The Hotel Inspector - Season 17

Alex Polizzi heads to the LG Thai Derm Spa and Guest House in Loughborough, where she tries to help out first-time hoteliers, husband and wife Hasmeeta and Bharat. When the couple took over two years ago, they fell in love with a unique Thai-themed business that boasts a Thai spa with treatment rooms, a 24-seat Thai restaurant and 10 guest rooms. The business survived the pandemic - but at huge cost, that includes dirty rooms, a broken spa and chaotic management.

Alex Polizzi heads to the famous seaside town of Shanklin on the Isle of Wight to visit father and daughter team Philip and Kelly, who run Gracellie Hotel. After years of haphazard management compounded by Covid-19 and then a very personal tragedy for the family, the hotel has fallen into deep decline. To save the hotel, the team at Gracellie need to dig deep and rekindle their passion for the family business.

This time, the Hotel Inspector visits Caer Beris Manor, run by former Dubai real estate agent Omar and his wife, Kim, along with Kim's publican parents, Pete and Angie. In 2019, this family of first-time hoteliers took on the 22-bedroom manor near the Brecon Beacons, complete with 30-seat restaurant and function room. Despite their inexperience in the hotel industry, the family have high-minded ambitions for their business, dreaming of offering fine dining and a five-star experience at a three-star price. But having barely survived their first full season, the reality is that the family have bitten off more than they can chew. As well as dodgy decor at odds with the historic building, the hotel is run by a skeleton crew, piling more pressure on the family. The family has big ambitions for the restaurant, but with no chefs in the kitchen, it's an area that's fallen to self-taught cook Omar to oversee alone. Alex advises that the family put on hold their dream of a Michelin-starred establishment, and bring in experienced business owner, Barney Cunliffe, to help them think carefully about their dramatic change of direction, and tell them what it really takes to achieve a Michelin star. Can Alex convince the family to go back to basics — or will she leave them determined to reach for the stars?

This week, Alex visits The Pack O' Cards, an inn with rooms in Combe Martin on the north Devon coast owned and run by husband-andwife team Chris and Debbie. This quirky Grade II-listed monument to lady luck was created in 1690 after local member of the gentry George Ley won a game of cards. When the couple bought the inn 26 years ago, with north Devon's reputation as a tourist hotspot, they hoped to make their fortune and quickly move on. But this 17th-century inn turned out to be a money pit and, with minimal winter trade, the couple have been left stuck in a cycle of feast and famine. Now tired and desperate to retire, it's time for Chris and Debbie to lay their cards on the table. Alex discovers their food offering, décor and local reputation need to come up trumps if the business stands any chance of being a profitable proposition. But has Alex met her match in Chris when it comes to interior design? Or will Chris take a gamble on Alex's bold idea? After pouring their heart and soul into The Pack O' Cards, can Alex help Chris and Debbie work towards their dream of retiring?

This week, Alex meets fellow Italian and first-time hotelier Carmine, who runs the The Lamp Post Villa B&B in the centre of the historic spa city of Bath. With Bath a tourist mecca for the well-healed, Italian-born Carmine took on the lease of the eight-room B&B just three months ago, with the dream of creating a secure financial future for himself and his young son. But as Lamp Post Villa is currently rated the worst B&B in Bath on Tripadvisor, Alex discovers this single father may have bitten off more than he can chew. After Lamp Post Villa's years of neglect, Carmine has taken on a business and a building in need of some serious TLC, with the kitchen and breakfast area so grim he's unable to supply breakfast. With poor reviews affecting his occupancy, he's now struggling to make any profit to pay for the repairs. He's surviving on his savings and is completely overwhelmed balancing his life as a father and as a hotelier. To make matters worse, he has just three years to raise the money to buy the lease outright. If he can't, all his hard work will be for nothing. Can Alex help turn the tide? Can the Hotel Inspector work her magic and help repair the damage to the business and the building before it's too late to secure Carmine and his family's future?

This week, Hotel Inspector Alex Polizzi visits the Falcon Hotel in Cambridgeshire. Run by lifelong hotelier Colin and his daughter Jean, the duo took on the lease of this 16th-century coaching inn 11 years ago. But after centuries of guests coming and going, this old bird has seen better days. Despite rock bottom room rates of little over £40 per night, Colin and Jean are still struggling to pull in enough punters. Without enough cash coming in, the business is heading towards a make-or-break moment. The Hotel Inspector's first impressions aren't good. With both the building and the business in dire need of repair, Alex questions if things have just gone too far, and whether her visit is too little, too late! Eagle-eyed Alex looks deeper into the problem and discovers poor figures and tired interiors. But there's a glimmer of hope with a decent food offering. Can Colin and Jean tempt the locals back in with good, honest pub grub? Alex helps them transform the menu and sends Colin pavement pounding to promote the food. In time, the food income could fund a dramatic transformation, but for now Alex shows the duo how to furnish the rooms with basic amenities on a budget. Can the Falcon Hotel's fortunes take a turn for the better or will Colin and Jean have to consider flying the nest?

Alex Polizzi returns to Michelangelo's near Newcastle, a 10-bedroom hotel, bar and Italian restaurant set in four acres. Back in 2019, just before the world changed due to Covid-19, Italian brothers Paolo and Giacomo called the Hotel Inspector. The pair had invested 20 years of hard work into the business, battled through Paulo's cancer diagnosis and the death of their mother, and still owed almost half a million pounds. Did Alex help to turn their fortunes around?

In this final episode of the series, the Hotel Inspector returns to Rosehill House, a 30-bedroom hotel in Burnley. When Alex first arrived two and a half years ago, she met a dad with a deadline and a daughter in despair. With the hotel badly underperforming, John was threatening to sell it and turn it into flats, but daughter Emma was unable to let it go. By the time Alex arrived, it was in the last chance saloon. Despite perfectly pleasant rooms, the hotel lacked identity and focus. With the building brimming with heritage, Alex helped the hoteliers see the potential of Rosehill House as a wedding venue — a change they enthusiastically embraced. The Hotel Inspector left heartened by John and Emma's drive. But the arrival of Covid-19 hit the wedding industry hard. Alex wants to find out if Emma and John have kept things afloat or whether the very tough climate has meant the flats project has resurfaced. And, of course, Alex wouldn't be the Hotel Inspector if she didn't have another surprise up her sleeve that could help to keep their business on the right track.