The BEST episodes of Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby
Every episode of Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby!
Take a look behind the scenes at some of the most extraordinary hotels across the globe - from the ultimate in luxury to jaw-dropping locations.
#1 - The Brando, French Polynesia
Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 2/27/2018
Return of the series exploring extraordinary hostelries. Giles Coren and Monica Galetti explore one of the world's most luxurious eco resorts on the small island of Tetiaroa in French Polynesia. Surrounded by a beautiful coral reef and an abundance of marine life, they work alongside staff of the exclusive Brando Resort to serve five-star luxury to guests paying up to £11,000 per a night.
#2 - Jade Mountain, St Lucia
Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 2/11/2021
Monica Galetti and Giles Coren visit Jade Mountain, a hand-built hotel in St Lucia where each room has no outer wall and so is open to the ocean view - as well as having its own private infinity pool. Giles finds that room service here is tougher than it seems, and Monica dives for lionfish, which they both serve to guests visiting especially to have their wedding on the beach.
#3 - Ashford Castle, Ireland
Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 3/20/2018
Monica and Giles hop across to Ireland to scale the imposing and ancient ramparts of Ashford Castle. Founded 800 years ago & set in 350 acres, it later became the family home of the Guinness family. With the help of hotel historian, Fintan, Giles discovers that the castle has had a rollercoaster journey through the centuries, sporadically reaching moments of real jeopardy, only to be saved by a turn of events or new owners. As recently as 2011, the hotel went into receivership but was bought in the nick of time and, after undergoing a £50 million restoration, has the ambition to be the best hotel in the world.
#4 - Grand Resort Bad Ragaz, Switzerland
Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 3/13/2018
Giles Coren and Monica Galetti head to the foothills of the Swiss Alps to experience a very different type of travel - health and wellness tourism. The Grand Resort Bad Ragaz houses not only multiple restaurants, spas and golf courses but also Olympic-standard sports facilities - and a high-spec clinic boasting 80 medical staff, who offer guests everything from sleep therapy to dietary advice and surgery.
#5 - Giraffe Manor, Kenya
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 4/10/2017
Giles and Monica discover a unique hotel in Kenya where giraffe, guests and staff all co-exist. They then visit the Sasaab Lodge a 6-acre plot set within 82,000 acres of land owned by the Samburu tribe who receive a fee for each guest.
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#6 - The Silo, South Africa
Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 3/27/2018
Giles Coren and Monica Galetti visit a hotel in South Africa that has been built into a 187-foot tall former grain silo and which also incorporates a museum of contemporary art. They are challenged to wash the building's 96 windows inside and out, and discover how staff have coped with the challenge of keeping the place clean in the wake of the worst drought to hit Cape Town in a century.
#7 - Marina Bay Sands, Singapore
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 3/27/2017
Giles and Monica join the 9,500 staff working at one of the world's largest hotels. As well as viewing some of the facilities on offer they go behind the scenes to see the parts of the hotel guests never see.
#8 - Mashpi Lodge, Ecuador
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 4/3/2017
Giles and Monica visit Mashpi Lodge in the Ecuadorian rainforest which features a gondola cable car to transport guests through the forest canopy. The pair learn how eco-tourism is saving endangered species.
#9 - MGM Cotai, Macau
Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 7/14/2020
Monica and Giles travel to the self-governing Chinese city of Macau, which is the gambling capital of the world, welcoming millions of Chinese visitors every year. Joining the 6,000 staff of its newest super-hotel, the MGM Cotai, Monica gets special access to The Mansion, a secret VIP world of huge suites where even money can’t buy a stay. Giles flies through the air in one of the world’s most technologically advanced theatres and helps create the floral displays for Chinese New Year.
#10 - The Lanesborough, London
Season 4 - Episode 6 - Aired 2/22/2022
Monica Galetti and Giles Coren visit London's most expensive and exclusive hotel, the Lanesborough. It's the first time the hotel has allowed anyone behind the scenes. The hotel is set discreetly in a grand and historic building on London’s Hyde Park Corner. It's suites, costing up to £27,000 a night, are often rented for months at a time, and even the cheapest rooms come with a dedicated butler. Giles and Monica discover a friendly staff that makes staying here feel like home, and no request is too big.
#11 - Shangri-La, London
Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 3/11/2021
Monica Galetti and Giles Coren stay in the city they live in to work at the Shangri-La Hotel, in Britain's highest hotel. Their expectations of a standard business guest experience are blown away by discovering a hotel that makes guests' personal moments special. From bath butlers to marriage proposals, the hotel is a resort for celebrations in the clouds.
#12 - ION Adventure Hotel, Iceland
Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired 11/30/2021
Monica Galetti and Giles Coren visit ION Adventure Hotel in Iceland, a design hotel levitating out from a dormant volcano. Guests visit here expecting the adventure of a lifetime, exploring lava flows and glaciers. Taking guests snorkelling in near-icy water reveals secret and stunning rock chasms between the earth's tectonic plates, and learning how to keep guests safe on an erupting volcano is a trip of a lifetime.
#13 - Schloss Elmau, Germany
Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 7/28/2020
In this episode, Monica Galetti and Giles Coren visit Schloss Elmau, a hotel deep in the snowy Bavarian Alps that claims to be a cultural hideaway and restore their guests mind, body and soul. Monica joins in the daily meditation session for the restaurant staff, and Giles recites poetry and travels to a mountain hut to serve dinner, while dressed in lederhosen. They join the hotel guests for an evening of world-renowned musicians playing for free.
