Hotel Hell (2012) s01e04 Episode Script
Keating Hotel
1 (Gordon) Tonight on Hotel Hell Imagine if a teenage boy designed a hotel.
[Cheers and applause.]
It would look like a Ferrari.
There's a lot of red.
There'd be a chocolate pizza on the menu.
It's like someone's wiped their [bleep.]
with my dough.
And there would be hot waitresses with super short skirts.
Well, this is the Keating Hotel.
It looks like a nightclub out there with those ropes.
It might seem like a teenager's dream, but it's actually the twisted vision of a grown man.
And for the staff who work here I'm at the end of my rope.
I have my days numbered here.
(Gordon) It's a living hell.
[Bleep.]
! Call 9-1-1.
[Sirens blaring.]
Urgently.
[Upbeat rock music.]
[Desk bell rings.]
(male singer) so much for the good times so much for the fun so much for vacation I should've brought my gun hotel, Hotel Hell if you think the beer is rotten you should see the clientèle hotel, Hotel Hell (Gordon) San Diego, California is one of the top five vacation destinations in the U.
S.
And is the home to the Keating Hotel, which lies in the heart of the city's buzzing gas lamp quarter.
(Gordon) The hotel is the brainchild of a local property developer Eddie Kaen.
Everything about the place is just the way he likes it.
The Keating was my vision.
I was at the Ferrari dealer looking at cars, and it kind of just hit me.
Why not have the Ferrari of hotels? (Gordon) But this 35 room boutique hotel is far from living up to guest expectations.
[Female guest.]
Oh, my gosh.
Eddie pitches this as the Ferrari of hotels, but It feels like a hospital.
Sterile, almost.
This is all style and no substance.
I feel like it's a jail.
Like I don't want to take my shoes off.
Ever.
This is, uh, not exactly luxury.
(Gordon) Eddie hired a sports car design company and sank millions into the interior design.
But he spent peanuts on things the hotel really needs.
Let's not use this machine for the sheets, because it has rust in the back.
(Gordon) Making life a misery for his guests and his staff.
I have zero resources.
Pretty much everything there is to do here, I do it.
How glamorous is this? It's, uh, hell operations here, to be honest.
[Toilet sputtering.]
(Gordon) Eddie's constantly adding ideas he's seen elsewhere.
But that's hurting the hotel and the restaurant.
I believe our menu is a [bleep.]
joke.
It's, like, four pages long.
(Dave) Which are all favorites of Eddie's.
But we're not feeding a [bleep.]
million different Eddies.
We're feeding different people.
[Indistinct chatter.]
At the end of the day, I am the owner, right? If there's something I want on the menu, chef's gonna do it.
[Laughs.]
(Brian) Eddie will come in and say "I want a chicken parm slider on the menu, I had one in New York.
" And I say yes.
I have stopped being proud of my food.
(Gordon) The hotel is millions of dollars in debt and struggling to fill the rooms.
So I have my work cut out for me if I'm gonna get this place back on track.
We're losing a lot of money.
It's a nightmare.
But you should be able to handle that.
(Dave) Eddie knows he's losing money.
I just don't think he knows how to fix it.
I don't have any hope that things will get better.
If anything works around here, it's because of pure, dumb luck.
There it is, the Keating.
Wow.
It looks nice on the outside.
Beautiful.
Is that a dog outside? Hello, how are you? Good, how are you? Is that a model dog? Or is he real? No, she's real.
What's her name? Smudge.
Smudge.
My God, she's ugly.
[Dog whimpering.]
It looks like a nightclub out there with those ropes How are we? Hello, how are you? (Gordon) Good to see you.
There's a lot of red.
Wow.
I'm Christos.
Christos, good to see you.
What do you do here? Lifestyle concierge down here at the front desk.
You're going to be advising me for my life, or? You need dinner reservations So you organize everything? Anything you need.
Oh.
Now somebody likes red.
Is that smudge who likes red, or? (Christos) No, it's both the designer and the owner.
Wow.
Wow, wow.
Enjoy your stay.
What floor are we on? We're on the second floor.
Second floor please.
Perfect.
Thank you.
[Car engine revving.]
Right here I like to always stop at the car.
Each floor is a different model car.
(Gordon) Who's obsessed with the super cars? Who is that? The owner.
Oh, really? So right here, this is your room.
Wow.
Yes.
(Gordon) It's so empty.
It's more like a garage than a guest room.
And how much is this a night? 759.
(Gordon) $759.
Wow, that's incredibly expensive.
What is that thing there? [Christos.]
That is actually the jacuzzi tub.
In the middle of the lounge? It is in the middle of the lounge.
Wow.
When they designed the rooms, they took away all the interior walls.
But without sounding stupid, these are car designers.
Correct, they are car designers.
Now they're putting jacuzzis in the middle of suites.
(Gordon) Last time I checked, a living room was for sitting in, not taking a bath.
[Laughs.]
Oh, geez.
How much do these things cost? The jacuzzi tub itself is about $20,000.
You don't take baths in cars! [Laughter.]
This is crazy.
But who wanted all these specially designed? That is the owner That's Eddie.
That's Eddie.
Yes.
This is crazy! It is crazy.
Ooh.
(Gordon) The sports car-inspired furniture looks cheap and it isn't even functional.
It's different than anything else, um Different from a nice hotel room.
Oh, I don't know about that.
Who on earth would want to sit here and sort of Watch your television? And watch the television this close? [Laughs.]
It works, though.
(Gordon) The sheets How come they're all so wrinkled when I haven't even slept in there? Why's that? (Christos) We do them in house.
(Gordon) When you say "we," what do you mean? You don't do laundry.
"Lifestyle" means everything.
Your mouthwash.
[Spits.]
It's like gas.
Sockets all broken and smashed down there.
Someone's left the dirty ones in there.
Plastic plants.
That's outrageous, $800.
Oh, my gosh.
Gordon doesn't like anything about the hotel.
Damn it.
Anything else? If I have any lifestyle needs, I'll call.
Thank you.
Of course.
(Gordon) So far, I'm not impressed with the Keating's pretentious and uncomfortable design.
But maybe it can redeem itself with the one thing every luxury hotel should have Impeccable room service.
I'm starving.
[Phone rings.]
Bonjourno.
The desk, this is Christos.
(Gordon) Hi, Christos, it's Gordon.
What's a little bit bizarre for me is that I'm ordering room service at the front desk.
There's no direct line down to the kitchen? (Christos) There is no direct line down to the kitchen.
The communication between departments isn't really there.
(Christos) So we take care of everything and just make sure it happens.
Listen, I'm starving.
(Gordon) I'll have a tomato soup, please.
And a pizza, um, barbecued chicken.
I'm fascinated to see the chicken Parmesan sliders.
I'll have one of those.
I'll have that up as soon as I can.
Brilliant.
Bye-bye.
Thank you, bye.
[Loud crash, dog whimpering.]
(Gordon) Hello.
Hello.
How are you? How are you? Thank you.
My pleasure.
Wow.
Is this how it's normally served? In a to-go box? Yes.
You pay $800 a night to stay here and you gotta eat your food out of boxes and plastic containers.
Are we short of soup? 'Cause it's not even half full.
That's how we serve it.
That's how it's That much? Yes.
Wow.
It's one cup.
It's like a retirement home.
Is that luxury, do you think? No, not at all.
What would you rather do? Sip that out of a cup? Of course.
We've barely got half a cup.
Um, anyway, I'll dig in.
If there's anything else I can do for you, just go ahead and let us know, okay? Okay, brilliant.
Mm, darling? I'm sorry? You can take that now, it's finished.
Thank you.
My pleasure.
A chicken Parmesan slider.
That's dreadful.
Ugh, [bleep.]
Me.
Now I know why they've got the boxes.
It's a take-away puke box.
Pizza.
Unappetizing, in a box.
Especially when you're spending $800 a night.
(Gordon) This place is obsessed with design but serves room service in plastic containers.
No wonder they can't fill the rooms.
That is not my idea of luxury, let me tell you.
That's embarrassing.
Wow.
(Gordon) How can this place call itself a luxury hotel? I need to get some answers from Eddie, the Keating's owner and visionary.
Hey, how are you? Hey, Gordon, how are you? Good to see you.
This place has been your baby in many ways, and I'm dying to find out the vision, the insight into why.
Give us a little tour.
I bought the building back in 2000.
It was around $6 million.
Did you go to hotel school? No.
You've never run a business before? Not a hotel business, no.
Wow.
So I was actually at the Ferrari dealer looking at cars and stuff, and it kind of hit me.
Why not the Ferrari of hotels? I'm more concerned what you were smoking at the time than what you were thinking.
Why would you take one of the most hi-spec cars anywhere in the world, and turn it into a hotel? (Eddie) I don't know where he's coming from.
But it does piss me off.
I designed the Keating to be the perfect hotel For me.
Not for him.
Where should I start? The floor.
(Gordon) It's all scuffed and marked.
When you have a resin floor, it needs to be updated.
I mean, everything's just marked to hell.
It feels cheap.
Um, the sheets.
You can't call yourself a luxury hotel if you don't have beautifully pressed sheets.
Okay.
What's the idea behind sitting here? So when you have guests, you know, you can sit down and talk.
