Hotel Impossible - General Discussion

[brgjoe]

Too bad.  I already thought the Travel Channel was essentially the "Bizarre Foods" network now anyway.

I really hope there will be more new episodes (and in their proper prime time spots).   But I have to admit, I am not digging the new format that a lot of these episodes lately.  Basically went from "Hotel Impossible" to "Hotel Eviction!"

[Sir RaiderDuck OMS]

3 hours ago, SanDiegoInExile said:

Looks like the show has lost its primetime slot.  Someone on AM's Facebook confirmed 9AM Monday is the new timeslot.

PrimeTime is all "Bizarre Foods".

Moving to 9AM Mondays means one of two things:

1: They're about to cancel the show and are burning off the remaining episodes, and/or

2: They've determined that most of the show's viewership is using On-Demand services like Hulu and whatnot to watch it, making the actual time slot kind of irrelevant.

[SanDiegoInExile]

Found a podcast/interview with AM from the beginning of October.  It's buried in some 70-minute travel podcast.

He discusses the current HI season at roughly 36:00.

He mentions that there were 7 un-seen episodes that will complete Season 8.  He said Season 9 will only happen if the audience tunes in.

He clearly has moved on.  He spends most of the interview babbling about his other show: Extreme Hotels.  <yawn>

[surveyandprotect1]

Monday at 9 AM slot is the final kiss of death for the show. Its over. Nobody is watching a hotel based show at 9 on a Monday. I thought my DVR was having problems when I went to look for the show and realized they skipped a week!

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Maybe AM can start a new series:  TV Show Impossible

[spiderpig]

Just watchedthe 10/30 new episode about the Beach n' Towne on Cape Cod.  (Incidentally, I have a personal grievance about quaint spelling of "towne" and "olde", but maybe that's just me.)

If you watched all the way past the closing credits to the property update, you must be saying "What a DICK!" about Bill the owner.  

Matthew, Tiffany and her mom must really hurt over being played for chumps by Bill, who's as smarmy and soulless as his theatrical productions probably are.  (No offense to his theatrical staff, but geez that guy is an asshole.  I wonder if Tiffany ever got a cent for working to keep a roof over her mother's head.  What are the Mass labor laws?)

Ugh.  Just ugh.

[brgjoe]

Yep, saw it this morning as well.  Wow, that was one of the more depressing episodes I've seen from this show.

The staff seemed to be doing a decent job of keeping things running, despite virtually no resources apparently being directed back into the hotel.   Mr. Bill had me going there for awhile -- I actually thought he was convinced by Anthony to keep the hotel going.   The investment seemed fairly modest to bring that place back into the 21st century. 

But after all that work to remodel (and all those donated items to help with said remodel), good ol' Mr. Bill puts the "For Sale" sign up there once again.  And then closes the place down.  Just terrible.  I really hope everyone there was able to find new work (and the mother a new place to live) soon afterwards.  What a schmuck Mr. Bill turned out to be.

[howiveaddict]

He didn’t take the web site down.  It’s still active.  It also looks like there are recent reviews on Trip Advisor.   

[spiderpig]

Oceana in San Clemente.

First things first.  The dog was utterly adorable.

Second, when the parents told the story of their late daughter, I was in tears but expected to find out they were a couple of clueless do-nothings, which they weren't.

Vivian stepped up to the plate.  I was ready for the post-credits to indicate the property was for sale and Vivian had gone back to her dental practice.  But for once it didn't turn out that way.

I really wonder who that smarmy third-party booking service is.

For once I was glad to see all the donations go to what appeared to be responsible owners.

[auntjess]

On ‎10‎/‎27‎/‎2017 at 1:12 AM, brgjoe said:

I already thought the Travel Channel was essentially the "Bizarre Foods" network now anyway.

It's part of Discovery, and all their channels seem to be run like that, marathons of a few shows.
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/31/discovery-communications-to-buy-scripps-networks-for-14-point-6b-in-cash-and-stock.html

[LizDC]

2 hours ago, spiderpig said:

Vivian stepped up to the plate.  I was ready for the post-credits to indicate the property was for sale and Vivian had gone back to her dental practice.  But for once it didn't turn out that way.

 

I forgot to add extra time to my recording. What did the update say? 

[spiderpig]

20 minutes ago, LizDC said:

I forgot to add extra time to my recording. What did the update say? 

Vivian now manages the hotel full-time.

She hired new housekeepers to clean the rooms.

Vivian says "Roxy would be proud".

