Short Stories Hotel — Hotel in Los Angeles

Wish I could leave 0 stars. This was our 4th time at the hotel & our LAST. Their yoga instructor was BEYOND inappropriate - he stuck his hands down my shirt & slapped my butt multiple times & the café manager was super condescending. I sent the email below to the manager who responded that he "took the matter seriously" & would follow up with me but NEVER did, despite my following up again.

I’m writing to share my recent experience staying at Farmers Daughter. This is the 4th time that we've stayed at this property. Most of the staff are absolutely fantastic- the valet Joe always greets us with a smile, & even remembered my husband from his last stay, the front desk & housekeeping staff are lovely & the maintenance man made me feel welcome as we chatted in the elevator.

Unfortunately, there were two separate situations on this trip that overshadow the positive words about the staff.

The first was Friday morning yoga. I was the only person who signed up so it wound up being a private class. This should have been a great experience, having a private class compliments of the hotel, but unfortunately it was a very uncomfortable & inappropriate experience. The instructor was a very “hands on” teacher in a way that made me incredibly uncomfortable. While instructing, he would pat different places on my body, telling me to “active” those muscles, which is one thing when it’s an arm or a leg, but when we patted squarely on my butt on multiple occasions, I did not feel that was appropriate & he absolutely should not have engaged in such a hands-on teaching style without my consent. The second of three instances at yoga was at the end of the session when he was doing assisted stretches- he was very aggressive with how he was stretching me. An example of this is when I told him the pressure he was exerting stretching my leg back was too much & it hurt & his response was “well, I bet it doesn’t hurt as much as when you run a marathon, breath into it” & he kept pushing on my leg. I’d mentioned that I occasionally run when I’m at home. The complete disregard he had for my voicing the pain he was inflicting is unacceptable. The third occurrence with him happened at the very end of the class when he was doing a light massage on my upper neck, & then reached his hand under my sports bra to “massage my “heart chakra” which was apparently located to the left of my sternum. I was caught so completely off guard I didn’t even know what to do. In no situation is it acceptable to force your hand under a woman sports bra!

This personal violation alone would have been reason enough to sour my experience & perception of the hotel but unfortunately, there was an encounter involving the manager of TASTE restaurant later evening.

I went down to sit in the central area between the TASTE restaurant & the pool. As I unpacked my laptop & a salad I'd brought back to the hotel with me the manager of the restaurant walked up & helped me select a glass of wine & I let her know I was staying at the hotel. When she brought back with my wine she informed me in a very abrasive tone “you know, I’m not supposed to let you eat outside food in here since this is actually part of the restaurant.” I immediately felt incredibly unwelcome, even though I was staying at the hotel & that was the main common area where I could enjoy the evening air. She never invited me, a hotel , to eat in the 2nd floor open area which I remembered the next day when we were checking out. Even when I walked inside to pay my bill she was very curt & I felt incredibly unwelcome.

We travel to LA for both work & vacation multiple times a year & thought we’d found a wonderful little relaxing place to stay but unfortunately this trip has changed our once positive experience at the hotel to a very negative & unwelcoming one & felt it was important to share this with you so you can take action accordingly w/ your staff & ensure that other women don't have the same yoga...

BED BUGS! So, this may be a long review, but please read it. I'll try to make it short. This is a nice hotel. Many people have called it "boutique ", which I would agree with. Staff very friendly. Very nice showers. Great location. Right across from CBS studios and The Grove. Really liked where we were at. At 1am my wife woke up with a bug crawling on her. After killing it, I found another on my pillow. Further looking found numerous other bugs on the burlap style headboard. A quick internet search confirmed they were BED BUGS. I walked down to front desk, told them we had bed bugs in our room. No, " Are you sure? Are you serious?", just "I'll move you to another room right now". Based on the desk person's reaction, or lack thereof, I asked if this was a known issue, which they responded "no". Was told to speak to manager at 9am. So we had to pack up at 1am and move to another room. Then we had to inspect it. As far as we could see, no bugs. Even still, basically couldn't sleep. 9am comes, no manager. Girl at front desk calls two of them but no answer. She handled us fairly and was obviously concerned about the bugs. I turned over the bugs we had killed (placed in ziploc bag) after photographing them. She said she would have a manager call us. My main concern was, I wasn't paying for our one night stay after what we had to deal with. So a bit later, after we checked out, a manager calls, but I dont recall his name. He says "I got a message that you wanted a call?" But that's it. Dead air on phone. I'm thinking, "Are you kidding me??" No, "First off, I'm so very sorry for the bed bugs......... blah, blah, blah". I had to tell him, "Yea, we wanted a call about the bed bugs crawling on my wife!" THEN he says, "I've comped your room and sorry about the problem. Hotels get bed bugs. It just happens ". And pest control people were called. We had already read that bed bugs do just happen. It's not a cleanliness issue. Maybe tracked in by another guest. So in a sense I agreed with the manager 100%. I gave 4 stars since this is a nice place and had very friendly staff. Would I stay here again? Possibly. I do feel a bit guilty leaving this review, but as a Google local guide I cant, in good conscious, not say something about the bed bugs. The photos here are ones we took in our room or in the lobby at check out. FOLLOW UP: After reading managers response I felt compelled to add a few things. Never did we think the employees handled anything poorly. They were both professional and appropriate. As far as the managers statement about getting our side of the story, well, he already had it. BED BUGS! If that's his method of contacting guests that have had an issue, I give it a big FAIL. Maybe a conversation like "I'm sorry about the bug issue. We're taking care of it. Were there any other concerns you had with you stay?" Pretty basic. I was in customer service for over 25 years and never would I have handled a conversation like he did. It's like he was offended by my truthful comments. Just my opinion. And based on his response, we'll never stay at his hotel again. Minus one star down to 3 because of...

Much like the other reviews about Short Stories, the hidden fees are ridiculous. They charge $25.00 USD per day for internet, which was down for 2 days of our 4 night stay. They blamed the internet issues on the rain, while on the one day, it was not raining. If I want to be charged $100.00 for 4 days of internet, I'll go back to 1993 and hook up a dial-up modem. E-er, eeee. Er, no.

This hotel is a motel conversion. There are two buildings; 1. Motel style open balcony walk-up and an enclosed building. We specifically asked at the desk for an "indoor" room, the desk clerk said all the rooms were the same, and there was no difference to the closed building vs. the rooms across the parking lot, again open motel style.

We actually decided to stay here instead of Hotel Z, which both have pools, but Short Stories had a heated pool, and the rooms were bigger and better appointed.

Some reviews mention the bar as a happening spot. It was more like an ant hill in the desert. Dry. Abandoned and hopeful for just a drop of water.

The rooms were cool and bed comfortable. In the parking lot complex, it took on average 3-5 minutes for hot water to come out of the sink tap, less time in the shower.

The rub is that when it does rain, the outdoor atrium becomes something of a water hazard (video below). Like a slip and slide or the average log ride at an amusement park, but not in any way amusing. Especially frustrating when the hotel staff doesn't think getting wet walking across the way is different from staying in the building.

The location is excellent and just across the street from the original farmer's market and a Trader Joe's right down the street along with multiple and delicious dining options.

Parking is an issue. At over 40 dollars a day, on top of the room amenities charge, the fees are outrageous (pictures below).

Also, the page that says you'd better lock everything up and be on the lookout is a bit alarming. When shown to the hotel reception, they said, "oh, that's still in there? And, yeah, you have to watch out... "

For the price, this place is not worth it. Stay...