Yeah, but where's the sofa? Where's the table? Where's the fun? Do you know what hurt the most? I got soup served in a plastic bowl.
There's a chicken Parmesan slider that tasted like it was cooked three days ago.
Who in the [bleep.]
would put a chicken Parmesan slider together? There's things that don't go in sliders.
And chicken parm is one of them.
That was my idea.
But you're laughing, as if it's funny.
And you think because you own the place you can put that in a roll and sell it? (Eddie) I don't know what he's talking about.
This place is not bad.
So I think Gordon's comments were complete bull[bleep.]
.
You're trying to convince me this is your idea of luxury? I don't know what to say.
When was the last time you stayed in a hotel? It's been a while.
You cannot stand there and tell me that there's nothing wrong with this place when you don't even stay in it.
You bought a building, that was your dream.
But it doesn't feel like a dream experience to a guest.
Nowhere [bleep.]
near it.
(Gordon) I'm at the Keating Hotel in San Diego.
And I've just met Eddie the owner who's completely oblivious to the fact that his supercar-inspired hotel is seriously underperforming.
You're the owner.
And you bought a building, that was your dream.
But it doesn't feel like a dream experience to a guest.
Nowhere [bleep.]
near it.
I desperately want to help you.
Only if you start identifying the problems.
Okay.
Could you send that young lady up to clear that dog[bleep.]
out of there, please? [Bleep.]
.
(Gordon) Trust me.
Eddie is not used to honesty like that.
Right now, he looks like a baby that's just had his lollipop stolen.
How are you? Who is this guy? First thing he does, he lays right into me.
That room service was terrible.
Welcome to my world.
He opened the bed up and the sheets were all wrinkled.
Most hotels have those giant ironing things that the sheets go through there.
We don't have that.
(Sandra) I tell Eddie the problems that we have, but it may be sometimes we tell people something and it goes one side to another.
I was in shock.
(Sandra) Maybe Gordon will get him to wake up.
I didn't even know what to say.
That was very embarrassing.
(Gordon) After my meeting with Eddie, I'm ready to see how this so-called luxury hotel runs on a normal night.
Hi there, how are you guys? Are you a luxury-lifestyle concierge as well? No, I am actually Sandra, the gm of the hotel.
You're the general-manager? Yes.
Oh, we haven't met.
How long have you been here? I've been here for six years.
Okay, wow.
So you're here from the beginning.
Mm-hmm.
Wow.
Wow, wow, wow.
I got a lot to tell you.
You've got a lot to tell me.
Yeah.
(Gordon) I bet she does.
Because the Keating seems to have more complaints than guests.
We turned down our bed.
Mm-hmm.
And there's what appears to be a bunch of sand.
There's sand? What do you think of the red? Looks like a brothel.
A bro? You've been in a brothel? I haven't, it's just what I've heard.
Okay, wow.
I can confirm it is like a brothel.
Is it? [Laughs.]
[Laughs.]
Oh, no.
Let me check on that right now.
I'm not sure (Gordon) How can they make a guest wait so long for something that's not even cooked? Their system for room service here is clearly not working.
Taking the orders at the front desk then passing them to the kitchen is madness.
I've never seen anything like this before.
Let's go through the kitchen together.
Okay.
(Gordon) Weirdly, the hotel's restaurant, the merk, is in a separate building around the corner.
Can you believe they've been waiting 45 minutes for a cheese board? I can't believe it, but I'm not surprised.
She looked pretty pissed, huh? She did look pretty pissed.
They sounded pissed the three times they called as well.
Wow.
What is it? Is it a cheese board? Yes.
Where's the [bleep.]
cheese? Is that it? That is it.
How much is that? You're kidding me.
I can guarantee someone's gonna complain about that.
Hello.
How are you, Gordon? My name is Aaron, the manager.
You're the manager, nice to see you.
Nice to meet you, Gordon.
Um, you're the manager of the restaurant? Yes, sir.
That cheese portion there, there's barely two little slivers of cheese.
They waited 45 minutes for it.
And it's like no one gives a [bleep.]
.
Oh, I definitely do now that you've told me.
This is the first time that I've heard of it.
Why would they wait 45 minutes for something that's already? I think the process unfortunately is a little bit slow here.
I think getting up the stairs is a little bit of a challenge.
Why don't you take the call in the kitchen? Oh, in the kitchen itself, we can take that call.
It's definitely an option.
But we've always Would you think that's faster? I think if the hotel takes it, it's just as fast.
(Gordon) So even though the customers are unhappy with the wait that they've had to endure, you don't want to do anything for them? I didn't know how long the customer was waiting until just now.
Wow, okay.
Manager[Bleep.]
Me.
(Gordon) Aaron the restaurant manager isn't taking any responsibility.
If he worked for me, he'd be long gone.
How [bleep.]
weird? How would you rate him out of ten? Can we go into negatives? Aaron is the king of excuses as far as being able to kind of weasel his way out of things.
But I'm not in charge of firing him.
How we doing over here, guys? (Gordon) No wonder the hotel is half-empty.
If they can't get basics like room service and laundry right.
Maybe Sandra the gm can tell me what the hell is going on here.
Sandra.
Right, we haven't had a chance to, uh, catch up.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Thank you.
So all these issues with laundry.
Where is the laundry done? Let me show you.
Please.
Oh, here we are.
So this is the laundry room.
Wow.
Bloody hell.
You have got your work cut out.
These are domestic.
I know.
(Gordon) These washing machines are designed for small families, not a 35-bedroom hotel.
Wow.
No wonder they struggle.
Your lifestyle concierges come in here throughout their day to do laundry and attend the front desk and take room service orders We all do.
This is crazy.
It is insane.
(Gordon) Absolutely crazy.
I don't know how we do it sometimes.
Who presses the sheets? We don't.
We don't have equipment.
So you don't press them? Yes.
Can I show you where we iron the pillowcases? Yeah, so oh, my God, there's somewhere else? You seem to know all these problems, and you're the general manager, but if there's one person who could stop this it's you.
If the owner Well, yes, I can quit.
I can leave to another hotel and go where everything is much better.
It is hell to run this place.
You're a general manager.
Mm-hmm.
Yet you're managing nothing.
I spoke to the owner.
I said this has to change.
What's going on? (Sandra) Gordon is totally right with what he's saying, but it's Eddie being so involved in everything that's the problem.
I have conversations with the owner, talking about what works and what doesn't work in the restaurant.
No matter how many times I say, "you know what, we should not have a book as a menu," Eddie comes up with whatever he wants.
But no one's taking responsibility.
I pulled back my duvet and the sheets were shocking.
$800 a night.
To stay in something pretty mediocre.
You should be ashamed.
I am ashamed.
I am ashamed.
I've gotta get out of here.
Get down to the restaurant.
[Bleep.]
.
(Gordon) Coming up I've never seen anything so [bleep.]
unappetizing.
(Gordon) Things at the Keating go from bad to worse.
(David) I wouldn't serve any of our dishes to my dog.
You okay? (Gordon) And one of the staff reaches breaking point.
Call 9-1-1! Please quickly, 9-1-1! Urgently! [Siren wailing.]
(Gordon) For a so-called luxury hotel, the Keating has been a major disappointment.
[Spits.]
It's like gas.
The owner's misguided vision You're trying to convince me this is your idea of luxury? Is taking its toll on the staff.
It is hell to run this place.
Hopefully the food in the hotel's restaurant is better than it was in my room.
How are you, darling? Table of one, please.
Ooh.
Hey.
Good evening.
How are you? I'm very well, and yourself? Very well, thank you.
Welcome to the merk, my name's David.
David.
So what do you do? I am actually the restaurant manager here.
I thought I just met the restaurant manager.
The little man.
I'm the other restaurant manager.
And the food.
How would you rate the food out of ten? Six.
Six.
(David) I wouldn't serve any of our dishes to my dog.
Chef Brian's kind of given up.
So much has been taken out of Brian's hands by Eddie that I don't think that he has the passion and the drive to be that great anymore.
I'm starting off with "chicken under a brick.
" What does that actually mean? It means it's drier than a bone.
(Gordon) Amazing.
Even the manager thinks the food is terrible here.
And he's not embarrassed to tell me.
And then the cavatappi.
Cavatappi? Yeah, here we go.
With chicken and sundried tomato, mushrooms Ugh.
Not that one? No.
[Bleep.]
, really? Uh, I'm still gonna try it.
So for dessert, I'll go for the chocolate pig, um It's a ten-inch dessert pizza.
Chocolate, strawberries, bacon.
(Gordon) How can I resist that? Thank you very much, indeed.
Thank you.
The table I'm ringing right now, just bring it as it comes, okay? Everything's under fire.
Order up.
That's for Gordon, sir.
All right, what do we have here? (David) This is the brick chicken.
$21 right there.
$21.
Brick chicken.
Yeah, it looks like someone just [bleep.]
a brick.
It's so dry.
Yeah.
I mean, really dry.
That's actually better than usual.
Really? Yeah.
(David) Chicken under a brick is where it should have stayed.
Because it should have never come out of the kitchen.
(Cook) Order up.
Wow.
Pardon my reaching.
Okay.
This is the cavatappi and chicken.
