How One Entrepreneur Is Bringing Back Old School Hospitality to the Hotel Industry

Jessica Abo: Leo, how did you get into the lodge market?

Leo Grifka:
I stumbled upon a job in Culver City, an outdated, dilapidated, 49-area apartment motel, and the maximum and greatest use was a boutique resort. I beloved the venture and I loved the location. So, I begun Grifka Team with that assets as the to start with task.

How did you uncover your subsequent lodge?

Grifka:
Discovering a worthwhile and fantastic challenge that is likely to get quite a few decades to acquire, requires time. I observed the Farmer’s Daughter Resort, I started talking to the proprietor, and he made the decision to offer the residence to me. I loved the residence for the reason that I are living two blocks from the lodge so I walked by it all the time with my spouse and children. So, I was ecstatic to be in a position to just take on a job like that.

What was that knowledge like during a pandemic?

Grifka:
It was a very, quite scary time for lodge homeowners. That was a enormous prospect for me, remaining capable to come across a residence like The Farmer’s Daughter that was really popular and effectively known in the place.

The hotel’s new name is Quick Stories. What can you share about the identify?

Grifka:
The to start with that means of Shorter Tales is in the ’20s and ’30s, there were being many poets and authors residing in this region, several of them operating on quick stories. Faulkner and Bukowski are two of the additional properly-recognized types. The next this means is when you remain at a hotel, you’re not truly making a novel, you’re just making tiny limited tales. I liked that. I appreciated that about the name. And last of all, it can be only three stories, so it is basically small.

What can you share about the lodge in terms of the property?

Grifka:
The hotel has 66 rooms. There are 3 or 4 unique home varieties, and we have a pool, which is good to have in Los Angeles. Limited Stories restaurant is about 160 seats, and it has a actually wonderful patio and courtyard space that is good for outside dining. Almost everything was overhauled. It is not also female, not also masculine, but just seriously pretty with pretty significant-stop supplies. Just about every thing in the home is custom made-made. In the history there, you can see a Kenton Nelson print, who’s a well-recognised artist, Los Angeles-based artist, which I believe is very distinctive in contrast to moat artwork you see in motels nowadays.

Offered how essential old-faculty hospitality is to you, how are you giving attendees that expertise?

Grifka:
With Short Stories the objective is to convey aged university hospitality back again for the reason that I noticed, even pre-COVID, it type of grew to become the marketplace regular much too, when you happen to be examining in, they give you the critical, and then it is really like, ‘We’ll see you when you check out out.’ We started out to see value-reducing measures like cell test-in and front desk kiosks as an alternative of front desk attendants. At the very same time, the ubiquity of Airbnb was coming onto the scene. The knee-jerk reaction from hotel house owners was, ‘Let’s be much more like Airbnb.’ Which is pretty significantly like a stripped down, just, ‘Here’s your mattress,’ style of guest knowledge. So it actually did some thing bad for the hotel encounter, which at that issue is no lengthier hospitable. The full issue of hospitality is to be hospitable. So with Shorter Tales, I’m bringing outdated-school hospitality again. So we’re heading to greet you by name. We are likely to provide you a welcome drink. We’re likely to wander you to your place. We do switch down provider, which is pretty one of a kind for a tiny boutique lodge, and quite a few other very little touches like that, which seriously goes a extended way for the whole visitor practical experience.

Why do you believe it can be so crucial for enterprise owners to devote in nearby jobs?

Grifka:
Another person who’s community, who’s acquiring in their backyard, is aware of the place much better than everyone else. You’re ready to affect the conclude consumer the most. And that goes for any asset class, but exclusively for resorts, simply because I know, for example, the Fairfax, West Hollywood, Beverly Grove place, I’m capable to curate the visitor expertise additional than a developer from throughout the country or even in a further state.

Ultimately, what is your suggestions for aspiring business people?

Grifka:
I am going to notify you what is actually labored for me. Hardly ever get no for an remedy. I consider it is essential to pay attention, but if you allow every ‘no’ end you, you will find no way that you will be in a position to be a productive entrepreneur due to the fact there’s usually going to be naysayers. Really hard perform is exceptionally important. I imply, whichever you put in is what you might be definitely going to get out in the conclude. Try to do a thing unique. There’s a lot of persons who have been effective just accomplishing the very same matter as every person else. But I assume if you want to genuinely be in the upper echelon of business people, you have to try out to do some thing diverse and established you apart due to the fact individuals will definitely consider discover.