HI This Week... Chargebacks!

[Generic]

Hotel Impossible. AM = Anthony Melchiorri.

Hotel Impossible. AM = Anthony Melchiorri

I've never watched the show, but it sounds like I should! I was contacted years ago by either Hotel Impossible or Hotel Hell (the one w Gordon Ramsay). I forget which one. We'd owned the B&B for under a year. Anyway, they were interested in filming here and I said NO WAY. I told them that my understanding is they're looking for disastrous places that are run down, health & safety violations, filthy rooms, bedbugs, etc., and we definitely do not fit in that category!! As much as I would love a $100K B&B makeover, there's no way I'd let them portray my business as a dump!
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I've never watched the show, but it sounds like I should! I was contacted years ago by either Hotel Impossible or Hotel Hell (the one w Gordon Ramsay). I forget which one.

As I understand it, Hotel Impossible doesn't contact people. Innkeepers contact THEM, asking for help. So it's mostly places about to go under. About half of them are too far gone to save, even with good advice...most of which they refuse to take.
People call them because, I guess, the show brings them about $20,000 in renovations, supplies, software, etc. Most of the stuff is donated by contractors and inn supply companies in exchange for advertising mention/credit on the show.
I've picked up a lot of tips from Anthony over the years, but mostly I'm just shaking my head at how clueless, arrogant, and out of touch a lot of innkeepers are.
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most of the people on that show are failing because they refuse to keep up with the times, don't have the temperament to be an innkeeper, won't take advice and won't do what to me is common sense advice - then they wait till the bank is literally foreclosing and then ask for advice when its far too late - same as Hotel inspector - don't want to be harsh but some people are setting themselves up to fail
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I find it interesting that they often show how badly they manage the employees and the boss/employee relationship. If you want people to be loyal to you, you have to pay a living wage, so they want to be there, so they want to keep on working, so they care about the job.
The newest thing around here is talk of moving up the minimum wage to a working wage ($15) and I keep on hearing people saying that it will force small businesses out of business. Really? I can't get someone for under that wage at all. And even places like McD around here are already paying about $13 an hour.
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I can't get someone for under that wage at all.

And if you could, they wouldn't be worth having. Wouldn't show up reliably. Wouldn't do the job right.
Properly cleaning and resetting and restocking a guestroom is NOT a minimum wage job, not because it's so physically hard, but because it calls for a pretty good mind, with good judgement. Those people don't have to settle for minimum wage jobs unless they have some flaw, like unreliability.
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I don't remember if I mentioned it here, but some of the fast food places are getting desperate for employees here. The minimum offer is almost $2 over minimum wage.

 

[Arks]

Hotel Impossible. AM = Anthony Melchiorri.

Hotel Impossible. AM = Anthony Melchiorri

I've never watched the show, but it sounds like I should! I was contacted years ago by either Hotel Impossible or Hotel Hell (the one w Gordon Ramsay). I forget which one. We'd owned the B&B for under a year. Anyway, they were interested in filming here and I said NO WAY. I told them that my understanding is they're looking for disastrous places that are run down, health & safety violations, filthy rooms, bedbugs, etc., and we definitely do not fit in that category!! As much as I would love a $100K B&B makeover, there's no way I'd let them portray my business as a dump!
.

I've never watched the show, but it sounds like I should! I was contacted years ago by either Hotel Impossible or Hotel Hell (the one w Gordon Ramsay). I forget which one.

As I understand it, Hotel Impossible doesn't contact people. Innkeepers contact THEM, asking for help. So it's mostly places about to go under. About half of them are too far gone to save, even with good advice...most of which they refuse to take.
People call them because, I guess, the show brings them about $20,000 in renovations, supplies, software, etc. Most of the stuff is donated by contractors and inn supply companies in exchange for advertising mention/credit on the show.
I've picked up a lot of tips from Anthony over the years, but mostly I'm just shaking my head at how clueless, arrogant, and out of touch a lot of innkeepers are.
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"As I understand it, Hotel Impossible doesn't contact people." - I swear beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was contacted and sure sounded completely legit. Like I said, it might have been Hotel Hell and not HI.
One article I read about HI yesterday said the renovations were more in the $100,000 range!
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One article I read about HI yesterday said the renovations were more in the $100,000 range!

I've seen every episode and I don't believe that.
Once or twice they've done that much, and they mention, "we've never done this much before." But usually it's a lot less, and most of the materials and labor are donated in exchange for advertising mention on the show.
I can only guess that the $100,000 figure is based on the VALUE of the advertising mention on nationwide TV. If you rate it that way, then OK, $100,000, because nationwide ads can run hundreds of thousands for a 30 second ad.
But the actual cost of the work itself, on average, is about $20,000 in my estimation. They remodel one bedroom, plus one pool area or breakfast room or hotel front desk. American Hotel Register usually gives a set of sheets for each room. They usually provide some reservation software, or a new website. OK, maybe all that's worth $30,000. But sure doesn't seem like it could be more than three times that.

 

[InnSemiRetirement]

Hotel Impossible. AM = Anthony Melchiorri.

Hotel Impossible. AM = Anthony Melchiorri

I've never watched the show, but it sounds like I should! I was contacted years ago by either Hotel Impossible or Hotel Hell (the one w Gordon Ramsay). I forget which one. We'd owned the B&B for under a year. Anyway, they were interested in filming here and I said NO WAY. I told them that my understanding is they're looking for disastrous places that are run down, health & safety violations, filthy rooms, bedbugs, etc., and we definitely do not fit in that category!! As much as I would love a $100K B&B makeover, there's no way I'd let them portray my business as a dump!
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Hotel Hell was calling around to places about five years ago, trying to source participants. They called me. They actually ended up doing an episode near here, in Harpers Ferry.