Okay.
Bland, chicken's dry.
Way too much Rosemary and just It's [bleep.]
.
(Gordon) At least I've saved room for dessert.
What you have here is the chocolate pig.
White and dark chocolate, strawberries, bacon.
It's like we've had a crisis with the toilet paper department and someone's wiped their [bleep.]
with my dough.
I mean, it's just I've never seen anything so [bleep.]
unappetizing as a dessert in all my life.
Absolutely.
(Gordon) Bacon and chocolate pizza.
O-m-[bleep.]
-g.
Yeah, he didn't like any of it.
Not one thing.
[Bleep.]
Me.
Is the chef off tonight? No, he's in the back.
He's in the back.
Is he cooking? No.
(Gordon) So he's here, but he's not cooking.
Mm.
I would really like to meet the executive chef.
Chef.
Brian Rutherford, Gordon Ramsay.
Gordon.
How are you? Let's go somewhere out of the line, shall we? Absolutely.
I'm lost for words.
Yeah.
I don't even know where to start.
Why wouldn't you cook for me? Why wouldn't you do that? It's not a question of me not cooking for you.
It's do you want to see what we're doing here and improve it? Because I want this to improve.
You've been here for how long? Five years.
Five years.
But you've been cooking for 30 years? 33 years.
33 years.
I didn't see you on the line, I didn't see you taste anything.
I didn't even see you inspire anybody.
This position is killing me in my soul.
I've just been doing everything that Eddie wanted.
We have too large a menu for the amount of business we do.
If I have 120 items on the menu, and we go 50 people a night, how much of this am I able to prep on a regular basis to have quality But you're the executive chef on the menu.
Yes, I am.
How can you let that food go out with your name above it? Um You can't just give up and almost, you know, abandon the ship before it's sunk.
I'm at the end of my rope.
You're toast.
I'm tired.
But you're an experienced guy.
You okay? Look at me, look at me.
Stand are you okay? Are you on medication? No.
Excuse me, can you get me some water, please? Quickly.
Can you get me a chair, please? A chair.
[Bleep.]
Call 9-1-1.
Please, quickly, 9-1-1.
Come here, [bleep.]
.
Urgently! What happened? Chef's on the floor.
Oh, [bleep.]
.
Are you okay? Call 9-1-1.
[Bleep.]
.
(David) Chef just fell, collapsed.
Can I have some water, please? And a cold cloth.
Urgently.
Just try and stay alert.
[Sirens wailing.]
Look at me, look at me.
Brian! [Sirens wailing.]
(Gordon) Can you get me a chair, please? A chair.
[Bleep.]
, call 9-1-1.
Please, quickly, 9-1-1.
Come here, [bleep.]
.
Chef's on the floor.
Oh, [bleep.]
.
(David) Chef just fell, collapsed.
Just try and stay alert.
Drink some water.
No job is worth this, let me tell you.
[Sirens wailing.]
I was with the gentleman, we were just standing, talking.
And then unfortunately he collapsed and banged his head on the back here.
(Eddie) I am really pissed off at Gordon.
He's stressing everybody out.
Everyone seems to be at their boiling point.
Has he been stressed out for long? I mean, this has put a lot of stress on all of us.
What, me being here? Yeah.
Do not dare to [bleep.]
go anywhere near that I put him in that ambulance.
Got it.
Let me tell you something.
150 items on a [bleep.]
menu the size of a [bleep.]
shoebox could send that man to an early grave, let me tell you.
It's like he's a dead man walking.
(Eddie) Yeah.
What he tried to tell me in a five-minute conversation is that you've overburdened him.
'Cause he does whatever you want.
You pay his salary.
But you're not behind that line.
You have no catering experience, you haven't spent a day in a kitchen.
I've never seen anything so fragmented.
Okay.
It's like you're a little magpie.
A little spoiled [bleep.]
magpie that's going around picking out little bits of glitter and running back and getting your army to expedite it for you.
All that matters right now is that that guy wakes up tomorrow feeling better.
Enough is enough for one day, yeah? Okay.
Thank you.
Goodnight.
[Sirens wailing.]
(Gordon) For me, the most important thing is that he's okay.
But that guy has the world on his shoulders.
And tonight proved that.
(Gordon) What a day yesterday.
The good news is that Brian's out of hospital.
They said it was dehydration and anxiety.
So I'm gonna shoot over to his house, leave the cameras outside, and hopefully have a chat with him.
[Knock on door.]
(Gordon) How are you, sir? (Brian) Come on in.
(Gordon) I'm so glad to see you, you know that.
How are you feeling? (Gordon) You cannot continue driving yourself into the ground like that.
(Gordon) Do you feel well enough to come back to the restaurant today? (Brian) Yeah.
(Gordon) Good.
Let's get you back in there.
And trust me, this time it's on your terms, not Eddie's.
(Brian) Definitely.
(Gordon) Good to see you.
(Gordon) The restaurant is the beating heart of any good hotel.
So the Keating has no chance without chef Brian.
Thankfully, just a couple of hours after I saw him, Brian is back at the hotel.
(Brian) After going to the hospital, I believe that Gordon is totally in my corner saying "get back in there, get it, you got this guy!" (Gordon) Now it's time to get the whole staff together and figure out how to get this hotel back on track.
Thank you all for meeting me.
Am I happy to see you, or what? How are you feeling? More importantly.
I am feeling very good.
Brilliant.
Welcome back.
Thank you very much.
Let's get everything out on the table.
'Cause life's too short to fester I'm here to help.
I just wanna hear it from you guys.
What's wrong with the Keating? The resources.
It's the resources.
I tell Eddie all the time.
Eddie, I can't do my job.
Your front reception desk should not be doing laundry, let me tell you that.
The big concern I have is the room service.
How on earth did we get ourselves in that mess? As the food and beverage manager, tell me why it's going via the reception? It's determined by, you know, Eddie.
Oh, my God.
Don't give me that.
You're not the owner of the place.
I tell you what I want and you guys need to implement it.
Why is the menu so big? (Brian) Because Eddie comes up with ideas.
Eddie sees things.
Eddie has a lot of friends that come in that would like to see more items on the menu.
Yeah.
If I go see something I like from somewhere else, I tell you guys to implement it.
But you're not a chef, he is.
And he needs his identity, and he needs his voice.
I do know Brian doesn't like to say no to me.
You have a general manager, you have a head chef Executive chef.
You have a front desk manager.
You shouldn't get involved.
And I give them ideas, you know.
'Cause I have a vision here, and I give them the ideas.
No.
[Bleep.]
.
I cannot work with you if you're like this.
We have the key players.
There is one little problem we have.
And unfortunately it's you at this point.
(Gordon) After last night's dramatic turn of events [Bleep.]
.
The staff at the Keating have finally found the courage to confront Eddie the owner.
Now there's one question I have to ask.
Tell me.
Who's the most important person at the Keating who is it? Eddie, right? Yeah? The most important person at the Keating Sandra, who is it? I gotta say it's Eddie.
I mean, I believe it would be Eddie.
Eddie.
Sandra.
No, no.
The most important person at the Keating is the guest.
And I think it's all been forgotten about.
And it's more about keeping you, Eddie, happy.
We have to focus on the guest.
I'm here to put this place right.
Understand that.
Eddie and Sandra, just come with me.
(Gordon) If Eddie won't listen to me and he won't listen to his staff, maybe he'll listen to the people who could pay the bills around here.
Eddie, up until now this hotel has always been about you.
Your dream, your vision.
Now it's about the guest.
I want you to meet some very important people.
[Knock on door.]
(Eddie) I'm just really worried right now.
I have no idea who Gordon has in the room.
Hello.
[Guests.]
Hello.
How are you? [Guests.]
Good.
These are guests that have been staying at the Keating.
Over the last 24 to 48 hours.
Oh, [bleep.]
.
(Sandra) When I see all those guests there, I want to run away right now.
I wanted to give you a unique opportunity to hear some very, and I mean very, valuable feedback.
I've also stayed here, and I am frustrated.
But I'm here to get this place back on the map.
Give your little insights please.
What do you think of this luxury hotel? Madam, what would you? I walked into the room and it smelled horrible.
There was rust in the jacuzzi, no water.
Some of the pictures in the room were just lower quality.
Like, the plastic looked a little bit cheap and old.
So it doesn't feel comfortable.
Madam, please.
I just feel like this place was designed kind of form over function.
It was just kind of weird.
Where's one supposed to sit and eat breakfast? In their room? My husband had to stand up this morning to have his breakfast while I took the only chair and sat at the desk.
(Gordon) I'm sorry.
Our room service was, um We ordered a couple of the small pizzas, and they essentially looked like microwaved pizzas.
And then the order was wrong so we called to correct it.
They eventually brought up what we actually ordered, and then in the morning they charged us for both.
(Gordon) Wow, I'm so sorry.
Anybody else? There was some really high-end stuff, and then at the same time, there was just simple amenities that were skipped.
But are you saying there's better at the same price out there? All: Yes.
Yeah Eddie, your baby, your vision.
Um, on the back of that feedback I appreciate the feedback.
(Gordon) I have one question to you all.
Who would return here? Let's do a show of hands.
Who would come back to the Keating? Wow, not one person.
