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S02.E05: Calumet Inn

Tara Ariano

By Tara Ariano
in Hotel Hell [V]

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cooksdelight

cooksdelight

I was ready to strangle the crying daughter. Another family who had no idea what they were doing, Mom and Dad trying to give their daughters a toy to play with. The general manager needs a restraining order against them ever showing up again. I was so glad when Gordon told them to go upstairs and pack. I really despise aimless people with Daddy's money.

I bet the goldfish didn't make it past the city limits.

Good news is that the reviews on TripAdvisor are good. It's a beautiful building, and I'd stay there if I were in the area. Just hoping I wouldn't see the crying daughter's reflection in the mirror with "REDRUM" smeared on it.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g60937-d143325-Reviews-Historic_Calumet_Inn-Pipestone_Minnesota.html

  • Love 8
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fliptopbox

fliptopbox

Quote of the night "I thought Gordon was going to be nice to me!"

 

WHAT?! Obviously she's never seen him in action before.

 

Glad to see that they left the hotel business. Those two sisters really had no business running any business, let alone a hotel. I can't believe the older one tried to use her fast food job when she was a 14 year old as some kind of achievement. Yikes.

  • Love 4
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Surrealist

Surrealist

This week, no naked Gordon, but a shot of the blue Speedos near the end. Next week we get another Gordon pool shot.

Hopefully the parents don't buy their daughters any more buildings. What a waste of money.

  • Love 1
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Julia

Julia

(edited)

I'm pretty sure the family can afford to have useless daughters, and that the parents just moved in so the girls wouldn't stand in the rain with their heads tipped back and drown. It takes resources to raise narcissists on that level.

Still, I'm glad for the staff.

Edited by Julia
  • Love 13
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mlp

mlp

Are the people on this show for real?  I despised those sisters before the show was 5 minutes old.  It really bothers me that Gordon invests time, money and publicity in people like that who don't deserve his help.  I seriously wanted to slap the sister who was chewing gum knowing full well she was being filmed.  Ignorant.  I wonder what daddy does that he could afford a hotel and also apparently support those useless spoiled daughters.  I was  actually angry by the time this episode was over.

  • Love 10
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peggy06

peggy06

(edited)

If this is legit, the older sister deserved the edit she got. One of the most unflattering I've seen, down to reprising her whine about Gordon over the closing credits. The younger sister wasn't the one who begged Daddy, and it seemed like she never wanted to be there in the first place, so I give her more slack. Granted, the spectacle of a 32 year old and a 27 year old who've never worked as adults is galling, but such things do happen. I blame the parents for their share of that situation. Also for not having the sense to say No way to buying Rina a 3-story hotel as a playhouse. I mean, they must have known what would happen.

 

Then, to swan around as "the owners," disrespect the staff, and demote the general manager? Sleep until 3 pm, leave for 3 months? It just doesn't make any sense. How was the plug not pulled as soon as Rina absconded to Minneapolis?

 

I don't expect hotel owners to dust and clean as long as they have staff, but I think you need to have a boss on the premises. If you make yourself that boss (by demoting the manager), then you have to exert your authority in a constructive manner. I don't doubt the staff were dubious when these two showed up as the new owners, and maybe there was attitude, but you don't just get on your high ropes. You set out rules and follow through to make sure they are adhered to. No business runs itself. It's not a hobby where you come on weekends to do the fun parts. Rina was never prepared to do the day-to-day grind. That's why I can't understand why she would have taken the general manager role away from Mandy.

 

As to the makeover, they skimped on showing much of anything as usual. That's the most interesting part as far as I'm concerned. I thought the re-do of the one room was OK, nothing that fabulous. I actually liked some of the vintage touches from before, and a good cleaning would have cured a lot of ills. If you have a historic property, I think it pays to play up that aspect. The new decor did retain something of a period elegance, though.

 

The workout room wasn't much, after all Gordon's scripted indignation over the lack of such. Again, the sisters were seeing it as a place they could go when they were stressed. They truly didn't get it. I did not expect the ending where they tried to horn in on the kudos of the re-opening. Good for Gordon to send them packing (literally).

 

I thought the building was very cool, and hope the sisters sell it to somebody who truly has an interest in owning a historic hotel. Having Mandy back was good, but not a long-term solution with two such unengaged owners.

