Gordon Ramsay is no stranger to bad taste.
From bad food to bizarre concepts, Gordon’s seen it all on Hotel Hell.
It’s true that we never know what we’re going to get when we tune into Hotel Hell,
but some hotel owners are just downright strange.
From complete snobbery, to paranoia, a total ignorance about hygiene, an over the top love
of Ferraris, and an obsession with Cher, there have been intensely odd owners.
These ten are the strangest we’ve seen on Hotel Hell.
Paranoid in Pennsylvania
There are bosses, and then there are bosses.
Some are great, others are just weird.
The paranoid owner at the River Rock Inn was definitely in the weird category.
This owner was convinced all his guests were out to get him.
Ken left passive-aggressive notes all over the kitchen, telling his staff to keep their
hands off his stuff.
Gordon was completely horrified, and confronted Ken about the really weird notes.
When Ken just didn’t get it, Gordon set out to talk to the staff about the issue.
And just like Gordon predicted, the staff hated the notes.
Even though Ken was stuck in his ways, this was all he needed to realize his strange behavior
was totally unnecessary.
To top it off, Ken’s look went from dingy to dapper.
This one wasn’t too hard, all it took was a little trust and a fancy scarf catapulting
Ken from paranoid business owner to cool innkeeper.
The Town’s Denial
Karen Townsend runs the beautiful Town’s Inn outside Washington DC, in a town called
Harper’s Ferry in West Virginia.
In a gorgeous location and in a grand old home, you’d think Karen would keep this
prime establishment in tip top shape.
Think again.
This place was a hygienic nightmare.
Disgusting!
The kitchen was so gross, Gordon couldn’t handle it!
The staff was overworked and stressed.
The chef had completely had it…
The worst part?
Karen was so delusional, she had no idea that any of this was a problem.
Things took a turn when Gordon realized Karen’s living situation.
She seemed to think this was an amazing set up.
This made Gordon change his tune.
He wasn’t mad anymore, he was worried.
In the end, he still wasn’t sure Karen was worth his time.
But, he decided maybe there was hope for her.
Gordon did his magic, flipping a much needed makeover, and not just for the inn.
In the end, Karen just needed a fresh start.
The Monticello Intervention
The Monticello Hotel is a beautiful, historic hotel in Washington.
A long-standing client base is now dwindling, and it’s no surprise that the root of that
problem comes from this truly strange owner, Phillip.
This experience was strange right from the start.
At first, it seemed like Phillip and his partner, Ginger, were perfectly normal business owners.
Then, we find out about the kitchen staff – these chefs had so little money, they’d
been forced to buy pre-boiled eggs.
At the same time, Phillip owned a Rolls Royce!
This logic was crazy!
But when Phillip’s arrest for drunk driving came to light, Gordon totally changed his
tune.
Phillip didn’t understand that he was responsible for everything, even his own reckless behavior.
On some level, he must have had a clue because he worked the floor for Gordon.
Gordon wasn’t impressed!
Gordon did what he had to do, and he put on an intervention with Phillip.
At first, it didn’t work.
Phillip was way too far gone.
Gordon didn’t give up, though, and in the end, Phillip came back to reality and decided
to get sober.
Flying High at the Applegate
Some owners are totally with it and ready to tackle any task.
Others, well, it’s more of a joy ride.
Take the owner of the Applegate River Lodge in Oregon.
He was really enjoying himself, maybe a little too much.
Eventually, he met Gordon, totally stoned.
Right, so Richard…
Okay, so…
“Pa Butt” was...
I guess we can say… an eccentric owner, laid back to the extreme.
Joanne is Pa Butt’s ex-wife, and it’s unclear how she was ever married to this total
hippie.
Well, at least some people were happy at the hotel.
Still, by one in the morning, the party was still going, and a lot of the guests weren’t
feeling the love.
This family was a million dollars in debt, and Pa Butt wouldn’t deal with it.
In the end, Pa Butt, or Richard, just wasn’t interested in running a business, and Gordon
made a wise decision.
With weird Pa Butt relaxing and out of the way, this family could now properly run a
hotel.
The Dream That’s a Nightmare
No one ever said running a hotel is easy.
It takes a long time to learn the ins and outs of an inn.
Still, the idea is to turn a profit.
That wasn’t the case right now with the Cambridge Hotel, located a short drive from
New York City.
The hotel is run by John and his wife Tina, and the story of how he decided to buy the
place is a little… odd.
It gets weirder, and weirder.
And the weirdness affected business, unfortunately.
But John was too committed to see the problem.
While he was involved and getting his hands dirty, he wasn’t able to truly fulfill his
role.
