pen a little hotel of your own. Sound like fun? Restaurateur Michael Zislis thought so. Now his Shade Hotel boasts an indie restaurant sensibility he’s clearly proud to present. Shade Hotel is a 38-room boutique hotel in celebrity-conscious Manhattan Beach, California, and its hip Zinc Bar has been attracting a lot of attention.

Zislis isn’t shy in his critique of mainstream hotels. “Every time I go to a hotel, they miss on the food,” he says. “I feel they only do it to keep a star rating, not as a way to attract business. When you head to a big corporate box, you’re just a number.

“Here, you’re a guest—we know your name. I look at it as its own business component that generates to the bottom line. My lounge is full every night. I want the hotel to be service oriented. A big focus [of training] is sincerity toward the guests. We have a community bar, and we really love our guests and let that shine through.

“When I go to a hotel, I hate hearing ‘no.’ Don’t tell me ‘no.’ Just tell me what it costs. My staff never says ‘no.’ You want tortilla chips? We’ll get them out of the kitchen.”

If it takes a bit of madness to leap into the hotel industry, this was inspired madness at least. With real estate at a premium, Zislis snapped up the only spot in town after another company’s plans for a taller building were shot down. “There’s no more real estate, so I’m the only one,” he says.

Opened in November 2005, the hotel’s food and beverage operation complements Zislis’s other restaurants in town. “We have a brew pub and a seafood steak house; we’re currently building a Mexican restaurant, Mucho. They don’t compete with each other, but they do complement each other. At Zinc Bar, people graze: a couple of appetizers, a salmon pizza, teeny hamburgers. We send them to one of our other restaurants in town afterwards for dinner.”

With space at a premium, outlets are built too close to guestrooms for late-night comfort. “I can’t be the late-night place. I have people trying to sleep. Right after work it fills up. Customers leave for late night.” Last call at the lounge is 11 P.M.

Zinc serves an eclectic mix of small plates priced for popularity. “We charge $15 for a lobster salad. I’m always trying new things. I’m adding a pizza I had in Hawaii: an ahi pizza with edamame hummus. We sold five hundred appetizers on a Saturday.” He can’t resist another dig at the competition. “We don’t gouge people. There are no $27 hotel salads. I don’t understand. Are they trying to keep you from eating there?”

“We get a huge celebrity component. When filming, we get the higher-end staff. Nice pictures get out in the press of celebrities on their dates here.” L.A. celebrity sightings have begun working their magic. Zinc Bar is making headlines, and now there’s an hour wait to get in. “It’s all locals at the bar.”

Zislis says Zinc pulls from 15 to 20 miles to the north and south, whereas his standalone restaurants draw from only a five-mile radius. “We’re in the LAX corridor with several large corporate offices nearby. Sunday to Thursday is all business, probably 75 percent. You can pay $50 more to stay right on the beach with an ultra-cool room and an ultra-cool lounge. Affluent execs don’t plan very far ahead though, so we’re booking about a week or two out. Friday and Saturday are 90 percent leisure. I had ten people on a wait list for Saturday night—it’s like the restaurant.”

The bar has a premium well, with drinks going for $8 up to $12 for a premium martini. “It’s a solid pour—you know you’ve had a drink. It’s all served in crystal. My wine pour is a third of a bottle instead of the usual quarter.”

The hotel puts a premium on the bar as function space. “We keep it at a very, very high limit of $20,000 to discourage rentals, but someone takes us up on it maybe six times a year. We use the courtyard and the sky deck.” The hotel fits up to 100 on the sky deck and 150 on the courtyard. “We’ve done some corporate buyout parties. Skechers shoes took every room and every public space for a picnic, and we maxed out at 350 people.”

Zislis has had great success in collaborative marketing. “We do sponsorship agreements. We’re featured for five minutes on the Tempur- PedicTM bed $30M ad campaign. MTV just did a show here, a live broadcast out of the lobby. I didn’t charge them, but we got exposure—they showed us and our logo.” And he focuses his marketing dollars on philanthropic causes. “All of my dollars go into charity. At Feed the Children, we’ll be serving appetizers. We’re always at charity events, putting together a lounge, helping out. It really works for us.”