 

Edit: Cooksdelight, I followed the link you posted and found the reviews interesting. There was one from June where the guest said the "daughter of the owners" went out of her way to make sure they got a room they liked. Hmmmmm. So, who ARE the owners? Is the HH appearance all trumped up to generate publicity?

Edited by peggy06
  • Love 1
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Jlina

Jlina

I was appaled and amused both.  Whatever I could not care less about these two inept non grown ups, it was hard to watch even while I played my video game.

 

What I do care about and damn well should have happened is the "General Manager" getting back paid for the two years or whatever it was and a raise.  How she took that humiliation I can't fathom, except for her being the spokesperson for the group maybe.

 

The rooms with the green and yellow were remarkably like the green and yellow rooms last week. Not so great for historic.  And I guess two treadmills is better than no treadmills but was surprised to see the huge yellow flowers (Gordon must LOVE yellow!) and not mirrors.

 

The burst into tears girls needs counseling to control that; she obviously cannot function in the real world doing that.  Neither of them mentioned education...sadly.

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ZoloftBlob

ZoloftBlob

Granted, the spectacle of a 32 year old and a 27 year old who've never worked as adults is galling, but such things do happen. I blame the parents for their share of that situation

 

Please do, but also do give two grown adults with fully formed brains their share of blame. You don't have to *accept* being spoiled. There's a reason I am not under the thumb of my parents. Its because I chose it. When my siblings complain about how taking the bait sucks... I gently remind them that they can get jobs and earn money without mom and dad always helping.

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HurricaneVal

HurricaneVal

OMG, OMG, OMG. I'm only halfway through tonight's episode, but...OMG.

How can this even be real? But the pain and bitterness in the staff's confessions and breakdowns ring true. I've never seen such cluelessness and helplessness in two people in my entire life.

  • Love 1
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cooksdelight

cooksdelight

Edit: Cooksdelight, I followed the link you posted and found the reviews interesting. There was one from June where the guest said the "daughter of the owners" went out of her way to make sure they got a room they liked. Hmmmmm. So, who ARE the owners? Is the HH appearance all trumped up to generate publicity?

I didn't read that far. Since this was probably filmed last year like the others, it sounds like Mom and Dad let the daughters back in. I would love for someone who's seen this show to write a review.

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aliya

aliya

 

I despised those sisters before the show was 5 minutes old.  It really bothers me that Gordon invests time, money and publicity in people like that who don't deserve his help.

In these cases, I don't think GR is helping the owners. He's really helping staff keep their jobs or a town keep an historic landmark. He loved the mom's food, but I don't think he gave a shit about the daughters; I hope the manager got paid what she is owed.

 

I always worry when people say their workmates are like family. For some reason, at least on these shows, being 'like family' never translates to have a successful business. Usually 'the family' is overworked, underpaid, and not sure where their next check is coming from. 

  • Love 6
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Johnny Dollar

Johnny Dollar

I wonder how bad some of these hotels really are. I read the Trip Advisor reviews for a lot of the places they feature on this show, and they never seem to have bad review after bad review. Even the reviews for this hotel for the time that they must have been filming the episode were decent. I smell a little Mystery Diners/Restaurant Stakeout shenanigans going on here.

  • Love 1
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peggy06

peggy06

I didn't read that far. Since this was probably filmed last year like the others, it sounds like Mom and Dad let the daughters back in. I would love for someone who's seen this show to write a review.

It's odd. The reviewer stayed there in June 2014, and the reviewer complimented the new ownership for the great service and for trying to bring an old hotel back. Said the hotel really needed redecoration though. Then went on to say they had heard a certain show was going to be visiting "soon" to help revitalize the place. So maybe the show is that new? I also noticed Vanda being mentioned a number of times in 2013 reviews, always in a very positive way as going out of her way to be helpful. And many positive reviews from 2012-2013.

 

Things that make you go hmmmmm....

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cooksdelight

cooksdelight

Oh this is mysterious as ever! No way they filmed it that recently, they'd not have time to edit, etc. Maybe it IS under new ownership and someone mentioned that the hotel was going to be featured on the show..... I can see the parents selling the place once the daughters were gone, they'd have nothing for them to do anymore, under their watchful eye.

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BusyOctober

BusyOctober

WTF with CryBaby's dark pantyhose with every outfit? And her out dated "power suits"? I had that pink suit myself... In 1990. But I never wore it with black tights. And why was she sobbing 'thank you!' When. Gordon told her to get the fuck back to the big city? I laughed out loud when she was ranting how she always achieves what she sets her mind to. Then she couldn't t name one thing she's done on her own.

