HotelChatter

Last night's episode had two big things going on. The first: the smarmy GM (O'Connell) decided to install a giant birdcage in the middle of the hotel's bar and asked the hot front desk agents to dance inside it, while the feisty HR director (Nicey Nash) made a half-assed attempt to maintain some sort of respectable HR standards within the establishment. Neither one worked out; hilarity ensued.

The second plot line: the short little bellboy, the token gay housekeeping director and another hotel employee run some sort of an operation in which the bellboy gets pimped out (i.e. has sex with single female guests a la that hotel in Turkey that made big news yesterday) and everyone gets a bit of money.

And "guest star" Audrina Patridge was given all the camera time and comedic lines that she so deserved -- which was, quite literally, absolutely none. Her time onscreen was a quickie conversation with the GM in the lobby, and it went exactly like this:

"Hey, I know you! You're that hot chick from the Hills!" "Yeah, Audrina, Hi! They said you guys are full but do you think you could find a room for me?" "Are you here with your camera crew?" "No..." "Then no."

We appreciated that more than anyone will ever know. We laughed out loud.

There were actually a couple of other funny jokes throughout the episode (which we won't mention here because, like, that's really all that's particularly good about the show), and Nicey Nash was kind of awesome.

And as far as hotel operations go? In real life, this place would be a hot mess. But then again, it's television -- in real life, all the characters on Gossip Girl would be in jail or dead for one reason or another, so I guess a couple of funny lines and a sassypants Nicey Nash is really all we could ever hope for, right? And look! They actually stopped yelling at each other on the floor and acknowledged a guest! Once! Ever! Excellent!