The Hotel (2011– ) User Reviews

Good reality

[legendlength · 8/10 · 4 January 2012]

A lot of reality shows these days really ham-up the acting and I find that to be pretty unwatchable. This one doesn't do that and subsequently shows a surprisingly deep insight into the workers of this small UK hotel.

The first season is only 8 episodes long but delivers a lot of real drama in that time.

The star of the show would be the general manager who is actually quite skilled at running the hotel. Most of the episodes revolve around his interactions with the staff and customers. Each episode also focuses on two different families that are staying at the hotel.

The most surprising thing for me was the footage they managed to get. There's a few cameras in every room (include customer rooms) which give us an excellent view of the action. In some scenes there is an issue or an argument and we're able to see the whole event unfold, even as it moves around the hotel.

Similar shows would be: Kitchen Nightmares (UK version), Grand Designs, Sylvania Waters (an old Aussie show) and basically any documentary who's main goal is to document rather than create fake drama.

Fawlty towers in real life!!

[Pizzaowner · 6/10 · 27 July 2019]

I cannot believe only 1 other person has reviewed this MARVELLOUS show. Reality shows have taken a down-turn in the last 20 years and now most of them are fake, faked or selectively edited to death so only the DRAMATIC events air, filled with pre-views...post-views...samples and reviews and not a lot of reality in between. This show is decidedly REAL and reminds me of Fawlty Towers in real life. Fawlty Towers had it's 3 stairs up so you could go down and this place has 2 doors to the kitchen 4 feet apart... and bound to cause a large number of accidents as people go in and out of both of them with only a tiny slit of a window to see if anyone is in the way or coming the other way. The halls are less than 3 feet wide and 2 people would have serious difficulty passing each other. The staff, with 1 exception is Romanian or Polish and nobody speaks the other's language. The only bright light in the bunch is the general manager who is worth his weight in gold...the patience of Mother Theresa and the wisdom of Solomon combined with a work ethic of a man who has his life savings invested in this strange place. A head chef that wears a dangling head-covering that certainly wouldn't pass muster with the health board in this country, a kitchen staff that he doesn't understand..nor understand him and despite this they cater to weddings of 70 people and more. Absolutely delightful this multiple-cameraed well-edited show is a fly-on-the-wall look at the inner workings of a mid-range hotel in Britain. I've never worked in a Hotel but I've worked in MANY kitchens and this is almost SPOT-ON for most under-staffed kitchens and MOST real-world kitchens ( save Ramsey et al ) ARE SERIOUSLY understaffed and the staff that is there most days is often sub-standard. Fun from start to finish this show is perhaps particularly heartwarming for those in or near the business. One negative caution however is important......in episode 6 there is a PARTICULARLY RUDE & IGNORANT mother and daughter duo who decide ....ahead of time...that even though they manage to wrangle a 50 Pound room.....there is...and will not be a single thing that they like...including food that they don't eat at other tables......please try to IGNORE these rude, callous and ignorant people...they probably wanted something MORE than free. I needed to do an update on this series because in fact, the only really interesting hotel part is series 1...the next 2 are about the SAME hotel and it's over-controlling owner and his cringe-worthy staff of people that mostly WANT to help him but are hampered by his OBSESSIVE controlling of EVERY SINGLE ASPECT of the business combined with his DENIAL when things go wrong ( as they inevitably do ) that it wasn't HIS fault. His business strategy is ....in his very words...to 'put off paying the bills, and here's the 'piece de resistance' .... the owner.....after 2 YEARS OF OWNING THE HOTEL....he still can't pronounce the name of it CORRECTLY....despite the fact he's been told many times The NASTIEST piece of work however is the two-faced reservation manager Allison who, while she gets to talk back to the boss, is nonetheless a genuine boot-licker...when A is in the room, she gossips about B and when B is in the room she gossips and criticizes C or A....NOTHING is her fault and in fact she's so much like Mark, the owner that with the two of them at the helm it CAN'T HELP but go bankrupt. The 'event coordinator is 'HAPPY' and too giving, sadly, he's also overloaded and unwilling to say no to anybody so his job performance is atrocious...bordering on dismiss-able. WAY too much time on the personalities of the 'guests' as well....the show should now be called 'The Guests" and not The Hotel as it focuses almost exclusively on the quirky guests and their lives.......BORING!!!! I have not yet seen series 4 but am not expecting it to get better after the producers seem to be happy with guests and not hotel. My advice....watch series 1 and walk away happy!!