Now for Evil Sister #2...what a biatch! Complaining she can't do her "projects" because of the staff?? Loved her 6th grade folder labeled "projects" in marker. I'm surprised it wasn't a Hello Kitty Trapper Keeper. I would guess if she got out of bed by 11am vs. 3pm she could get one or two things accomplished in between her sniping at the staff sessions.

The parents - epic FAIL. IMO it is my main goal as a parent to make sure my kids are equipped with skills to stand on their own and be productive. It bugs me to no end when I hear a mom or dad say they are "raising children". Um, no you are not. You are raising future adults. Even wealthy parents manage to have kids who grow up with empathy and a work ethic. These hotel girls are stunted and appallingly ill equipped to even cross the street on their own.

I'm sure the goldfish held their breath and committed fishacide rather than spend their numbered days in the care of those two idiots. Gordon will be getting hate mail from PETA for endangering those little guys.

  • Love 12
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peggy06

peggy06

Maybe this one reviewer had their dates mixed up (or it's a fake). Another review from 8/10/13 states, "A family just purchased it 10 months ago and they are remodeling the rooms SO NICELY." Does the "10 months ago" correspond to the timelines on the show? In any case, subsequent reviews make it clear the renovations are a work in progress, but there are so many that specifically mention Vanda (in very good ways) and also the family-owned aspect that I have to think the daughters getting kicked out was fake. Along with most of the drama.

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Madding crowd

Madding crowd

Historic hotels usually don't have modern amenities like fitness rooms, so I don't know why Gordon made a big deal about that. I'm guessing he needed some kind of surprise and didn't have a beer garden to remodel. I also wish they would show him assessing the ability of the kitchen staff to cook this "stunning" food.

It seems obvious the food was bad before the awful sisters took over, and I'm going to guess the previous manager(with the bad hair) was no better either. These shows take an approach that the staff is always fantastic and the owners hold them back. I would guess that the sisters did nothing, and the staff are lazy and do nothing too.

  • Love 1
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BeatrixK

BeatrixK

If the episode had ended with the sisters still in charge, I would have booked a weekend in the hotel, stayed there, just so I could summarily punch those two twatwaffles in the head.  Seek out their parents, and punch them for unleashing those two worthless bags of protoplasm onto the world.  I honestly just can't fathom that level of self-absorption, and the fact that their staff hated them came as no surprise. 

 

RIP little goldfish:  I'm sure you died before the car pulled into the outskirts of Minneapolis.

  • Love 4
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kacesq

kacesq

I know reality shows aren't "real" but I thought Gordon "discovering" the mom's amazing homemade Thai food to be really poorly done. As soon as he was "what"s that delightful aroma?" (paraphrased) I knew at the end it was going to be "we've revamped the menu to include your mom's recipes!" Really, Gordon? And like someone upthread mentioned, is he sure the kitchen can handle that? They apparently couldn't NOT burn soup!

 

I thought there were a lot of dropped threads in this episode as well. The "Dad takes out the lightbulbs" thing...the dark corrider by the rear entrance. Why did they keep showing the sign that said "rear entrance"? I thought Gordon was going to make a better sign or revamp that entrance for all the attention the sign got.

 

Finally, Gordon was tweeting last night during the eppy and someone said he hoped we'd find out why Vanda slept until 3 every day. Gordon just said "trust me you don't want to know." Yes, Gordon, we do. Especially if it's brought up in the show a few times. Grrr.

  • Love 1
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Gregg247

Gregg247

These were the worst owners ever to appear on HH, and that's really saying something!  I actually got depressed thinking that there are people in the world like those two, grown women with absolutely no life skills whatsoever, completely ruined by their indulgent idiotic parents.  I don't think they're fixable at this point.

 

At the end, the younger one wants to go out into the world and "travel" while the older one wants to show the world her 'creativity"!  I assume the words "work" and "job" will never come up in their conversations.  What a waste.

 

On the plus side, the many employees at that hotel (not just the few shown, but all of them) at least get to keep earning a paycheck for awhile.  Good luck to them all.

  • Love 2
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peggy06

peggy06

(edited)

From a review posted in Dec. 2013:

"Friendly and helpful staff! We will be back to stay. Thanks for accommodating our large group, Vanda!