(Eddie) Gordon's comment about it's not what I want, it's what the guests want Wow.
(Eddie) I'm starting to realize that some of the things he's saying actually are true.
I really apologize, and I am looking forward to having you guys in the future.
I can tell you will have a different experience.
Eddie and Sandra, I'm not trying to embarrass you.
Mm-mm.
But this is, for me, critical feedback.
And it's certainly going to get better.
(Eddie) The feedback from the customers was good.
I'm realizing there's more issues than I thought we had.
And just being here over the past couple days, I'm seeing what they are.
I think we can definitely fix them.
And streamline them so the place works a lot more efficiently and all the guests are happy.
Thank you, I appreciate it.
(Gordon) Eddie is starting to see how much things have to change for this place to succeed.
But for the hotel to have a fighting chance of turning a profit, I've got to find a way to reignite chef Brian's love of cooking.
Let's show the gang what we can do, yeah? (Brian) I don't have much passion here anymore.
I'm hoping that Gordon being here will nurse it back.
(Gordon) Right, first thing was the roasted beet and burrata salad.
They've just been seasoned with a little touch of salt and pepper.
And then finished in a little hazelnut vinaigrette.
Scallops.
I like serving scallops with a nice sear.
So a touch of salt, pepper, a little bit of vinaigrette.
I've just made it sort of citrus-y.
Good, sir.
I love it when you get excited like that.
Seeing your energy coming back.
I absolutely love it.
We'll just have a little taste.
Mm.
Are you okay, Brian? You you're killing me.
[Laughs.]
(Gordon) There's two things on the plate.
[Grunts.]
Okay.
You've got the scallops and the onion puree.
(Brian) When I'm on the line with Gordon, the energy level just pops up, and now, I'm, you know, I'm standing a little taller and it's exciting.
(Gordon) Nice.
Happy? Yeah? Good.
So nice to see you smiling, you know that? (Brian) Gordon kind of unlocked the chains that I had allowed to be put on.
I'm with you every step of the way, but you need a voice in here, and your voice is on that plate.
Let it scream.
I love Eddie, but I have to be able to just say, "this is not going to work.
"This is not to the benefit of the hotel, the guests, the restaurant, or anything.
" You can do it.
And I know you can do it.
(Brian) I needed this to remember what I used to do and that there's no limit to what I can do in the future.
(Gordon) Brian and Eddie are both making great strides, and tonight, my design team will move in and try to get this hotel out of the pits.
But first, there's something I've just got to try.
I've got a 25 grand bath, so I might as well use it.
[Sighs.]
[Bath vibrates.]
[Bleep.]
Right, towel please.
[Woman screams.]
(Gordon) It's been a challenging week at the Keating Hotel, a place that was all style and no substance.
But its owner, Eddie, has finally turned a corner.
Good morning.
All: Good morning.
How are we? Good, excellent very good.
(Gordon) It's time to show him and his staff how my design team have transformed the Keating into a place people will actually want to stay.
Okay, good.
Let's be honest, the Keating is a hotel with huge potential, right? Yes.
But you need to focus your attention and energy to the guests that are staying here, yeah? Yes.
Come with me, let me show you the Keating.
Let's go.
Come in.
Welcome.
Wow.
Wow.
That is great.
(Sandra) Oh, my God.
(Aaron) It's all opened up.
Wow, there's no more dominant red.
(Gordon) Read carefully.
All those wonderful configurations of your hands.
Welcome to the Keating.
It's just so beautiful.
Isn't it? It's just such an emotional experience.
You all have a hand in helping the guests feel welcome.
It's amazing.
(Gordon) You disappointed the red is gone? No.
No? No.
(Gordon) It's a brand new, warm, inviting entrance to our hotel.
Ready to see more? Yeah.
Nice, nice, nice.
(Gordon) Come into my suite.
Oh.
Oh, my God! Wow, it's so much nicer.
Oh, wow.
Oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God.
Oh, my God Wow.
(Dave) I am definitely blown away.
Wow.
Oh, my God.
Welcome to what I think is a sophisticated, comfortable, modern suite.
Yeah? (Gordon) Let's start off with that jacuzzi.
If guest would like to take a bath, pull the curtains.
They have a choice.
That's how you embody luxury.
The sofas You can sit down.
You can watch TV three meters away from the screen.
Brian, you've gone quiet on me again.
Jeez.
We thought we were "sleek and cool" and now it's beautiful.
It feels Welcoming.
Come through the bedroom.
Please.
(Eddie) I really like the concept of the made-over suite.
Now it screams the guests.
You get stuck in a perspective sometimes, and you need to take a step back and have someone, you know, come in and show you, and I think that's what Gordon has done.
It's amazing.
Now, something really important.
I've organized a free trial period from a local linen company.
Use it to your advantage.
That means the front desk team doesn't need to waste time doing laundry.
You got more time to focus on the guests.
[Indistinct.]
And, Sandra, you are a gm.
You're not a laundry assistant.
(Sandra) The life of a concierge, you don't have to worry about laundry.
So I am happy.
There's more.
Let's go.
Right, excited? Yes.
Come through.
We have refreshed the menu, okay? (Sandra) Oh, my God.
(Eddie) Wow.
(Gordon) I worked with chef Brian to devise a short new menu that will play to his strengths.
First impressions, visually? It's very vibrant.
The presentation's amazing.
And the good news is two thirds of the menu's gone.
Chef, what do you think? I think that this allows me to speak to the guest.
And Aaron I want you as the food and beverage manager, to take responsibility of room service.
Own it.
And no plastic containers.
I think now we have the proper execution, the proper understanding of the menu with limited small items.
We definitely can execute it a lot quicker, and now I feel a lot more comfortable.
And that, for me, is great news, because it means the front desk is no longer looking after room service or doing laundry.
The can concentrate on looking after the guests.
Yes.
There's one more change we need to do.
You've been wearing a red chef jacket for far too long.
You deserve a white one, let me tell you.
Put that on.
Thank you.
Enjoy it.
I certainly will.
(Brian) I'm feeling great.
I'm no longer Eddie's chef in the red jacket.
I'm the chef of the merk bistro.
In white.
It's not Eddie's favorite color, but it is a proper chef's jacket.
You perform like one, you deserve it.
Make it yours.
Thank you, Gordon.
Well done.
(Eddie) This is the kind of energy you want to see every day.
So you know what? As long as they're doing their jobs, I have no problem with them saying "no" to me anymore.
(Gordon) Big night tonight.
It's gonna be a packed restaurant.
You've got to remember you're all team Keating.
I know you can do it.
Oh, absolutely.
Absolutely.
(Gordon) Guests are arriving for the relaunch of the Keating Hotel.
Hi, guys, how are you? Good, how are you? (Gordon) And the first impressions are very positive.
This is really nice.
You like it? Oh, yeah.
Oh, this is beautiful.
Whoa.
(Gordon) At long last, the front desk can focus on welcoming guests.
(Cindy) How are you? Welcome.
I'm Cindy, pleasure to meet you.
(Gordon) And the hotel's new white lobby is a great improvement.
Wasn't this all red? And before it looked like a bus station.
And now it looks like a hotel.
It looks much more inviting.
(Gordon) At the restaurant Aaron is finally stepping up.
You're gonna follow her, right? (Gordon) And taking a new hands-on approach to room service.
Go on.
Go on.
Come on, quick.
And not a plastic container in sight.
Mr.
Hanks, right? Yeah, hi.
Excellent.
We've got room service over here for you.
(Gordon) The simplified menu has brought Brian back to life.
I want the most gorgeous plates in the world coming up in this window.
(Gordon) That's good news for the diners.
So beautiful.
It's very tender.
It's, like, I don't even need this knife.
This is a joint where you don't need ketchup, because it's perfectly seasoned.
(Gordon) And for the future of Eddie and the Keating.
Keep it going.
That's amazing.
Oh, my gosh, look how tender that is.
It's perfect.
(Brian) If I had one thing to say to Gordon right now, it's just, "thanks.
" All right, ladies and gentlemen, it's our last ticket out.
I've been really lost here, and you've woken me up.
Great job.
New day.
New day.
And reminded me of who I am.
[Chuckles.]
This place was all about Eddie's dream of what a hotel should be like.
But he forgot the most important person.
The guest.
I'm just hoping that Eddie can trust his staff and let them work as a team, because this is a place I'd love to come back to.
(Gordon) Okay.
Right.
Sandra.
You are a great general manager.
Don't stop being one, okay? Gordon, thank you.
Thank you so much, thank you so much.
I'm proud to be the general manager of the Keating Hotel.
Give me a hug.
Come on.
[All laugh.]
Well done, seriously.
You can do the food and beverage.
You can handle the room service easily.
And my God.
I mean, you bounced back from the dead.
Let me tell you.
Literally.
Literally.
Make it yours.
Oh, it is mine.
Okay, well done.
And do not change that jacket.
Okay? White suits you.
You know that.
And let your team run your business, okay? (Eddie) I think this experience with Gordon was life-changing for everyone here.
What you did to get the team back together, I mean, I'm telling you, no one could have done.
This place is on the road.
Good luck.
I can't wait to come back.
(Eddie) It's one of those experiences you'll never forget.
