The WORST episodes of The Hotel Inspector
Every episode of The Hotel Inspector ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of The Hotel Inspector!
The series that transforms failing hotels returns with Alex Polizzi at the helm. Alex, whose family owns the renowned Rocco Forte group of hotels, is on a mission to change the fortunes of some of Britain's most calamitous establishments.
#1 - Who'd A Thought It, Kent
Season 8 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/7/2011
In Kent, self-styled showman Joe has been popping champagne corks in the family-owned, eight-bedroom 'champagne and oyster bar with rooms' for the past 23 years. After leaving his London casino job to manage the business, Joe’s aim has been to bring a taste of the four-star city luxury to the quiet Kent countryside. But his ‘unique’ tastes in décor haven’t been to everyone’s liking. Cowhide bedspreads, four-man hot tubs and erotic artwork are just some of the delights facing potential guests at check-in. The poor occupancy rates and dwindling profits tell their own story. Alex has her hands full, trying to convince Joe to embrace some changes to make his hotel a little more 'female friendly'. But when she is asked to spend the night in the ‘Champagne and Shoes’ room with mirrored ceilings and a dance pole, it is clear that Joe’s naked ambition may have gone one step too far…
#2 - Blossoms Guest House
Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 8/3/2006
Ruth visits a York hotel that's getting serious complaints.
#3 - Key West Hotel
Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 7/20/2006
Ruth comes to the aid of a Newquay guesthouse that's overrun by rowdy stags and hens.
#4 - Number Nine
Season 4 - Episode 5 - Aired 8/7/2008
Alex heads to Torquay, which was once home to Britain’s most notorious fictional hotel. The 12-room guesthouse Number Nine is no Fawlty Towers, but it is certainly faulty – losing both guests and money. Owner Rachel Roffe admits she is out of her depth. “A week after I moved here, I remember sitting in the garden, and I just burst into tears and thought, ‘Oh my God, what have I done?’” she recalls.
#5 - Tasburgh House Hotel, Bath (Revisit)
Season 3 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/27/2007
Ruth returns to the Tasburgh House hotel near Bath to see if owner Sue Keeling - a retired air hostess - has managed to turn her fortunes around. Will the business be flying high, or has it been grounded?
#6 - Key West Guest House, Newquay (Revisit)
Season 3 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/13/2007
Ruth finds out if Brian and Gill Scott, owners of the Key West hotel in Newquay, took her advice when she visited them a year previously.
#7 - Woodlands Lodge Hotel, New Forest
Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/22/2007
Ruth heads to the Woodlands Lodge, a 16-bedroom country hotel set deep in the heart of the New Forest. The Woodlands' restaurant has recently lost its coveted AA rosette and a new hotel in the area looks set to ruin the business. Can Ruth help transform the hotel's faded decor and put owners David and Jenny Norbury back on track?
#8 - Merlin Court Hotel, Devon
Season 7 - Episode 5 - Aired 5/16/2011
Alex visits the seaside town of Ilfracombe in Devon. The Shears family has asked for help with the themed Merlin Court Hotel, as rising debts and plummeting occupancy rates threaten to endanger the establishment's future. Dad Mike bought the 14-bedroom hotel 13 years ago, hoping to provide guests with a legendary holiday experience evoking Arthurian legend and the Knights of the Round Table. His wife Helen and daughter Carina play a supporting role in the running of the hotel. Mike hopes that Alex can bring some much-needed magic to the hostelry, but she first has to get the Shears to learn how to work together and fight for their own survival. Can she make the Merlin Court the stuff of legend?
#9 - Worlington Hall Hotel, Suffolk
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/13/2005
Ruth Watson tackles two sisters who have taken on a Suffolk hotel.
#10 - Warwick Hall
Season 16 - Episode 7 - Aired 7/29/2021
Alex Polizzi returns to one of her grandest hotels, Warwick Hall in Cumbria, to find out how it's surviving since her last visit when it was suffering from incredibly low occupancy.
#11 - Beech House Hotel, Reading
Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/13/2007
Ruth attempts to change the fortunes of a hotel in Reading, whose owner is resistant to the idea of altering his prices. Beech House is a 15-bedroom hotel in Reading, owned by businessman Michael Bissell. Michael converted the hotel from a care home four years ago and invested around half a million pounds in the facilities, but so far he has failed to attract guests in Reading’s competitive market. The hotel has lost huge amounts of money and Michael has even had to cash in his pension to keep it afloat. “Because of the losses that I’ve made, it’s been me paying the guests to stay here,” he says. Months away from bankruptcy, he has called in Ruth Watson to help avert disaster.