    Stayed November 2013, traveled with family"

 

If the show was filmed last summer, at least one of the daughters is still involved as late as November. The other review I mentioned was for a stay in June of this year, and they referred to "the owners' daughter."  I think this was all trumped up, though why anyone would willingly make themselves look so foolish on TV is a mystery to me. But we know from previous episodes that the show contacts hotels, so what's the betting that they contacted this one, and since the owners are trying a major restoration, they decided to get some help and publicity from the show? That the parents are really the owners. This scenario makes a lot more sense to me than what was presented last night - and also corresponds better with the last two years' worth of reviews on TripAdvisor.

Edited by peggy06
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HurricaneVal

HurricaneVal

Wasn't it said, early on in the show, that the parents sank quite a bit of money into the hotel, at their daughter's whim, and now have had to come work at the hotel to keep their investment sinking any further, since their daughters obviously weren't working very hard?   I also don't know why they showed the mother working hard in the hotel laundry, but later implied that all she does is cook her daughter's meals?  Presumably the father considers himself something of a handyman, thereby removing the light bulbs from fixtures he didn't want turned on.  Which...if they were antique with very old wiring...might not be a bad idea...but cutting off the plug and cord would be a better idea if the goal was safety.  But we got nothing from him. 

 

But...we'd just had a story about the older hardworking, hard struggling parents trying to build a business for their family the prior week.  So rather than be repetitive, they went with the lazy daughter angle.  Which they truly didn't have to look very hard to find.  I have never seen such egregious entitlement in my entire life--and I grew up in and area where egregious entitlement was a competitive sport!

 

Some of it seemed to be too much.  Like it had to be faked or something.  Nobody could be that bad.  But...it seemed to me the pain and anger the staff felt was quite real.  I wonder if for the first little bit after the daughters took the hotel on they just sort of let it run on its own, but then when the parents got involved because things were dipping, then the daughter's decided they needed to "take control" and that's when the truly bad working conditions started and the micro-managing, and the snide name-calling.  There was true bitterness there.  That wasn't faked.  I also have to think that the visit to the former general manager's home was somewhat real--I mean, that's not exactly the outfit nor the hair I think that woman would have chosen to be featured on national TV wearing.  But on the other hand, her back yard and flowerbeds and patio area looked remarkable tidy and well-maintained by single mother of two children who works 60-80 hours a week.  Maybe production stepped in with a couple of bags of fresh bark, and shoved some garbage into the outdoor fireplace just to neaten up the interview area.

 

In other news, apparently watching Masterchef immediately followed by Hotel Hell accompanied by a couple glasses of wine resulted in a Gordon Ramsay sex dream last night.  I woke up thinking "huh..."

  • Love 1
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Julia

Julia

Maybe the daughters fancy themselves as actresses and they sought this as their big break into show biz.

 

or maybe elder sister fancies herself as the new Tori Spelling running a hotel on TV

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OnceSane

OnceSane

 

The other review I mentioned was for a stay in June of this year, and they referred to "the owners' daughter."  I think this was all trumped up, though why anyone would willingly make themselves look so foolish on TV is a mystery to me.

 

Famewhoritis is a serious disease, & methinks both young ladies caught a severe case.  What vapid, spoiled, useless human beings.

  • Love 3
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NeenerNeener

NeenerNeener

(edited)

 

Maybe the daughters fancy themselves as actresses and they sought this as their big break into show biz.

 

Well, the oldest daughter does look like Mona Vanderwaal on Pretty Little Liars. But Mona knows how to manage people.

Edited by NeenerNeener
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aliya

aliya

For those of you who enjoy a little bare GR, there is a video of him on his FB page taking the ALS challenge. The wife and kids pour a washbasin of ice on a shirtless GR.

 

One thing that bothered me about the hotel were all the stairs. I didn't see an entrance that didn't involve going up a ton of stairs. Historic or not, isn't accessibility a requirement?