[LizDC]

Thanks!

[athousandclowns]

7 hours ago, spiderpig said:

Oceana in San Clemente.

First things first.  The dog was utterly adorable.

Second, when the parents told the story of their late daughter, I was in tears but expected to find out they were a couple of clueless do-nothings, which they weren't.

Vivian stepped up to the plate.  I was ready for the post-credits to indicate the property was for sale and Vivian had gone back to her dental practice.  But for once it didn't turn out that way.

I really wonder who that smarmy third-party booking service is.

For once I was glad to see all the donations go to what appeared to be responsible owners.

Brother didn't expect to have a pleasant outcome either. Today is anniversary of my husbands death and am sorta  familar  with the area and really didn't expect a weep for the owners. They were hanging on to do her proud. 

Nice family. 

[spiderpig]

Sympathy and a big hug for you, @athousandclowns.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

It's been forever since a property fit well the original concept of the show.  What an unexpected pleasure.

What I am unclear about...is Vivian a medical doctor????  If she is, it is cray cray for her to make such stupid life change.  She was wearing a substantial ring, too.  Fiance/husband?  They were OK with this?   

The lattice was a pretty good decision with what they had to work with.

AM was wrong to berate the housekeeping service dude, imo.  If the owner wanted a deep clean, he should pay for one.  

It is highly suspect that there was zero discussion about a capital investment.

Did the owner get rid of the nat gas?

[athousandclowns]

She was a dentist I believe since she said she worked 5 days a month going into do surgery. So oral surgeon ? 

Thanks spiderpig spent most the day with 3 year old grandson so that really helped. 

[spiderpig]

Maui Sands in Sandusky, Ohio.  Wow.  What a dump!

[surveyandprotect1]

Maui Sands!!!! Wow!

What a nicely built property with such terrible ownership!! That hotel could be amazing! Someone spent a fortune to build it. This wasn't the typical garbage dump 20 room hotel with a mold filled pool that HI normally visits.

These two idiots who purchased the hotel got the deal of the century and are sitting on a potential gold mine but are too stupid to figure anything out. They paid $2.5m for a $50m property at a bankruptcy auction and have managed to run it into the ground. 

Sadly Anthony accomplished nothing with this episode except getting a 17 year old another job!

The end is near for this series.

[brgjoe]

I missed the first 5 minutes or so of this episode (keep forgetting their airing this thing in the mornings now).  But who called Anthony in this time?  I didn't think it would be the owners, since apparently they don't seem to care about this place, other than what they could flip it for.   And holy crap...all those insects around.  And especially...bedbugs!   That place should have been renamed Bedbug Bungalow or something.  Geesh!

Felt sorry for the staff though.  They are not properly trained and have no direction whatsoever from the owners.  Which is too bad, since that place if fixed up properly, would be a great place to spend the weekend.  It's really big and spacious.  With a lot of room for conventions/meetings/receptions, etc.   It's borderline criminal how they let that place deteriorate like that.

Also felt bad for Carrie and her crew.  They spent all the time and effort to fix a pretty large room up, only to have it basically go for naught. 

Just a weird episode all around.  Wonder if that hotel is still in operation or not.  Anybody know?

[aliya]

My local station isn't showing all of this season's shows. I have to go to amazon.  

[Bramble]

13 hours ago, brgjoe said:

I missed the first 5 minutes or so of this episode (keep forgetting their airing this thing in the mornings now).  But who called Anthony in this time?  I didn't think it would be the owners, since apparently they don't seem to care about this place, other than what they could flip it for. 

It wasn't specifically mentioned who called, but I wouldn't be surprised if the owners called hoping to get Anthony to fix all their problems for free and give them free stuff, since they wanted the extermination donated.

[ActionComics25]

1 hour ago, Bramble said:

It wasn't specifically mentioned who called, but I wouldn't be surprised if the owners called hoping to get Anthony to fix all their problems for free and give them free stuff, since they wanted the extermination donated.

I think that's a good bet given that they asked the show to "donate" to fixing up the property. It's a real shame how the owners are treating what could be an amazing hotel. What they could make from hosting conventions alone must be a pretty decent sum.

[eskimo]

Well I don't know if I've ever seen Anthony so pissed off before, and rightfully so.  I was in shock at the bed bug issue, that they were in the arcade games, so far out of their normal habitat.  That says a ton.  And then to hear they were in the napkins, and that even the crew had them, even though they weren't staying there.  Just walk into that place and they are climbing up your body.  Ick. 