As Gordon investigated this money pit, he knew the real problem laid with John’s total
inability to run a hotel.
When Gordon forced John to back off and let his staff do their jobs by throwing a Ladies’
Night, John took a moment to reflect, and finally came around.
In the end, it looked like the Cambridge Hotel was finally waking from its nightmare.
Meson de Cher
Everyone has a dream, and if she could turn back time, Cali would have found a way to
become a professional singer.
Instead, she was the owner of the New Mexico hotel, Meson de Mesilla.
She didn’t seem to understand what was required of her hotel – a Southwest-located hotel
with a Latin name that...
It was pretty strange, given that...
The hotel was in terrible shape, but what Cali really cared about were her dinner performances.
There were stages all over the hotel so that Cali could sing.
It was all a little out of control.
That’s an understatement.
What Gordon needed to do was make Cali as crazy about her hotel, as she was about her
singing.
A talk with Cali could bring her back to reality.
It seemed things were on the right track, with an awesome makeover that embraced the
beautiful New Mexico vibe.
But, turned out Cali wasn’t quite ready to take the plunge.
So Gordon got personal with Cali in a final effort to help her shed her crazy singing
obsession.
And at last, Cali got it...
Cali putting the hotel first was music to our ears.
King of Juniper Hill
The gorgeous Juniper Hill Inn was Windsor, Vermont’s gem.
A fancy, expensive inn, the place had a pretentious reputation.
Despite the fact that this hotel was hemorrhaging gobs of money, this strange owner wouldn’t
change anything at all.
Robert started his introduction to Gordon with a very strange admittance...
Things didn’t get better when it became obvious that Robert was being a total snob.
But this obsession with being a high-class man had gotten out of control.
It should come as no surprise that this hoarder lived in a pig pen.
Unfortunately, there was no refuge with Robert’s partner, Ari, who co-owned the place and was
just as much of a snob.
Robert wasn’t any better, strangely focused on a history tour instead of dinner service.
When Gordon tried to bring Robert into the fold and actually help run the hotel, Robert
couldn’t cope.
So to give Robert a reality check, Gordon got a little sneaky.
And Gordon’s trick worked.
Looks like Robert finally came down to earth.
The Hotel on Wheels
San Diego’s Keating Hotel run by Eddie took fun a little too far.
This hotel was very red, and there were pictures of Ferraris everywhere.
From bad room service... to the funky furniture...
Gordon was rearing to dig into Eddie from the get-go.
The first meeting didn’t go well – Eddie’s vision was all based on buying a car.
Gordon didn’t get it either.
Eddie’s understanding of how to run a hotel was completely out of whack.
He was living on another planet, and Gordon had to bring him back to Earth.
When he finally released his grip and Gordon put his expert touch on the hotel, the staff
was overwhelmed, and so was Eddie.
The Keating got a makeover, but most importantly, Eddie got a reality check.
Two for the Price of None
Is two always better than one?
Well, not always.
At the Calumet Inn in Pipestone, Minnesota, two sisters are not working at the caliber
of even one competent person.
One sister, Rina, couldn’t handle the pressure.
Vanda is the other sister, and she was equally clueless.
The fact was, these two were spoiled and completely out of their league.
Rina seemed to do nothing at all.
No wonder this place was a mess!
Gordon staged his first intervention.
Things escalated so badly, the GM quit, and the sisters took no responsibility for the
problem.
When Gordon pulled the sisters aside for another talk, he forced them to get real.
So, it was time to find a way around all this.
In a family discussion, the truth came out.
A decision had been made, and we’d say it was a pretty good one.
Even better, someone normal returned to run the show.
With Mindy back and running the inn, and the sisters coming back to reality, it looked
like the Calumet Inn would survive after all.
Beach Bum
The Beachfront Inn and Inlet in Fort Pierce, Florida was just this hotel, but the owner,
Brian, was so clueless that this seemingly perfect vacation destination was not reaching
its potential.
So, this looked like a classic case of cocky owner with no idea what he was doing.
But Brian wasn’t proud, he was just, well, weird.
He thought he was 34?
Whatever you say.
It got weirder...
Like with this vending machine… thing.
What’s worse?
This beach hotel was short on beach towels.
The problem with Brian was that he needed to grow up.
Turned out, his family was supporting his operation.
All the same, Brian never could quite wrap his head around the whole management thing.
Fed up, Gordon didn’t know what to do with Brian.
Still, he did a makeover and directed the real issue right at Brian.
But this time, the owner couldn’t get it together, and Gordon was out!
And there you have it, the strangest owners on Hotel Hell.
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