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mel31602

mel31602

For those interested... One of the sisters wrote a blog for the local newspaper about the HH Experience. It's in three parts but I only could find 1 and 3. The main takeaways are a) the family as a whole decided to buy the hotel, it apparently wasn't the daughters idea, b) the sisters signed up for the show just for publicity and thus lied about their craziness and incompetence to ensure they'd be picked, c) as you suspected, many if not all the scenes were staged and d) ramsays changes nearly ruined the hotel bc the new menu was too expensive for customers (like $20 an entree) and the Thai portion was inauthentic (a common complaint whenever Gordon helped an ethnic food restaurant in kitchen nightmares). Oh and the hotel will be on a similar reality show on Travel Channel later this year so it will be interesting to see how that show's interpretation of the hotel's issues differs from HH.<br /><br />http://www.pipestonestar.com/Stories/Story.cfm?SID=50955<br /><br />http://www.pipestonestar.com/Stories/Story.cfm?SID=51166

Sorry second link didn't work... Here's a better one http://www.pipestonestar.com/Stories/Story.cfm?SID=51166

  • Love 5
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Julia

Julia

For those interested... One of the sisters wrote a blog for the local newspaper about the HH Experience. It's in three parts but I only could find 1 and 3. The main takeaways are a) the family as a whole decided to buy the hotel, it apparently wasn't the daughters idea, b) the sisters signed up for the show just for publicity and thus lied about their craziness and incompetence to ensure they'd be picked, c) as you suspected, many if not all the scenes were staged and d) ramsays changes nearly ruined the hotel bc the new menu was too expensive for customers (like $20 an entree) and the Thai portion was inauthentic (a common complaint whenever Gordon helped an ethnic food restaurant in kitchen nightmares). Oh and the hotel will be on a similar reality show on Travel Channel later this year so it will be interesting to see how that show's interpretation of the hotel's issues differs from HH.<br /><br />http://www.pipestonestar.com/Stories/Story.cfm?SID=50955<br /><br />http://www.pipestonestar.com/Stories/Story.cfm?SID=51166

 

Oh, my. How very polished of her. 

 

You know, I actually think less well of her now than I did when I watched the show.

  • Love 2
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blubld43

blubld43

Sister Crybaby had very clearly had some serious botox

 

Lol, I thought she had an odd looking face!  I also think she's had some lip injections, she and her younger sister looked nothing alike.

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peggy06

peggy06

Sister Crybaby had very clearly had some serious botox. Who needs that at 32? I loathed her.

I felt bad for the cooks who were handed a new menu and then told, "Good luck".

Too much drama, not enough renovation....

Exactly! I just don't care about the family dramas, not one little bit. I want to see real, hands-on, constructive help for businesses that actually need it.

 

Kitchen Nightmares had this problem, too, but at least the second half hour of that show was mostly devoted to making and revealing the changes. Here, it happens in the last 10 minutes after we've had to sit through 50 minutes of fake angst. Maybe it's because running a hotel is not Gordon's forte, but he doesn't seem to bring much to the table of a practical nature. I'm not crazy about his team's design ideas, either. Maybe he should stick to restaurant and cooking shows.

  • Love 4
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Allegory

Allegory

(edited)

What did I just watch? Nothing about this episode make any sense. 

 

  • Why was the father featured so little? Presumably it's his money that is bankrolling the whole thing.
  • For a hotel that size, where was all the staff? The meeting mostly consisted of the kitchen and serving staff.
  • Gordon spent no time at all on how the hotel fits in the local community. Who is the clientele? How should the hotel market itself?
  • Who owned it before? The staff talked about how they had been there for 2 years, but the sisters only took over 9 months ago.
  • How much did they pay for the hotel? How much are they losing a month? What do the rooms cost? No time was spent on the actual business.

 

As for the sisters playing up the craziness for the camera, the staff anger seemed genuine.

Edited by Allegory
  • Love 2
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fliptopbox

fliptopbox

I read the first 2 blogs about Vanda's experience. I saw nothing mentioning Hotel Hell or Gordon Ramsay. She basically keeps reiterating how hard it is to get all the employees to cooperate and work together. And she keeps throwing in there how well traveled and worldly she thinks she is. Good for her.

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Jersey Guy 87

Jersey Guy 87

The third blog talks about her experience with Hotel Hell (and also contains how well traveled and worldly she thinks she is).  She seems to blame Hotel Hell for causing them problems after saying they went out of their way to appear screwed up in order to get on the show.  I think she's more high than stoners running the Applegate River Lodge.

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rubinia

rubinia

 

I've enjoyed watching Gordon Ramsay in the past, but now I feel he's just "taking a piss" on me.

LOL, the expression is actually "taking THE piss," but I agree with your assessment of Grr...

  • Love 2
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Kromm

Kromm

So Gordon's Blue Man Thong IS going to show up every episode now, eh? (being folded into his suitcase this episode and in the preview for next week, he's wearing it again).

 

Yuck.

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