Good job, guys.
Sometimes you have to trust me.
No.
No.
No! All: No!
[Cheers and applause.]
It would look like a Ferrari.
There's a lot of red.
There'd be a chocolate pizza on the menu.
It's like someone's wiped their [bleep.]
with my dough.
And there would be hot waitresses with super short skirts.
Well, this is the Keating Hotel.
It looks like a nightclub out there with those ropes.
It might seem like a teenager's dream, but it's actually the twisted vision of a grown man.
And for the staff who work here I'm at the end of my rope.
I have my days numbered here.
(Gordon) It's a living hell.
[Bleep.]
! Call 9-1-1.
[Sirens blaring.]
Urgently.
[Upbeat rock music.]
[Desk bell rings.]
(male singer) so much for the good times so much for the fun so much for vacation I should've brought my gun hotel, Hotel Hell if you think the beer is rotten you should see the clientèle hotel, Hotel Hell (Gordon) San Diego, California is one of the top five vacation destinations in the U.
S.
And is the home to the Keating Hotel, which lies in the heart of the city's buzzing gas lamp quarter.
(Gordon) The hotel is the brainchild of a local property developer Eddie Kaen.
Everything about the place is just the way he likes it.
The Keating was my vision.
I was at the Ferrari dealer looking at cars, and it kind of just hit me.
Why not have the Ferrari of hotels? (Gordon) But this 35 room boutique hotel is far from living up to guest expectations.
[Female guest.]
Oh, my gosh.
Eddie pitches this as the Ferrari of hotels, but It feels like a hospital.
Sterile, almost.
This is all style and no substance.
I feel like it's a jail.
Like I don't want to take my shoes off.
Ever.
This is, uh, not exactly luxury.
(Gordon) Eddie hired a sports car design company and sank millions into the interior design.
But he spent peanuts on things the hotel really needs.
Let's not use this machine for the sheets, because it has rust in the back.
(Gordon) Making life a misery for his guests and his staff.
I have zero resources.
Pretty much everything there is to do here, I do it.
How glamorous is this? It's, uh, hell operations here, to be honest.
[Toilet sputtering.]
(Gordon) Eddie's constantly adding ideas he's seen elsewhere.
But that's hurting the hotel and the restaurant.
I believe our menu is a [bleep.]
joke.
It's, like, four pages long.
(Dave) Which are all favorites of Eddie's.
But we're not feeding a [bleep.]
million different Eddies.
We're feeding different people.
[Indistinct chatter.]
At the end of the day, I am the owner, right? If there's something I want on the menu, chef's gonna do it.
[Laughs.]
(Brian) Eddie will come in and say "I want a chicken parm slider on the menu, I had one in New York.
" And I say yes.
I have stopped being proud of my food.
(Gordon) The hotel is millions of dollars in debt and struggling to fill the rooms.
So I have my work cut out for me if I'm gonna get this place back on track.
We're losing a lot of money.
It's a nightmare.
But you should be able to handle that.
(Dave) Eddie knows he's losing money.
I just don't think he knows how to fix it.
I don't have any hope that things will get better.
If anything works around here, it's because of pure, dumb luck.
There it is, the Keating.
Wow.
It looks nice on the outside.
Beautiful.
Is that a dog outside? Hello, how are you? Good, how are you? Is that a model dog? Or is he real? No, she's real.
What's her name? Smudge.
Smudge.
My God, she's ugly.
[Dog whimpering.]
It looks like a nightclub out there with those ropes How are we? Hello, how are you? (Gordon) Good to see you.
There's a lot of red.
Wow.
I'm Christos.
Christos, good to see you.
What do you do here? Lifestyle concierge down here at the front desk.
You're going to be advising me for my life, or? You need dinner reservations So you organize everything? Anything you need.
Oh.
Now somebody likes red.
Is that smudge who likes red, or? (Christos) No, it's both the designer and the owner.
Wow.
Wow, wow.
Enjoy your stay.
What floor are we on? We're on the second floor.
Second floor please.
Perfect.
Thank you.
[Car engine revving.]
Right here I like to always stop at the car.
Each floor is a different model car.
(Gordon) Who's obsessed with the super cars? Who is that? The owner.
Oh, really? So right here, this is your room.
Wow.
Yes.
(Gordon) It's so empty.
It's more like a garage than a guest room.
And how much is this a night? 759.
(Gordon) $759.
Wow, that's incredibly expensive.
What is that thing there? [Christos.]
That is actually the jacuzzi tub.
In the middle of the lounge? It is in the middle of the lounge.
Wow.
When they designed the rooms, they took away all the interior walls.
But without sounding stupid, these are car designers.
Correct, they are car designers.
Now they're putting jacuzzis in the middle of suites.
(Gordon) Last time I checked, a living room was for sitting in, not taking a bath.
[Laughs.]
Oh, geez.
How much do these things cost? The jacuzzi tub itself is about $20,000.
You don't take baths in cars! [Laughter.]
This is crazy.
But who wanted all these specially designed? That is the owner That's Eddie.
That's Eddie.
Yes.
This is crazy! It is crazy.
Ooh.
(Gordon) The sports car-inspired furniture looks cheap and it isn't even functional.
It's different than anything else, um Different from a nice hotel room.
Oh, I don't know about that.
Who on earth would want to sit here and sort of Watch your television? And watch the television this close? [Laughs.]
It works, though.
(Gordon) The sheets How come they're all so wrinkled when I haven't even slept in there? Why's that? (Christos) We do them in house.
(Gordon) When you say "we," what do you mean? You don't do laundry.
"Lifestyle" means everything.
Your mouthwash.
[Spits.]
It's like gas.
Sockets all broken and smashed down there.
Someone's left the dirty ones in there.
Plastic plants.
That's outrageous, $800.
Oh, my gosh.
Gordon doesn't like anything about the hotel.
Damn it.
Anything else? If I have any lifestyle needs, I'll call.
Thank you.
Of course.
(Gordon) So far, I'm not impressed with the Keating's pretentious and uncomfortable design.
But maybe it can redeem itself with the one thing every luxury hotel should have Impeccable room service.
I'm starving.
[Phone rings.]
Bonjourno.
The desk, this is Christos.
(Gordon) Hi, Christos, it's Gordon.
What's a little bit bizarre for me is that I'm ordering room service at the front desk.
There's no direct line down to the kitchen? (Christos) There is no direct line down to the kitchen.
The communication between departments isn't really there.
(Christos) So we take care of everything and just make sure it happens.
Listen, I'm starving.
(Gordon) I'll have a tomato soup, please.
And a pizza, um, barbecued chicken.
I'm fascinated to see the chicken Parmesan sliders.
I'll have one of those.
I'll have that up as soon as I can.
Brilliant.
Bye-bye.
Thank you, bye.
[Loud crash, dog whimpering.]
(Gordon) Hello.
Hello.
How are you? How are you? Thank you.
My pleasure.
Wow.
Is this how it's normally served? In a to-go box? Yes.
You pay $800 a night to stay here and you gotta eat your food out of boxes and plastic containers.
Are we short of soup? 'Cause it's not even half full.
That's how we serve it.
That's how it's That much? Yes.
Wow.
It's one cup.
It's like a retirement home.
Is that luxury, do you think? No, not at all.
What would you rather do? Sip that out of a cup? Of course.
We've barely got half a cup.
Um, anyway, I'll dig in.
If there's anything else I can do for you, just go ahead and let us know, okay? Okay, brilliant.
Mm, darling? I'm sorry? You can take that now, it's finished.
Thank you.
My pleasure.
A chicken Parmesan slider.
That's dreadful.
Ugh, [bleep.]
Me.
Now I know why they've got the boxes.
It's a take-away puke box.
Pizza.
Unappetizing, in a box.
Especially when you're spending $800 a night.
(Gordon) This place is obsessed with design but serves room service in plastic containers.
No wonder they can't fill the rooms.
That is not my idea of luxury, let me tell you.
That's embarrassing.
Wow.
(Gordon) How can this place call itself a luxury hotel? I need to get some answers from Eddie, the Keating's owner and visionary.
Hey, how are you? Hey, Gordon, how are you? Good to see you.
This place has been your baby in many ways, and I'm dying to find out the vision, the insight into why.
Give us a little tour.
I bought the building back in 2000.
It was around $6 million.
Did you go to hotel school? No.
You've never run a business before? Not a hotel business, no.
Wow.
So I was actually at the Ferrari dealer looking at cars and stuff, and it kind of hit me.
Why not the Ferrari of hotels? I'm more concerned what you were smoking at the time than what you were thinking.
Why would you take one of the most hi-spec cars anywhere in the world, and turn it into a hotel? (Eddie) I don't know where he's coming from.
But it does piss me off.
I designed the Keating to be the perfect hotel For me.
Not for him.
Where should I start? The floor.
(Gordon) It's all scuffed and marked.
When you have a resin floor, it needs to be updated.
I mean, everything's just marked to hell.
It feels cheap.
Um, the sheets.
You can't call yourself a luxury hotel if you don't have beautifully pressed sheets.
Okay.
What's the idea behind sitting here? So when you have guests, you know, you can sit down and talk.
Yeah, but where's the sofa? Where's the table? Where's the fun? Do you know what hurt the most? I got soup served in a plastic bowl.