The next thing that skeeved me out was that rusty-ass staircase in the water park.  People are barefoot in there you cheap fucks!  It's got to be much, much too late to paint it.  The outside poles could probably be OK if they painted them right away, but some places on the inside were toast. 

Because Anthony had Carrie and crew finish the room I'm guessing they are contractually obligated to do so.  This makes me wonder if he actually has the authority to walk off the project altogether.  He's threatened it but we don't know if he ever has since it wouldn't have aired.  Maybe they have to fix up the place in order to air the episode, but he can decide not to go through with it up until they've started construction???  I would love to get an episode or two of Anthony showing up at a location and beginning the process and then just basically telling them to fuck-off and actually leaving.  Some of these people are really low-quality human beings. 

This was a really good episode and I'm glad they did end up staying so the episode could be used as a warning to people looking to travel to that area. 

[ActionComics25]

On 11/14/2017 at 5:02 PM, eskimo said:

Well I don't know if I've ever seen Anthony so pissed off before, and rightfully so.  I was in shock at the bed bug issue, that they were in the arcade games, so far out of their normal habitat.  That says a ton.  And then to hear they were in the napkins, and that even the crew had them, even though they weren't staying there.  Just walk into that place and they are climbing up your body.  Ick. 

The next thing that skeeved me out was that rusty-ass staircase in the water park.  People are barefoot in there you cheap fucks!  It's got to be much, much too late to paint it.  The outside poles could probably be OK if they painted them right away, but some places on the inside were toast. 

Because Anthony had Carrie and crew finish the room I'm guessing they are contractually obligated to do so.  This makes me wonder if he actually has the authority to walk off the project altogether.  He's threatened it but we don't know if he ever has since it wouldn't have aired.  Maybe they have to fix up the place in order to air the episode, but he can decide not to go through with it up until they've started construction???  I would love to get an episode or two of Anthony showing up at a location and beginning the process and then just basically telling them to fuck-off and actually leaving.  Some of these people are really low-quality human beings. 

This was a really good episode and I'm glad they did end up staying so the episode could be used as a warning to people looking to travel to that area. 

He did walk out once, and even undid all of the work the crew has started on the ANice Inn and Suites episode in season 6. I was really shocked he had them do any renovations for the hotel at all this episode

[SanDiegoInExile]

On 11/13/2017 at 7:36 PM, surveyandprotect1 said:

The end is near for this series.

I think this was the end.  Especially with Anthony's final comments (something like "I did this show to help and we mostly did that")

On 11/14/2017 at 9:43 AM, aliya said:

My local station isn't showing all of this season's shows. I have to go to amazon.  

Travel Channel has been airing the final handful of episodes @9AM ET on Monday mornings.  It's not carried on local stations.  Glad you found it on Amazon.  I've had to wait a couple days and watch on-demand with DirecTVnow.  I think the Monday 11-13-17 episode was the Series Finale.

[eskimo]

21 hours ago, ActionComics25 said:

He did walk out once, and even undid all of the work the crew has started on the ANice Inn and Suites episode in season 6. I was really shocked he had them do any renovations for the hotel at all this episode

Was that the one with the huge beehive in the walls and the cats spraying the hallways?

[ActionComics25]

5 hours ago, eskimo said:

Was that the one with the huge beehive in the walls and the cats spraying the hallways?

It was. They had a mold, bedbug and killer bee problems too.

[Sir RaiderDuck OMS]

So those cheapskates shut down half the property and fumigated the other half? What happens when the bugs migrate back over? Anthony should have just called the Health Department on them, not that it matters: sooner or later, someone's going to get tetanus or sepsis or some other nasty disease from walking on those horrid metal stairs with their bare feet, and the resulting lawsuit will drive the owners right into bankruptcy. Didn't Nick or whoever say that multiple guests had ended up with pieces of metal embedded in their skin? 

[brgjoe]

I think I did hear that.  And that is rusty metal too -- shouldn't that be a tetanus concern as well?

I did do some amateur detective work.  Apparently the place is still open an in operation.  I am seeing reviews being made on various travel sites.  They still aren't that great.  Apparently they are still doing some renovations to the place.  Because after a lot of those (mostly negative) reviews, the people running the place basically say "Renovations are still taking place and we ask for your patience...blah, blah, blah..."

