Please note: This post has been updated from its original version, “Review: Hotel Impossible, Sandy Part 1.” In this revised version, I have included an update at the end of the post based on the “Sandy, Part 2” episode, focusing on the controversial Thunderbird Motel project.
I’m a big fan of the business makeover shows, including Restaurant Impossible and Hotel Impossible. As someone who doesn’t own my own business, but might like to some day, it’s interesting to see how someone at the top of their profession can quickly get to the bottom of why a business is failing.
But my biggest frustration with these shows, as I’ve written about before on this blog, is the projects they select. More often than not the biggest reason why a hotel or restaurant fails–at least on these shows–is the ownership. They’re typically lazy (kitchens or hotel rooms are filthy, obvious repairs aren’t made, the customer service is half-assed, etc.) or clueless (“We thought it would be fun to buy a restaurant!”). I have yet to see an episode where a hotel or restaurant owner is doing mostly everything right but is still struggling to turn a profit. While that would be decidedly less “impossible” to turn around, I might prefer that every once in a while to helping people who have been unable or unwilling to help themselves.
In the most recent episode of Hotel Impossible, hotel guru Anthony Melchiorri takes his talents down to the Jersey Shore to help reverse some of the damage done by Hurricane Sandy last October. A worthy cause, or so it seemed.
The episode takes place about a week before July 4, the following summer after Sandy. As he arrives, Anthony seems genuinely shocked at the condition of the hotel he’s there to fix, the Thunderbird Motel in Seaside Heights, NJ (a.k.a. the town where Jersey Shore was filmed), nine months later. The rooms on the ground floor are still being gutted and he’s been told that 20% of the hotel’s inventory is not ready to be sold.
When Anthony questions the family–a couple in their fifties and a grown son and daughter–as to why so little has been done, they talk about how the insurance money was slow to come in. The patriarch tells Anthony about the Thunderbird: “You’re lookin’ at my 401K here” and that the hotel was meant to be the parents’ retirement.
Anthony goes in for a room inspection–a room the son has assured him is ready to be rented immediately–and finds the usual stuff he always finds: dirt, dead bugs, filthy shower heads, and, of course, a week-old pizza box in the fridge (with one slice left!). The son, Ray Jr., goes into the contrite routine we see often of hotel owners on the show, falsely accepting the blame but clearly believing it’s someone else’s fault, in this case housekeeping
Anthony, in classic straight-shooter Melchiorri style, tells Ray Jr. (who believes he runs the hotel), that he is not general manager material. Anthony leaves, and Ray Jr. follows a few minutes behind him, cursing Anthony under his breath. Later, Ray Sr. is recorded behind closed doors saying that he wants to chop Anthony’s head off–so there that is.
Meanwhile, the rest of the family gangs up on Anthony, telling him that they were too hard on Ray Jr. (Direct quote from Ray Jr.’s mom: “He didn’t have to chew my son sixteen new a**holes.”) As he usually does, Anthony gives the family a chance to cool down and explains that he’s there to help, and he can only do that if he’s completely honest. The family seems to get it, sort of, but Ray Jr. still won’t speak to Anthony. Given a chance to walk away from the project and cut his losses, Anthony chooses to stick it out.
Next, Ray Sr. and Anthony take a drive, having apparently patched things up after the whole “chop off his head” thing. Ray Sr. casually points out other real estate in the area he owns, explaining that his assets total about $40 million. Yup.
Anthony doesn’t start screaming at him (as some of us might have) but calmly asks him why, if the hotel was so important to him, he didn’t consider selling off some of his other assets to pay for the repairs. Ray Jr. replies, “I prioritized. I don’t like digging into capital.” Totally see his point. I mean, who does?
Later, Anthony has another closed door conversation with the family, where Ray Jr. asks him to delete the footage of the hotel inspection from the beginning of the episode that shows Ray Jr. in a negative light. Anthony refuses, saying the only way the footage would be deleted is if they cancel the show. Ray Jr. walks out.