There's a chicken Parmesan slider that tasted like it was cooked three days ago.
Who in the [bleep.]
would put a chicken Parmesan slider together? There's things that don't go in sliders.
And chicken parm is one of them.
That was my idea.
But you're laughing, as if it's funny.
And you think because you own the place you can put that in a roll and sell it? (Eddie) I don't know what he's talking about.
This place is not bad.
So I think Gordon's comments were complete bull[bleep.]
.
You're trying to convince me this is your idea of luxury? I don't know what to say.
When was the last time you stayed in a hotel? It's been a while.
You cannot stand there and tell me that there's nothing wrong with this place when you don't even stay in it.
You bought a building, that was your dream.
But it doesn't feel like a dream experience to a guest.
Nowhere [bleep.]
near it.
(Gordon) I'm at the Keating Hotel in San Diego.
And I've just met Eddie the owner who's completely oblivious to the fact that his supercar-inspired hotel is seriously underperforming.
You're the owner.
And you bought a building, that was your dream.
But it doesn't feel like a dream experience to a guest.
Nowhere [bleep.]
near it.
I desperately want to help you.
Only if you start identifying the problems.
Okay.
Could you send that young lady up to clear that dog[bleep.]
out of there, please? [Bleep.]
.
(Gordon) Trust me.
Eddie is not used to honesty like that.
Right now, he looks like a baby that's just had his lollipop stolen.
How are you? Who is this guy? First thing he does, he lays right into me.
That room service was terrible.
Welcome to my world.
He opened the bed up and the sheets were all wrinkled.
Most hotels have those giant ironing things that the sheets go through there.
We don't have that.
(Sandra) I tell Eddie the problems that we have, but it may be sometimes we tell people something and it goes one side to another.
I was in shock.
(Sandra) Maybe Gordon will get him to wake up.
I didn't even know what to say.
That was very embarrassing.
(Gordon) After my meeting with Eddie, I'm ready to see how this so-called luxury hotel runs on a normal night.
Hi there, how are you guys? Are you a luxury-lifestyle concierge as well? No, I am actually Sandra, the gm of the hotel.
You're the general-manager? Yes.
Oh, we haven't met.
How long have you been here? I've been here for six years.
Okay, wow.
So you're here from the beginning.
Mm-hmm.
Wow.
Wow, wow, wow.
I got a lot to tell you.
You've got a lot to tell me.
Yeah.
(Gordon) I bet she does.
Because the Keating seems to have more complaints than guests.
We turned down our bed.
Mm-hmm.
And there's what appears to be a bunch of sand.
There's sand? What do you think of the red? Looks like a brothel.
A bro? You've been in a brothel? I haven't, it's just what I've heard.
Okay, wow.
I can confirm it is like a brothel.
Is it? [Laughs.]
[Laughs.]
Oh, no.
Let me check on that right now.
I'm not sure (Gordon) How can they make a guest wait so long for something that's not even cooked? Their system for room service here is clearly not working.
Taking the orders at the front desk then passing them to the kitchen is madness.
I've never seen anything like this before.
Let's go through the kitchen together.
Okay.
(Gordon) Weirdly, the hotel's restaurant, the merk, is in a separate building around the corner.
Can you believe they've been waiting 45 minutes for a cheese board? I can't believe it, but I'm not surprised.
She looked pretty pissed, huh? She did look pretty pissed.
They sounded pissed the three times they called as well.
Wow.
What is it? Is it a cheese board? Yes.
Where's the [bleep.]
cheese? Is that it? That is it.
How much is that? You're kidding me.
I can guarantee someone's gonna complain about that.
Hello.
How are you, Gordon? My name is Aaron, the manager.
You're the manager, nice to see you.
Nice to meet you, Gordon.
Um, you're the manager of the restaurant? Yes, sir.
That cheese portion there, there's barely two little slivers of cheese.
They waited 45 minutes for it.
And it's like no one gives a [bleep.]
.
Oh, I definitely do now that you've told me.
This is the first time that I've heard of it.
Why would they wait 45 minutes for something that's already? I think the process unfortunately is a little bit slow here.
I think getting up the stairs is a little bit of a challenge.
Why don't you take the call in the kitchen? Oh, in the kitchen itself, we can take that call.
It's definitely an option.
But we've always Would you think that's faster? I think if the hotel takes it, it's just as fast.
(Gordon) So even though the customers are unhappy with the wait that they've had to endure, you don't want to do anything for them? I didn't know how long the customer was waiting until just now.
Wow, okay.
Manager[Bleep.]
Me.
(Gordon) Aaron the restaurant manager isn't taking any responsibility.
If he worked for me, he'd be long gone.
How [bleep.]
weird? How would you rate him out of ten? Can we go into negatives? Aaron is the king of excuses as far as being able to kind of weasel his way out of things.
But I'm not in charge of firing him.
How we doing over here, guys? (Gordon) No wonder the hotel is half-empty.
If they can't get basics like room service and laundry right.
Maybe Sandra the gm can tell me what the hell is going on here.
Sandra.
Right, we haven't had a chance to, uh, catch up.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Thank you.
So all these issues with laundry.
Where is the laundry done? Let me show you.
Please.
Oh, here we are.
So this is the laundry room.
Wow.
Bloody hell.
You have got your work cut out.
These are domestic.
I know.
(Gordon) These washing machines are designed for small families, not a 35-bedroom hotel.
Wow.
No wonder they struggle.
Your lifestyle concierges come in here throughout their day to do laundry and attend the front desk and take room service orders We all do.
This is crazy.
It is insane.
(Gordon) Absolutely crazy.
I don't know how we do it sometimes.
Who presses the sheets? We don't.
We don't have equipment.
So you don't press them? Yes.
Can I show you where we iron the pillowcases? Yeah, so oh, my God, there's somewhere else? You seem to know all these problems, and you're the general manager, but if there's one person who could stop this it's you.
If the owner Well, yes, I can quit.
I can leave to another hotel and go where everything is much better.
It is hell to run this place.
You're a general manager.
Mm-hmm.
Yet you're managing nothing.
I spoke to the owner.
I said this has to change.
What's going on? (Sandra) Gordon is totally right with what he's saying, but it's Eddie being so involved in everything that's the problem.
I have conversations with the owner, talking about what works and what doesn't work in the restaurant.
No matter how many times I say, "you know what, we should not have a book as a menu," Eddie comes up with whatever he wants.
But no one's taking responsibility.
I pulled back my duvet and the sheets were shocking.
$800 a night.
To stay in something pretty mediocre.
You should be ashamed.
I am ashamed.
I am ashamed.
I've gotta get out of here.
Get down to the restaurant.
[Bleep.]
.
(Gordon) Coming up I've never seen anything so [bleep.]
unappetizing.
(Gordon) Things at the Keating go from bad to worse.
(David) I wouldn't serve any of our dishes to my dog.
You okay? (Gordon) And one of the staff reaches breaking point.
Call 9-1-1! Please quickly, 9-1-1! Urgently! [Siren wailing.]
(Gordon) For a so-called luxury hotel, the Keating has been a major disappointment.
[Spits.]
It's like gas.
The owner's misguided vision You're trying to convince me this is your idea of luxury? Is taking its toll on the staff.
It is hell to run this place.
Hopefully the food in the hotel's restaurant is better than it was in my room.
How are you, darling? Table of one, please.
Ooh.
Hey.
Good evening.
How are you? I'm very well, and yourself? Very well, thank you.
Welcome to the merk, my name's David.
David.
So what do you do? I am actually the restaurant manager here.
I thought I just met the restaurant manager.
The little man.
I'm the other restaurant manager.
And the food.
How would you rate the food out of ten? Six.
Six.
(David) I wouldn't serve any of our dishes to my dog.
Chef Brian's kind of given up.
So much has been taken out of Brian's hands by Eddie that I don't think that he has the passion and the drive to be that great anymore.
I'm starting off with "chicken under a brick.
" What does that actually mean? It means it's drier than a bone.
(Gordon) Amazing.
Even the manager thinks the food is terrible here.
And he's not embarrassed to tell me.
And then the cavatappi.
Cavatappi? Yeah, here we go.
With chicken and sundried tomato, mushrooms Ugh.
Not that one? No.
[Bleep.]
, really? Uh, I'm still gonna try it.
So for dessert, I'll go for the chocolate pig, um It's a ten-inch dessert pizza.
Chocolate, strawberries, bacon.
(Gordon) How can I resist that? Thank you very much, indeed.
Thank you.
The table I'm ringing right now, just bring it as it comes, okay? Everything's under fire.
Order up.
That's for Gordon, sir.
All right, what do we have here? (David) This is the brick chicken.
$21 right there.
$21.
Brick chicken.
Yeah, it looks like someone just [bleep.]
a brick.
It's so dry.
Yeah.
I mean, really dry.
That's actually better than usual.
Really? Yeah.
(David) Chicken under a brick is where it should have stayed.
Because it should have never come out of the kitchen.
(Cook) Order up.
Wow.
Pardon my reaching.
Okay.
This is the cavatappi and chicken.
Okay.
Bland, chicken's dry.
Way too much Rosemary and just It's [bleep.]