So I wonder if ownership has changed, or it was sold to new owners and they are attempting to fix up the place and make a go of it.   Regardless, I agree -- if Anthony decided it was so bad he wanted to walk out, he should have contacted the health authorities to get the whole place shut down.  Similar to what he did when another slumlord owner wouldn't put up the $$ to help clean up her place as well.  Anthony walked and called the local health department on that particular hotel. 

[Lonesome Rhodes]

The one thing I enjoyed about the Sandusky ep was that AM directly accused folks of trying to get free services - in this case, bed bug removal.  For the life of the series, such things were never mentioned, except with specific reveals after the fact.  

I also chuckled when the hard-working teen didn't even get a job offer!  Am ain't exactly the mover and shaker he made himself out to be, eh?!  To be clear, I hope the young lady was able to land a really great job somewhere.  She certainly earned one. 

I'll miss the show.  Yeah, it had been largely played out.  But, every once in awhile, it delivered some truly compelling and interesting TV.

[howiveaddict]

17 hours ago, Lonesome Rhodes said:

The one thing I enjoyed about the Sandusky ep was that AM directly accused folks of trying to get free services - in this case, bed bug removal.  For the life of the series, such things were never mentioned, except with specific reveals after the fact.  

I also chuckled when the hard-working teen didn't even get a job offer!  Am ain't exactly the mover and shaker he made himself out to be, eh?!  To be clear, I hope the young lady was able to land a really great job somewhere.  She certainly earned one. 

I'll miss the show.  Yeah, it had been largely played out.  But, every once in awhile, it delivered some truly compelling and interesting TV.

Maybe they were afraid the teen would carry over the bed bugs with her.  I'll miss this show also.  It has made me a lot more discerning when going to a motel.  Of course, usually on vacation we rent condos.  Will Gordon Ramsey's motel make over show be back on again?  Also, did I read Anthony had another type show on tv?  Lastly, does anyone remember the British version of this type show years back?  The host was a woman. It was interesting seeing how hotels were across the pond. And I don't remember any bed bug issues on her show.

[bluepiano]

In my mind the episodes in this series can be divided into two distinct categories - the ones where the owners are decent people you want to see helped, and the ones where the owners are dirt bags who deserve to go out of business. An example of the former is the couple in San Clemente who sadly lost their daughter. Those are the shows I enjoy.  The episodes with cheap or unscrupulous owners who don't give a damn about the guests and mistreat their employees leave me cold.

Not casting aspersions on any particular group, but it's a reality that a lot of people from India and other Asian countries come here with huge amounts of cash, which enables them to act quickly to scoop up properties at auctions and foreclosure sales. Generally, as we saw in the Sandusky episode, they have no interest in actually building a successful business.  It's about acquiring properties dirt cheap that can be flipped for a profit.. So until they can sell their goal is to spend as little as possible.

Don't the show's producers learn the real situation before they make a commitment to film an episode? I think there have been way too many episodes with unsympathetic owners. I can't believe it's that hard to find owners the audience can root for.  Or more likely, the producers think that having jerks that drive Anthony into fits of rage makes for better entertainment.

Edited November 24, 2017 by bluepiano

[surveyandprotect1]

Un-officially cancelled?

 

I see our host was picked up for the new seeies Extreme Hotels on Travel Channel so I'd say he is officially moving on.

[bluepiano]

On ‎10‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 5:07 PM, aliya said:

And $200 a night? In KY? Nope.  I kind of forget what the place looked like, but wasn't it like a motel? Don't people stay in motels because they are inexpensive?

Yes, although it's shocking to me how much some motels charge now relative to 20-30 years ago when I did a lot of road trips. But then, hotels have gone up in price correspondingly, so motels still depend on being the lower priced alternative. AM seems to always tell owners to increase room rates, sometime to absurd levels, like $400 a night at that simple beach motel in Rhode Island, or $500 a night at that dilapidated old inn on Fire Island. The improvements to the room or amenities he suggests never seem anywhere near justifying doubling or tripling room rates. 

I'm sure AM knows the hotel business, but raising rates to increase revenue is a quick fix anyone could suggest. And it's not always going to work. You need to know the market, and find your niche. Not every location can support multiple high priced hotels, so being below market is a good strategy if you don't have a lot else going for you. Better to have a high occupancy rate at $100 a night than an empty hotel charging $300 a night.

On ‎10‎/‎9‎/‎2017 at 10:51 PM, spiderpig said:

This was one bizarre episode.