Then, still behind closed doors, it is revealed that Ray Jr. was not actually being tapped to be the general manager, and that a new GM the family had already hired would be starting in a few months. This is the last straw for Anthony, who pulls his crew off the set. He declares that he never leaves a job unfinished, but that he can’t deal with the family’s dishonesty. He believes he’s being “played.” If that’s true, it’s hard to see what the family’s game plan was, since Ray Jr. blatantly told Anthony about his substantial assets without any probing. Nevertheless, Anthony is outta there.
The show ends with previews of Part 2 of the Sandy episode, which has Anthony helping other Jersey Shore hoteliers get back on their feet (plus a cameo by NJ Governor Chris Christie!). Disappointingly, the last scene of the preview has Anthony trying to reconcile with the family from the Thunderbird.
Meanwhile the family that owns the Thunderbird Motel is none too happy about how they were portrayed on the show, as scammers. If I came off the way they did, I wouldn’t be, either. Not to mention, $40 million doesn’t go as far as it used to.
***UPDATE!***
The end of Sandy, Part 1, teased that Anthony would attempt to reconcile with the Braun family, who own the Thunderbird Motel. Reconciliation proved, well, impossible.
Ray Jr. was barely willing to look at Anthony when he tried to open a dialogue about restarting the project. Meanwhile Ray Sr. expressed, again, that he felt the family was blindsided and that Anthony’s crew had come in and wrecked his hotel. (This statement was confusing, as I don’t believe they actually did any work on the hotel apart from Anthony taking a week-old pizza out of the fridge in one of the rooms.)
Anthony and Ray Sr. shook hands and went their separate ways. However the dialogue continued between Ray Sr. and Anthony’s camera crew, who apparently brought bodyguards. Ray Sr. took offense to HI‘s “muscle,” and said he would bring his own muscle next time.
After they shook hands–which was about as forced as Ray Sr.’s previous handshake with Anthony–Ray Jr. asked whether HI still planned to use the footage from the beginning of the first episode, which he felt made him look foolish. The producer said that they would be using the footage, which was a different story than the one Anthony told him at the end of the first episode. Anthony had told him the footage would be deleted if the show was canceled–but clearly it was not…
I don’t feel great about the way things played out, especially considering that it seemed like Anthony lied (or at least misspoke) about the footage. While the Braun family clearly did not deserve Anthony’s help, they were basically used by the producers to create enough footage for an entire episode and didn’t end up getting a hotel renovation out of it. I don’t know about the waivers they might have signed or the legalities involved, but it seems kinda messed up.
Finally, Anthony goes back to the Thunderbird one last time. As a peace offering, he tells Ray Sr. that his designer had had three rooms and a front desk’s worth custom cabinets made for the Thunderbird already, and that if he wanted them, they were his (on the house). In a cliffhanger that only a reality hotel renovation show can have, HI cuts to commercial before we find out whether Ray Sr. will accept the free cabinets. I can tell you it was a VERY long ninety seconds waiting to find out if Ray Sr. would, in fact, accept the free cabinets. (He did.)
Oh yeah and a bunch of other stuff happened in Part 2, including some hotel renovations. Here are the TripAdvisor pages for all the hotels in the two episodes:
Thunderbird Motel: 4/5 rating on 17 reviews (but none since Hurricane Sandy)
Palm Villa Suites Motel: 3.5/5 rating on 51 reviews
Tradewinds Motor Lodge: 4/5 rating on 14 reviews
Charlroy Motel: 3/5 rating on 49 reviews
Did you watch both episodes? What do you think?
RELATED: Hotel Impossible’s First Mission: Gurney’s Inn on Long Island
I don’t think Anthony lied to Ray Jr about the footage not being aired if the show was cancelled – I think he meant that if his show went off the air… which it didn’t… because it is a great show and Anthony is a really smart businessman who really cares about the hotel business. It must be infuriating to someone like him to deal with criminals like the Thunderbird owners. They steal from their guests (how dare they take money for the lousy accommodations) and they stole from the show. I wouldn’t be surprised if they actually run a criminal enterprise, based upon their conduct (ie, threatening to chop off Anthony’s head, saying he needs a life insurance policy, etc). Horrible people!