.
(Gordon) At least I've saved room for dessert.
What you have here is the chocolate pig.
White and dark chocolate, strawberries, bacon.
It's like we've had a crisis with the toilet paper department and someone's wiped their [bleep.]
with my dough.
I mean, it's just I've never seen anything so [bleep.]
unappetizing as a dessert in all my life.
Absolutely.
(Gordon) Bacon and chocolate pizza.
O-m-[bleep.]
-g.
Yeah, he didn't like any of it.
Not one thing.
[Bleep.]
Me.
Is the chef off tonight? No, he's in the back.
He's in the back.
Is he cooking? No.
(Gordon) So he's here, but he's not cooking.
Mm.
I would really like to meet the executive chef.
Chef.
Brian Rutherford, Gordon Ramsay.
Gordon.
How are you? Let's go somewhere out of the line, shall we? Absolutely.
I'm lost for words.
Yeah.
I don't even know where to start.
Why wouldn't you cook for me? Why wouldn't you do that? It's not a question of me not cooking for you.
It's do you want to see what we're doing here and improve it? Because I want this to improve.
You've been here for how long? Five years.
Five years.
But you've been cooking for 30 years? 33 years.
33 years.
I didn't see you on the line, I didn't see you taste anything.
I didn't even see you inspire anybody.
This position is killing me in my soul.
I've just been doing everything that Eddie wanted.
We have too large a menu for the amount of business we do.
If I have 120 items on the menu, and we go 50 people a night, how much of this am I able to prep on a regular basis to have quality But you're the executive chef on the menu.
Yes, I am.
How can you let that food go out with your name above it? Um You can't just give up and almost, you know, abandon the ship before it's sunk.
I'm at the end of my rope.
You're toast.
I'm tired.
But you're an experienced guy.
You okay? Look at me, look at me.
Stand are you okay? Are you on medication? No.
Excuse me, can you get me some water, please? Quickly.
Can you get me a chair, please? A chair.
[Bleep.]
Call 9-1-1.
Please, quickly, 9-1-1.
Come here, [bleep.]
.
Urgently! What happened? Chef's on the floor.
Oh, [bleep.]
.
Are you okay? Call 9-1-1.
[Bleep.]
.
(David) Chef just fell, collapsed.
Can I have some water, please? And a cold cloth.
Urgently.
Just try and stay alert.
[Sirens wailing.]
Look at me, look at me.
Brian! [Sirens wailing.]
(Gordon) Can you get me a chair, please? A chair.
[Bleep.]
, call 9-1-1.
Please, quickly, 9-1-1.
Come here, [bleep.]
.
Chef's on the floor.
Oh, [bleep.]
.
(David) Chef just fell, collapsed.
Just try and stay alert.
Drink some water.
No job is worth this, let me tell you.
[Sirens wailing.]
I was with the gentleman, we were just standing, talking.
And then unfortunately he collapsed and banged his head on the back here.
(Eddie) I am really pissed off at Gordon.
He's stressing everybody out.
Everyone seems to be at their boiling point.
Has he been stressed out for long? I mean, this has put a lot of stress on all of us.
What, me being here? Yeah.
Do not dare to [bleep.]
go anywhere near that I put him in that ambulance.
Got it.
Let me tell you something.
150 items on a [bleep.]
menu the size of a [bleep.]
shoebox could send that man to an early grave, let me tell you.
It's like he's a dead man walking.
(Eddie) Yeah.
What he tried to tell me in a five-minute conversation is that you've overburdened him.
'Cause he does whatever you want.
You pay his salary.
But you're not behind that line.
You have no catering experience, you haven't spent a day in a kitchen.
I've never seen anything so fragmented.
Okay.
It's like you're a little magpie.
A little spoiled [bleep.]
magpie that's going around picking out little bits of glitter and running back and getting your army to expedite it for you.
All that matters right now is that that guy wakes up tomorrow feeling better.
Enough is enough for one day, yeah? Okay.
Thank you.
Goodnight.
[Sirens wailing.]
(Gordon) For me, the most important thing is that he's okay.
But that guy has the world on his shoulders.
And tonight proved that.
(Gordon) What a day yesterday.
The good news is that Brian's out of hospital.
They said it was dehydration and anxiety.
So I'm gonna shoot over to his house, leave the cameras outside, and hopefully have a chat with him.
[Knock on door.]
(Gordon) How are you, sir? (Brian) Come on in.
(Gordon) I'm so glad to see you, you know that.
How are you feeling? (Gordon) You cannot continue driving yourself into the ground like that.
(Gordon) Do you feel well enough to come back to the restaurant today? (Brian) Yeah.
(Gordon) Good.
Let's get you back in there.
And trust me, this time it's on your terms, not Eddie's.
(Brian) Definitely.
(Gordon) Good to see you.
(Gordon) The restaurant is the beating heart of any good hotel.
So the Keating has no chance without chef Brian.
Thankfully, just a couple of hours after I saw him, Brian is back at the hotel.
(Brian) After going to the hospital, I believe that Gordon is totally in my corner saying "get back in there, get it, you got this guy!" (Gordon) Now it's time to get the whole staff together and figure out how to get this hotel back on track.
Thank you all for meeting me.
Am I happy to see you, or what? How are you feeling? More importantly.
I am feeling very good.
Brilliant.
Welcome back.
Thank you very much.
Let's get everything out on the table.
'Cause life's too short to fester I'm here to help.
I just wanna hear it from you guys.
What's wrong with the Keating? The resources.
It's the resources.
I tell Eddie all the time.
Eddie, I can't do my job.
Your front reception desk should not be doing laundry, let me tell you that.
The big concern I have is the room service.
How on earth did we get ourselves in that mess? As the food and beverage manager, tell me why it's going via the reception? It's determined by, you know, Eddie.
Oh, my God.
Don't give me that.
You're not the owner of the place.
I tell you what I want and you guys need to implement it.
Why is the menu so big? (Brian) Because Eddie comes up with ideas.
Eddie sees things.
Eddie has a lot of friends that come in that would like to see more items on the menu.
Yeah.
If I go see something I like from somewhere else, I tell you guys to implement it.
But you're not a chef, he is.
And he needs his identity, and he needs his voice.
I do know Brian doesn't like to say no to me.
You have a general manager, you have a head chef Executive chef.
You have a front desk manager.
You shouldn't get involved.
And I give them ideas, you know.
'Cause I have a vision here, and I give them the ideas.
No.
[Bleep.]
.
I cannot work with you if you're like this.
We have the key players.
There is one little problem we have.
And unfortunately it's you at this point.
(Gordon) After last night's dramatic turn of events [Bleep.]
.
The staff at the Keating have finally found the courage to confront Eddie the owner.
Now there's one question I have to ask.
Tell me.
Who's the most important person at the Keating who is it? Eddie, right? Yeah? The most important person at the Keating Sandra, who is it? I gotta say it's Eddie.
I mean, I believe it would be Eddie.
Eddie.
Sandra.
No, no.
The most important person at the Keating is the guest.
And I think it's all been forgotten about.
And it's more about keeping you, Eddie, happy.
We have to focus on the guest.
I'm here to put this place right.
Understand that.
Eddie and Sandra, just come with me.
(Gordon) If Eddie won't listen to me and he won't listen to his staff, maybe he'll listen to the people who could pay the bills around here.
Eddie, up until now this hotel has always been about you.
Your dream, your vision.
Now it's about the guest.
I want you to meet some very important people.
[Knock on door.]
(Eddie) I'm just really worried right now.
I have no idea who Gordon has in the room.
Hello.
[Guests.]
Hello.
How are you? [Guests.]
Good.
These are guests that have been staying at the Keating.
Over the last 24 to 48 hours.
Oh, [bleep.]
.
(Sandra) When I see all those guests there, I want to run away right now.
I wanted to give you a unique opportunity to hear some very, and I mean very, valuable feedback.
I've also stayed here, and I am frustrated.
But I'm here to get this place back on the map.
Give your little insights please.
What do you think of this luxury hotel? Madam, what would you? I walked into the room and it smelled horrible.
There was rust in the jacuzzi, no water.
Some of the pictures in the room were just lower quality.
Like, the plastic looked a little bit cheap and old.
So it doesn't feel comfortable.
Madam, please.
I just feel like this place was designed kind of form over function.
It was just kind of weird.
Where's one supposed to sit and eat breakfast? In their room? My husband had to stand up this morning to have his breakfast while I took the only chair and sat at the desk.
(Gordon) I'm sorry.
Our room service was, um We ordered a couple of the small pizzas, and they essentially looked like microwaved pizzas.
And then the order was wrong so we called to correct it.
They eventually brought up what we actually ordered, and then in the morning they charged us for both.
(Gordon) Wow, I'm so sorry.
Anybody else? There was some really high-end stuff, and then at the same time, there was just simple amenities that were skipped.
But are you saying there's better at the same price out there? All: Yes.
Yeah Eddie, your baby, your vision.
Um, on the back of that feedback I appreciate the feedback.
(Gordon) I have one question to you all.
Who would return here? Let's do a show of hands.
Who would come back to the Keating? Wow, not one person.
(Eddie) Gordon's comment about it's not what I want, it's what the guests want Wow.