#12 - Butley Priory, Suffolk
Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/11/2007
Tonight, Ruth visits a bed and breakfast establishment housed in a beautiful medieval priory. The owner is reluctant to share her home with guests, but needs to boost her income to avoid losing the property altogether. Can Ruth persuade her to focus the business on weddings and fashion shoots? Butley Priory is a six-bedroom B&B in a converted 14th-century priory, just a stone’s throw from Ruth’s own hotel in Suffolk. The owner is musician and former model Frances Cavendish, who opened her home to paying guests to make ends meets after her divorce eight years ago. Unfortunately, the rooms often stand empty and Frances is on the brink of selling up. “If we don’t get more guests through the door I’m going to have to call it a day,” she tells Ruth.
#13 - Haven Hotel, Great Yarmouth
Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/15/2007
Ruth comes to the aid of a pair of novice hoteliers in Great Yarmouth, who desperately need a crash course in the hotel business if their guesthouse is to stay open. To see how a hotel should be run, they visit a five-star hotel in their town, before Ruth takes them to her own establishment in Orford.
#14 - The New Lyngarth, Blackpool
Season 8 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/14/2011
Alex Polizzi visits a Blackpool hotelier who has grand plans for his seaside establishment, but a lack of star rating and a string of bad reviews have led to dwindling bookings. Having bought the derelict 15-bedroom property in 2009, the owner spent £250,000 trying to turn it into an upmarket destination more in keeping with a private members' club.
#15 - Tasburgh House Hotel
Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 8/10/2006
Ruth Watson travels to Bath to meet Sue, the owner of an award-winning hotel that has everything but guests.
#16 - Hanmer Arms Revisited
Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 8/17/2006
The Hotel Inspector revisits married couple Keith and Val Morris, who she first met during the first series.
#17 - Saxonia Guest House
Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 7/6/2006
Ruth Watson is trying to drag a faded seaside guesthouse into the 21st century.
#18 - Nandos/Forget-Me-Not Guest House, Stratford
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/29/2005
Award-winning hotelier Ruth Watson is in Stratford-upon-Avon to take on a B&B.
#19 - Brendan Chase, Lake District
Season 7 - Episode 4 - Aired 5/9/2011
The Hotel Inspector is called to the Brendan Chase in the Lake District by sixty-three-year-old former chartered accountant David Maloney. Alex Polizzi is shocked to find a dated B&B with an hotelier to match. Can Alex drag David screaming and kicking into the 21st century? David has run the eleven-bedroom Brendan Chase single-handedly for the past seven years. He keeps a strict, and expansive, set of rules, which are not always popular with guests, especially those with young families. David has also eschewed 21st century technology, with the internet and the credit card largely ignored. David prefers the rather more oldfashioned code of dos and don'ts. Unsurprisingly, the B&B makes puny profits, leaving the outdoors enthusiast chained to the business, unable to afford help with his myriad chores. Alex must find a way to break down David's defences, and try to raise occupancy rates and profits to allow him to start enjoying life once more. Alex struggles to break through David's armour – and when he accuses her of creating a tea stain on his carpet, things get even worse...
#20 - Billy Andy's
Season 19 - Episode 6 - Aired 5/9/2024
Located at the start of the Northern Ireland's stunning Causeway Coastal Route, Billy Andy's is a hotel with a lot going for it. Alex helps owner Eamon make the most of what he's got.
#21 - Hotel Celebrity Revisit
Season 19 - Episode 10 - Aired 6/6/2024
Since Alex visited nine years ago, hotelier Ken has added another property to his Bournemouth enterprise, but are either of them making money? Alex helps to steer them towards profit.
#22 - Loughborough Grange Revisit
Season 19 - Episode 11 - Aired 6/13/2024
Alex Polizzi returns to guesthouse Loughborough Grange. One year on, have husband-and-wife owners Has and Bas capitalised on the boost she gave them or has the business stalled?
#23 - The White Horse, Suffolk
Season 7 - Episode 8 - Aired 6/6/2011
Alex Polizzi has been called in to a picturesque inn in Suffolk, by owners Ann and her husband Paul. The couple have sunk their life savings into the building, but they have not made a profit in years. The inn has eight ensuite bedrooms, a restaurant, bar, cocktail bar, large beer garden... and reputedly several ghosts. Ann and Paul love the business but feel it runs them rather than the other way round, and they have run out of ideas about how to move forward. Alex must get them back on track before it is too late. She has plenty of ideas to help them, but when the hotel manager threatens to quit, she is left banging her head against the antique walls.
#24 - Regency Rooms
Season 13 - Episode 1 - Aired 6/27/2017
Alex Polizzi returns to help a couple with their beach-front business in the Merseyside resort of Southport. John and Mel opened a craft ale bar and started renovating the flats above it into a hostelry despite having no experience. With the residence more of a building site than a boutique hotel, Alex has to get stuck in as the first guests are due in a matter of weeks.
#25 - Langtry Manor Hotel
Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 7/13/2006
Ruth visits a Bournemouth hotel that is torn apart by a feuding mother and daughter.