@Chris Thompson: Thanks for your comment! They didn’t seem like good people, but the show could have (not saying should have, but could have) deleted the footage and used the footage from the second episode only. But at the end of the day it was entertaining TV, so I’m not really complaining.
I just watched both of these episodes. Not a whole lot of class shown at the Thunderbird. The son acted like a little brat. The dad made violent remarks and even death threats (get a life ins policy) and later complained to the press that they had received death threats. I saw Anthony;s statement the same way that Chris did. Seriously, if these folks didn’t want to be portrayed that way, why in the world would they act like that knowing they were on camera?. .
The decision to air the Sandy episode part 1, would have been totally out of Anthony s hands possibly unknown to him at the time of filming. that would have been a winner for the shows makers so he may have been pleading to the makers ”but that’s not my style” there response,.a pat on the back and this? Great show Anthony unfortunate for the Thunderbird Hotel but certainly a great day for us and the show.
The son needs a kick up the a,,, and the father comes over like a fool greedy people all very embarrassing for them don’t think many people would want to stay at that hotel I know I wont ,
What a family of horrible people. I reckon the tax department should look in to them – the father sure likes the cash from the motel. Hope no one stays there and they go bust. Sounds hard but they were despicable
I’m GLAD they used the footage from the Thunderbird. I understood it the same way you did, and it did seem that show was cancelled, but you know what? When you make insane threats like that family did – on camera- no less, all bets are off. I think it was smart of them to show the footage, not only for insurance purposes ( what if God Forbid, they weren’t just cranks, they were serious, and Anthony disappeared?!) But to explain why Anthony is wandering around in episode II handing out renovations all willy-nilly.
We have all made armchair guesses as to which hoteliers were indeed sincere in their requests for help, who was faking the levels of incompetence, and who was just counting the minutes until Anthony left, with their renovations complete, to put their properties on Hotel Craiglsist and cash out for good, at the Travel Channel’s expense. It was refreshing to see from mid show a family that was almost upfront about their invitation to Anthony, not to help turn things around, but just to get a free renovation out of the Travel Channel.
For goodness sake, they HAD Federal Money to rebuild, didn’t they? (slow as it was, or wasn’t in coming) it was entertaining to see how selfish and greedy these folks were, and to see Anthony FINALLY walk off a renovation.- There have been several other episodes I found myself actually disappointed that he helped the people who so blatantly were beyond helping, or who simply with their attitudes towards integrity didn’t deserve his generous help.
Glad it was pointed out though, that the decision to break Anthony’s word- about the footage not being aired… was probably out of his hands- and actually void, since the episode wasn’t technically cancelled.
Now…. when is the next season starting!?
I am SO glad they aired this footage. Could you imagine how many people have wasted money staying here not knowing any better? I would be pissed if someone who treats people like that tells me (a customer) that there is nothing wrong with my room, or worse, just straight up arguing with me about any concerns I might have about my accommodations!
I hope they lose the lawsuit, and tell their little crybaby son to grow a set of kahunas and be a man. Your family cant fight all your battles for you. I worked for employers in the past that didn’t like the way I did certain things, but they told me about it, and I could have easily given them the finger and stormed out. But how does anyone grow without constructive criticism? I am in the best position and career of my life because I listen to criticism and grow from there.
Mom and dad cant be there to yell at your teacher, boss, or the world when someone hurts your feelings. Grow up.
The Braun family complained that the show humiliated Ray Junior. Not true. He did a great job of humiliating himself.
Bobby, I’m sorry to say it but your understanding of what we all watched is incorrect. Anthony said that the only way the footage would be deleted is if the show is canceled. That doesn’t mean that the footage *must* be deleted if the show is canceled. And the show *wasn’t* canceled. How is it that you think you were able to watch a canceled show?