From what I could see, there's absolutely nothing around the property except that strange walk-through ark.  You could view the entire thing in - what? - two hours?  Then what?  At one point Anthony mentioned that a clean, upgraded room could bring in $200.  Really?  Then there was Anthony's usual preoccupation with the swimming pool.

I Googled the property and it is now part of the Magnuson Hotel group.  Since the episode was filmed over a year ago, I wonder what happened to the guys.  The closing credits were vague.

Definitely among the most bizarre episodes, and that's saying a lot. The owners were devout Christians who were depending on the "Ark" to bring them business, but had never themselves taken the five minute walk to see it?  And I seriously doubt that AM really believed that the "Ark Experience" was a great tourist attraction that was going to keep the motel flush with guests. (My guess is that anyone who wanted to see this thing would visit in its first year, after which it will probably be turned into an outlet mall.)

If the property is now part of a hotel group I hope that means those owners got out. The non-crying one was supposed to have years of hotel business, but he seemed no more competent than his partner. ("Life partner" as well as business partner? I guess they had to dance around that one given it was Kentucky and they were hoping to attract fundamentalist Christian guests). The crying guy did not seem emotionally stable enough to be in any kind of business. And I don't want to cast aspersions on anyone's religion, but praying for divine intervention is not really a business strategy.

Edited November 25, 2017 by bluepiano

[ActionComics25]

So are we not getting any more new episodes?

[Tabbygirl521]

On 10/4/2017 at 12:42 AM, Lonesome Rhodes said:

This is truly a Hotel Impossible.  Ownership will change.  No saving it.  So much for the reason the show exists.  I still enjoyed it.

The best part, as usual, is when the willfully clueless Simon Legree owners get taken to the proverbial woodshed by the staff.  That wife is a piece of work.  

I'd argue that the makeover room was in the best condition of any ever used on this series.  It appeared spotless and the bathroom, with the brief glimpses I caught, was darn good.  There was no need to re-design a thing.  Any cash used to do so would be a colossal waste, given the structural repairs needed.  Notice we never did see any improvements to any facade/facing despite AM's direct request for such?

This is the first ep in forever where AM did not delve into the rate structure of the property.  I'm betting they were getting top dollar relative to area comps.  

Hatteras came through virtually unscathed in the 2017 hurricane season.  But, the climatic trends are not good.  Who is gonna buy that joint with the hyper-restrictive federal rules as to rehabbing the waterline?  Dude is delusional if he thinks he is gonna walk away with over $2 million in compensation.   

Finally, I would dearly love to know how the debt committee approved the described vacations taken by the debtors (owners).  Clearly, we were not given the whole truth of the situation.

I just watched this for the first time, then took a look at their website. No mention of kayaking or food trucks or high winds discounts. A number of other specials were shown but all had big red “this offer has expired” notations. Apparently no one is paying attention to their website maintenance. I am too lazy to dig further but I imagine Dave kept looking for the magical buyer who would pay $4 million and ended up losing the place. It did get good guest reviews at least. 

Edited July 24, 2018 by Tabbygirl521

[brgjoe]

I watched this the other day as well.  I wondered if that place was sold and/or still in operation. 

I did feel sorry for the guy.  Trying to make a go of that place for 40+ years and having not a whole lot to show for it.  I really did like the location.  But with those aerial shots shown on the show, it looks like there isn't a lot of beach left.  And it's likely to get worse should they get a really bad storm or two blowing by there.

Still, it looked like spot I wouldn't mind visiting someday.  I like it that you are right on the ocean essentially.  I wonder what they were charging for the rooms.  I'd think they could still get a decent amount of $$ for them.

[auntjess]

There's a Hotel Impossible marathon on Destination America channel (465 on U-verse), for the holiday.

[TV Glotzer]

I recently discovered the first 4 seasons of HI on Amazon Prime, and got seasons 5-7 on Travel Channel's streaming app.  It became my go-to comfort watching during coronavirus lockdown, and now that I have finished them all, I am sad not to see Anthony anymore.  After every episode I came here to read the comments, and then searched the web to see if the establishments were still in business.

Yes, the narratives were sometimes scripted and artificial, but I usually found him charming and sincere, and his spit takes and camera asides always made me laugh. And I always liked his rapport with the various designer chicks.  (Why never any guys?)

I think that I, as a native New Yorker, really connected with his Brooklyn brashness.  And I'll never not be amused by a grown man using words like "doody" and "peepee" without any sense of irony.  LOL.  I know he has other shows like 5-Star Secrets, but they are just not the same.  So long, Anthony!