(Eddie) I'm starting to realize that some of the things he's saying actually are true.
I really apologize, and I am looking forward to having you guys in the future.
I can tell you will have a different experience.
Eddie and Sandra, I'm not trying to embarrass you.
Mm-mm.
But this is, for me, critical feedback.
And it's certainly going to get better.
(Eddie) The feedback from the customers was good.
I'm realizing there's more issues than I thought we had.
And just being here over the past couple days, I'm seeing what they are.
I think we can definitely fix them.
And streamline them so the place works a lot more efficiently and all the guests are happy.
Thank you, I appreciate it.
(Gordon) Eddie is starting to see how much things have to change for this place to succeed.
But for the hotel to have a fighting chance of turning a profit, I've got to find a way to reignite chef Brian's love of cooking.
Let's show the gang what we can do, yeah? (Brian) I don't have much passion here anymore.
I'm hoping that Gordon being here will nurse it back.
(Gordon) Right, first thing was the roasted beet and burrata salad.
They've just been seasoned with a little touch of salt and pepper.
And then finished in a little hazelnut vinaigrette.
Scallops.
I like serving scallops with a nice sear.
So a touch of salt, pepper, a little bit of vinaigrette.
I've just made it sort of citrus-y.
Good, sir.
I love it when you get excited like that.
Seeing your energy coming back.
I absolutely love it.
We'll just have a little taste.
Mm.
Are you okay, Brian? You you're killing me.
[Laughs.]
(Gordon) There's two things on the plate.
[Grunts.]
Okay.
You've got the scallops and the onion puree.
(Brian) When I'm on the line with Gordon, the energy level just pops up, and now, I'm, you know, I'm standing a little taller and it's exciting.
(Gordon) Nice.
Happy? Yeah? Good.
So nice to see you smiling, you know that? (Brian) Gordon kind of unlocked the chains that I had allowed to be put on.
I'm with you every step of the way, but you need a voice in here, and your voice is on that plate.
Let it scream.
I love Eddie, but I have to be able to just say, "this is not going to work.
"This is not to the benefit of the hotel, the guests, the restaurant, or anything.
" You can do it.
And I know you can do it.
(Brian) I needed this to remember what I used to do and that there's no limit to what I can do in the future.
(Gordon) Brian and Eddie are both making great strides, and tonight, my design team will move in and try to get this hotel out of the pits.
But first, there's something I've just got to try.
I've got a 25 grand bath, so I might as well use it.
[Sighs.]
[Bath vibrates.]
[Bleep.]
Right, towel please.
[Woman screams.]
(Gordon) It's been a challenging week at the Keating Hotel, a place that was all style and no substance.
But its owner, Eddie, has finally turned a corner.
Good morning.
All: Good morning.
How are we? Good, excellent very good.
(Gordon) It's time to show him and his staff how my design team have transformed the Keating into a place people will actually want to stay.
Okay, good.
Let's be honest, the Keating is a hotel with huge potential, right? Yes.
But you need to focus your attention and energy to the guests that are staying here, yeah? Yes.
Come with me, let me show you the Keating.
Let's go.
Come in.
Welcome.
Wow.
Wow.
That is great.
(Sandra) Oh, my God.
(Aaron) It's all opened up.
Wow, there's no more dominant red.
(Gordon) Read carefully.
All those wonderful configurations of your hands.
Welcome to the Keating.
It's just so beautiful.
Isn't it? It's just such an emotional experience.
You all have a hand in helping the guests feel welcome.
It's amazing.
(Gordon) You disappointed the red is gone? No.
No? No.
(Gordon) It's a brand new, warm, inviting entrance to our hotel.
Ready to see more? Yeah.
Nice, nice, nice.
(Gordon) Come into my suite.
Oh.
Oh, my God! Wow, it's so much nicer.
Oh, wow.
Oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, my God.
Oh, my God Wow.
(Dave) I am definitely blown away.
Wow.
Oh, my God.
Welcome to what I think is a sophisticated, comfortable, modern suite.
Yeah? (Gordon) Let's start off with that jacuzzi.
If guest would like to take a bath, pull the curtains.
They have a choice.
That's how you embody luxury.
The sofas You can sit down.
You can watch TV three meters away from the screen.
Brian, you've gone quiet on me again.
Jeez.
We thought we were "sleek and cool" and now it's beautiful.
It feels Welcoming.
Come through the bedroom.
Please.
(Eddie) I really like the concept of the made-over suite.
Now it screams the guests.
You get stuck in a perspective sometimes, and you need to take a step back and have someone, you know, come in and show you, and I think that's what Gordon has done.
It's amazing.
Now, something really important.
I've organized a free trial period from a local linen company.
Use it to your advantage.
That means the front desk team doesn't need to waste time doing laundry.
You got more time to focus on the guests.
[Indistinct.]
And, Sandra, you are a gm.
You're not a laundry assistant.
(Sandra) The life of a concierge, you don't have to worry about laundry.
So I am happy.
There's more.
Let's go.
Right, excited? Yes.
Come through.
We have refreshed the menu, okay? (Sandra) Oh, my God.
(Eddie) Wow.
(Gordon) I worked with chef Brian to devise a short new menu that will play to his strengths.
First impressions, visually? It's very vibrant.
The presentation's amazing.
And the good news is two thirds of the menu's gone.
Chef, what do you think? I think that this allows me to speak to the guest.
And Aaron I want you as the food and beverage manager, to take responsibility of room service.
Own it.
And no plastic containers.
I think now we have the proper execution, the proper understanding of the menu with limited small items.
We definitely can execute it a lot quicker, and now I feel a lot more comfortable.
And that, for me, is great news, because it means the front desk is no longer looking after room service or doing laundry.
The can concentrate on looking after the guests.
Yes.
There's one more change we need to do.
You've been wearing a red chef jacket for far too long.
You deserve a white one, let me tell you.
Put that on.
Thank you.
Enjoy it.
I certainly will.
(Brian) I'm feeling great.
I'm no longer Eddie's chef in the red jacket.
I'm the chef of the merk bistro.
In white.
It's not Eddie's favorite color, but it is a proper chef's jacket.
You perform like one, you deserve it.
Make it yours.
Thank you, Gordon.
Well done.
(Eddie) This is the kind of energy you want to see every day.
So you know what? As long as they're doing their jobs, I have no problem with them saying "no" to me anymore.
(Gordon) Big night tonight.
It's gonna be a packed restaurant.
You've got to remember you're all team Keating.
I know you can do it.
Oh, absolutely.
Absolutely.
(Gordon) Guests are arriving for the relaunch of the Keating Hotel.
Hi, guys, how are you? Good, how are you? (Gordon) And the first impressions are very positive.
This is really nice.
You like it? Oh, yeah.
Oh, this is beautiful.
Whoa.
(Gordon) At long last, the front desk can focus on welcoming guests.
(Cindy) How are you? Welcome.
I'm Cindy, pleasure to meet you.
(Gordon) And the hotel's new white lobby is a great improvement.
Wasn't this all red? And before it looked like a bus station.
And now it looks like a hotel.
It looks much more inviting.
(Gordon) At the restaurant Aaron is finally stepping up.
You're gonna follow her, right? (Gordon) And taking a new hands-on approach to room service.
Go on.
Go on.
Come on, quick.
And not a plastic container in sight.
Mr.
Hanks, right? Yeah, hi.
Excellent.
We've got room service over here for you.
(Gordon) The simplified menu has brought Brian back to life.
I want the most gorgeous plates in the world coming up in this window.
(Gordon) That's good news for the diners.
So beautiful.
It's very tender.
It's, like, I don't even need this knife.
This is a joint where you don't need ketchup, because it's perfectly seasoned.
(Gordon) And for the future of Eddie and the Keating.
Keep it going.
That's amazing.
Oh, my gosh, look how tender that is.
It's perfect.
(Brian) If I had one thing to say to Gordon right now, it's just, "thanks.
" All right, ladies and gentlemen, it's our last ticket out.
I've been really lost here, and you've woken me up.
Great job.
New day.
New day.
And reminded me of who I am.
[Chuckles.]
This place was all about Eddie's dream of what a hotel should be like.
But he forgot the most important person.
The guest.
I'm just hoping that Eddie can trust his staff and let them work as a team, because this is a place I'd love to come back to.
(Gordon) Okay.
Right.
Sandra.
You are a great general manager.
Don't stop being one, okay? Gordon, thank you.
Thank you so much, thank you so much.
I'm proud to be the general manager of the Keating Hotel.
Give me a hug.
Come on.
[All laugh.]
Well done, seriously.
You can do the food and beverage.
You can handle the room service easily.
And my God.
I mean, you bounced back from the dead.
Let me tell you.
Literally.
Literally.
Make it yours.
Oh, it is mine.
Okay, well done.
And do not change that jacket.
Okay? White suits you.
You know that.
And let your team run your business, okay? (Eddie) I think this experience with Gordon was life-changing for everyone here.
What you did to get the team back together, I mean, I'm telling you, no one could have done.
This place is on the road.
Good luck.
I can't wait to come back.
(Eddie) It's one of those experiences you'll never forget.
Good job, guys.
Sometimes you have to trust me.
No.
No.
No! All: No!