I think it was heated and Anthony misspoke. My interpretation of what he meant was that if the *project* was canceled (meaning Thunderbird specifically) then they would delete the footage. That project was in fact canceled (though Hotel Impossible the TV show was not canceled); the episode was not canceled, obviously, since we saw it. I’m not saying Anthony blatantly lied. Also, the Thunderbird people obviously signed some sort of waiver, so whatever Anthony may have said in the heat of the moment doesn’t matter; it only matters what was said in the contact.
I agree entirely, Bobby. Even if Anthony “misspoke,” the fact is that he said i the show was canceled. The show wasn’t canceled. The project was. And these people didn’t deserve to have their idiotic, childish, outlandish behavior hidden from the public. I hope they go out of business, I genuinely do.
Watched part 1 of H.I. and what Anthony was TRYING to do and teach the family owned Thunderbird Motel. I can’t believe Ray Jr. who was supposed to be GM in the near future (a lie) could act the way he did, while being filmed no less. What a childish idiot. As for the Mother, Father and sister well what can I say, three more idiots.
Obviously they used Anthony, and Ray Sr. said it “he doesn’t like to dip into his capital”. Therefore he wanted everything for nothing on his terms. I don’t understand why they would even call for Anthony’s help. They didn’t need it as they had money to fix everything themselves. I think they were very lucky that Anthony gave them the cabinets that were previously made.
I’ve watched every one of Hotel Impossible episodes since it started and I have never come across a whole family who are liars, scammers, arrogant, rude, threatening, insulting, classless bunch of animals I’ve ever seen. In what world did Ray Sr. think it was o.k. to threaten Anthony’s life, also while being filmed
If I hadn’t seen it for myself I wouldn’t have believed it.
Ray Jr. is a lost cause, and the family promotes it and thinks the way he acts is perfectly fine. Poor Raymond if he doesn’t like what he’s told he throws a childish, spoiled brat fit and the coward hides in his truck and drives away. It doesn’t matter how he acts the family runs to his defense. The whole family is totally dysfunctional.
If these so called people aren’t out of business now, then I hope they will be in the immediate future. They shouldn’t be in a customer service industry, they don’t have any concept on how to treat people.
People that go to the Jersey Shore on vacation would be fortunate to avoid this establishment if the Braun’s are still there supposedly trying to run it.
You people know nothing about reality tv, or tv in general. Anthony meant if the series was canceled.
That family deserves so much more hardship if they are not going to prison for their fraud. If their crimes were not enough, the resources were stolen from people who actually needed it in that community. Shame on all who help justify this spoiled criminal family’s behavior and actions. Their treachery stretches well beyond that of what is portrayed in the show but a solid hand in prostitution and theft.
That family tried to get free management advice and free interior decorating services. Cheap bastards. What annoys me is that the resources that were initially spend on this pathetic motel and the family that owns it (TV production ain’t cheap) could have been allocated to a more deserving business. I’m glad they helped other. As for the footage? They were right to air it if only as compensation for the wasted resources.
Everyone has their outlook on this hotel impossible epidode! What I saw was very touchy, sensitive, unappreciated people that if they need help that bad would listen to someone that offerd thier time, money and resources.The rooms where dirty then and in 2015 still are dirty.bullheaded, stupid,uncorporating hotel owners, lose your hotel then and don’t blame a show or Anthony! Anthony sticks up for the consumer! Thank god someone does, you cheap motel, hotel,scumlords!
This family actually just got charged for Scam Government funds. http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/11/06/4-people-accused-of-scamming-fema-for-sandy-funds-in-new-jersey/
I hope they lose also. The guy is a rich man that has spoiled his son. He is a cry baby. The film will prove that the family was trying punk the show by trying to get free work by lying that they were this desperate family, about to lose everything. I’m retired Navy soo..you go Anthony sir!