Gordon Ramsay’s latest US show, “Hotel Hell” debuted last night.
Pretty much exactly like Kitchen Nightmares in every way.
And as I say about all of these types of shows, it’s really not that hard to figure out what’s wrong with these places.
That said, it was pretty entertaining. WTF is wrong with that guy? Clearly he has a compulsive shopping issue, coupled with absolutely no idea whatsoever how to run a business. Gordon might get them on their feet for a bit, but I’ll be quite shocked if that place survives long-term.
And why start out with a two-parter? I just happened to surf onto last night’s show. I’ll be damned if I’ll spend the energy to set the DVR to catch the last half.
I see in the promos that he strips down and sleeps in a sleeping bag at some point. Will this be the first time Ramsay’s tightie whities have been viewed on American television?
I missed the first 10 minutes of it last night. Did they ever address Gordon’s credentials for helping out hotels/motels/B&Bs? Does he have a successful hotel somewhere that I don’t know about? Some of his restaurants may be in luxurious hotels, but does that make him an expert at hotel renovation?
I’m waiting for the next show where he helps failing car dealerships.
If you can’t get enough of this sort of thing, the Travel Channel has “Hotel Impossible” (presumably by the same people who produce “Restaurant Impossible”), in which someone with a lower budget and less name recognition than Gordon Ramsay does the exact same thing.
Yeah, um…the restaurant thing is bearable, but two-parter hotel things? I wasn’t interested at all, just from the ads, but MrTao switched to it anyway. It dragged on SOOOOOO long…it was kinda awful.
I wondered how the owner got away with not paying the staff. Do they not have wage and hours laws and enforcement thereof in the state where this hotel is? All you’d have to do here is to report the place to the necessary authorities.
I’ve watched that show and it’s-- not interesting. The host of that show seems like a decent guy and clearly has a lot of knowledge about the hotel business but he’s just not very charismatic. I’ll watch it if it comes on and I’m doing something else but it’s certainly not gripping entertainment.
That was really unbelievable. That one waitress, the one who was 70 years old, said that she wasn’t paid for 5 weeks and her last paycheck was something like $48. They’re in Vermont, whose minimum wage is $8.46, $4.10 for tipped employees. Even at the tipped employee rate, that woman’s check represented less than 2 days’ work. WTF?!
The AV Club write-up of Hotel Hell was skeptical that the hotel wasn’t paying people, because no one would be working there if they weren’t being paid. I worked for a very small, very poorly funded company, and we had a few times when there was some doubt about meeting payroll, but I was told that missing it was just about the worst thing a company could do.
And I’ve watched Hotel Impossible. It’s OK, but like most of these shows, kind of formulaic.
Hotel Hell was fun last night, because the hotel owner was so crazy.
I went in with pretty low expectations, but think it’s at least as good as the US version of “Kitchen Nightmares” - I like Ramsay’s lower key narration better than that of KN anyway…I can only assume the 70 yo waitress paid $48 isn’t working full time but only when called in for a shift here and there?
Both those hotel owners gave me the freakin’ creeps.
My husband thought it was hilarious when Robert stood up in the brewery and invited everyone up to Juniper Hill. He was all, “…and now the brewery owner kicks him out for trying to steal his business.”
We laughed our asses off when Robert’s “antique” collection turned out be full of worthless reproductions. Man, that would suck!
I also don’t understand how the staff stayed working there without getting paid. I simply could NOT survive without a regular paycheque - and then suddenly at the end they’re getting cheques and bonuses? Where’d the money come from?
Best part was when you got to see Ramsey’s pixellated butt as he stepped into that little tiny bathtub.
Sounds like an import version of this show I used to see on BBC America (not starring Gordon Ramsay but rather a person with some experience in the hotel industry). My favorite one was a B&B that had really worn out stained furniture. The owners informed Hotel Fix-it lady they could not afford new furniture. She blew their minds by taking them to…
(wait for it)
… a local IKEA.
They were gushing about what a great help Fix-it Lady was to to take them there. Seriously, who hasn’t heard of IKEA?? Considering there’s one in their town?
My problem is: That f’n douche is not worthy of any kind of charitable help. I’d be much happier if he failed. I was not rooting for the guy to say the least.
At least with KN, there is somewhat of a modicum of likability with the restaurant owners. Most of them are family orientated trying to make ends meet.
That snooty hotel guy was an overly entitled fucktard.