#14 - Royal Mansour, Morocco
Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 4/17/2017
Giles and Monica visit and go to work in the luxury hotel in Marrakesh, which was built by royal decree to showcase the region. Monica learns how to pleat the curtains while Giles dons the uniform of a butler.
#15 - Swinton Estate, Yorkshire
Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/18/2021
Monica Galetti and Giles Coren visit the Yorkshire Dales to work at Swinton Estate, the ancestral home of Lord and Lady Masham. By taking a look the heart of the grand house and its countryside charm, as well as the wider estate, which has opened up to for guests to enjoy, Monica and Giles learn about the challenges of making history pay in the modern world.
#16 - Nimb Hotel, Copenhagen
Season 4 - Episode 4 - Aired 12/28/2021
Monica and Giles travel to Copenhagen to work at Nimb Hotel in the historic Tivoli Gardens. Giles learns to be the brake man on one of the world’s oldest wooden rollercoasters, while Monica changes lightbulbs on the ornate Moroccan inspired facade and dives to clean an vast tropical aquarium. Giles learns how to get a table at one of the city's most avant-garde restaurants, and Monica dresses in horror makeup to give Giles the pleasure of being terrified.
#17 - The Torridon, Scotland
Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 7/21/2020
Monica Galetti and Giles Coren visit the Scottish Highlands to work at The Torridon, Britain's most northerly five star hotel. Its need to balance a luxury stay with being self-sufficient has Monica collecting sea-weed for the kitchen and helping to herd Highland Cattle. Meanwhile, Giles learns to change toilet seats and joins the staff in their afternoon off for a swim in the beautiful but freezing cold loch.
#18 - Fogo Island Inn, Canada
Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 4/24/2017
Giles and Monica visit the hotel sited off the northeast coast of Newfoundland. Housekeepers Cynthia and Lori rope Giles into a boat race while Monica learns the secret of growing the perfect potato.
#19 - Hotel Hubertus, Italian Alps
Season 5 - Episode 8 - Aired 12/24/2023
Monica and Rob discover what it takes to run Hotel Hubertus - a family-run resort which offers spectacular views of the surrounding mountains thanks to its panoramic aspect.
#20 - Reid’s Palace, Madeira
Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 12/7/2021
Monica Galetti and Giles Coren visit Reid’s Palace on Madeira, which first welcomed the world's glamorous elite 130 years ago and is working to keep its silver service traditions alive in the modern world. Giles irons bedspreads in a suite once loved by Winston Churchill, and Monica cleans crabs out of the historic tidal swimming pool. Madeiran food is celebrated with line-fished tuna and fruity ice cream treats called lambayecas for the sunbathers.
#21 - Glenapp Castle, Scotland
Season 5 - Episode 7 - Aired 9/24/2023
In Scotland, Monica Galetti and Rob Rinder discover Glenapp Castle, where guests are treated to a magical stay made possible by a dedicated team of local staff. Monica and Rob are put to work collecting home-grown veg for the kitchens and giving eagle demonstrations in the castle grounds, before joining forces to deliver an intrepid sea safari and a glamping trip to the Hebridean Isle of Jura.
#22 - Anantara Al Jabal Al Akhdar, Oman
Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 3/6/2018
In the second episode, Giles and Monica travel to the Anantara Al Jabal Al Akhdar in Oman. It is the highest five-star hotel in the Middle East and a resort seeking to blend local tradition with modern tastes. Built to resemble an ancient Omani fort, and situated 2,000 metres above sea level on the rim of a dramatic canyon, the hotel has recently made the most of its location by constructing a jaw-dropping via ferrata and zip-wire rope course along the cliff edge. Led by the hotel's mountain guru Maher, Giles and Monica undertake a test-run of the stunning adventure course before it opens to guests, facing 30-metre drops and Giles's prolific fear of heights.
#23 - Joali, Maldives
Season 5 - Episode 2 - Aired 8/13/2023
Monica Galetti and Rob Rinder travel by seaplane to a paradise island in the Indian Ocean. Joali Maldives offers guests a luxury experience despite its remote location, but just how does the Maldivian resort manage it? Rob discovers there are 300 workers hidden in the centre of the island, while Monica uncovers how food is supplied to the island chefs. They realise that delivering paradise is like a giant theatre production.
#24 - Phinda Game Reserve, South Africa
Season 5 - Episode 5 - Aired 9/10/2023
At Phinda Private Game Reserve in South Africa, Monica Galetti and Rob Rinder join forces with the hotel staff to learn how to deliver a luxury safari experience. The hotel is open to wild animals while delivering high luxury, so both wonder and danger are around every corner. Rob is put to work tracking cheetahs and preparing meals for the guests, while Monica wields a machete with the habitat team, learning how to rewild the area before taking some excited guests on a game drive.
#25 - ICEHOTEL, Sweden
Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 5/8/2017
Giles and Monica's final stop-off takes them 120 miles north of the Arctic Circle into Swedish Lapland. Giles joins the artists who craft the rooms from huge blocks of ice while Monica meets the hotel's 82-year-old reindeer-meat supplier.
Watch Now:Amazon