID. And my feeling on the hospitality industry, even pre-COVID, was that a lot of owners were taking cost cutting measures and the hospitable part of hospitality was lacking. And then in COVID, that was exacerbated, right? You started to see a lot more mobile check in. You started to see housekeeping as an added service or an opt-in to housekeeping. Which to me was crazy. Robotic room deliveries. So everything was going away from human interaction and additional touch points. So with Short Stories, I wanted to bring it back to old school hospitality.”
(The South Stories bank of guest rooms)
Personalized touches at the property include a free drink upon check in, in addition to a staff member from the hotel walking each guest to their room. It’s an effort that does have a cost, but the hotel owner reveals “that's sort of part of the equation for us because I think that people notice that incremental effort that we put in. And I think that is what makes a difference between a nice stay and a fantastic stay, right? And so that's really what Short Stories is all about.”
Located adjacent to The Grove as well as LA’s famed Farmers Market, West Hollywood’s Short Stories Hotel opened in 2022 and features 66 guest rooms. Formerly the Farmer’s Daughter Hotel, the property features an airy lobby, outdoor courtyard, and a heated outdoor pool. The Bar at Short Stories offers the Short Stories burger, pasta, vegetable dishes, and more, as well as speciality cocktails like the Ritz Diamond and Hollywood Babylon.
“I always loved being in hotels. Whether it be a low end or high end hotel. I really always thought it was interesting.” - Leo Grifka
The hotel also benefits from its partnerships, including landscaping operation Rolling Greens, whose greenery can be seen on the exterior and interior of the property. Additionally, designer Kevin Klein’s impact is felt throughout the bright and inviting guest rooms.
(A set up for reading and relaxing in the Junior Suite King)
“Almost everything in the room is completely custom made, custom built,” Grifka shares. “Kevin and I worked really hard to bring something different to the rooms. And so an off the shelf solution was almost never the right decision. So you'll see that in the custom cabinetry. We have these light fixtures next to the bed that are completely custom that Kevin and I designed together. The chairs we’re sitting on, Kevin designed and literally everything, even the lighting in the room, is completely custom that we took a lot of time to design.”
Another visual touchstone of the rooms is art by Kenton Nelson, a talent whose work wouldn’t otherwise be found adorning a hotel guest room, as Grifka explains.
(A Short Stories Grand Studio Suite, with art by Kenton Nelson)
“So I've really loved Kenton Nelson's artwork and I wanted to do something different with art. And instead of doing the kind of off the shelf art that you see in hotels, you know, the picture of a horse, I reached out to Kenton and he had never done artwork in a hotel before. For good reason. He didn't want to antagonize his clients that have been purchasing art from him. But we found a way to do it that was mutually beneficial. And now we have Kenton Nelson prints in every single room. And I think it really does set the room apart and it is the only art in the room. We have art in the bathroom, but in the guest room itself, it’s the only piece of art. And I did that on purpose because I wanted people to focus on the one really nice piece of art in the room.”
Even the reading material at Short Stories has its own backstory.
“Typically in hotels, you get ‘books by the pound’ is what they call it,” Grifka reveals. “You can literally buy books by the pound and they're just sort of novels that you've never heard of and they're literally just there as an aesthetic piece. These books (at Short Stories) are from Phaidon and from Taschen. So really high end books and I think it's really nice for a guest to be able to, after a long flight, jump on the bed (and) instead of popping on the TV, they can pick up a nice really high quality book and enjoy their time.”
Given the success of Short Stories in West Hollywood, Grifka is optimistic about the idea of expanding the brand. Though the hotelier is prioritizing finding the right spaces that fit his vision over rushing to create new projects wherever he can.
(A couples sink in the bathroom)
“Every day I'm looking at new properties. New opportunities,” Grifka shares, adding “it has to be the right project and the right property. And so I'm extremely, extremely picky. I might look at a couple hundred deals before finding the next property. And that's just in general from my first property to my second property. That's just sort of how it goes. But in order to offer the guest experience that Short Stories is meant to offer, we need to have the correct space. So having the right bones is really important. I'm looking to reimagine the space. But finding that property is crucial. So that's what I'm doing. I'm really excited about expanding the Short Stories brand. And yeah, the future I think is bright.”
Hear more from Grifka, including insights into his real estate background and the Grifka Group, as well as his journey opening the Palihotel Culver City, in his A HOTEL PODCAST interview below.
Find more via Short Stories Hotel. And subscribe for more from A Hotel Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. Hosted by Jaime Black.
Overnight accommodation provided by Short Stories Hotel and M18 Public Relations.