HotelChatter

Of course, Mr. Hotel Fixer isn't about to get run of the whole hotel-fixing playing field. Lest we forget, a certain Mr. Gordon Ramsay is also planning his own hotel boot camp show, also scheduled to debut this spring.

And whereas Ramsay has made a name for himself as a tough love, no bullsh*t motivating figure in the hospitality world, Melchiorri in many ways still has to prove himself to viewers.

As we said, Melchiorri's severe attitude can sometimes come off as a little forced. The upside to this is seeing just how exasperated everyone gets after talking to him. It happens so often, it becomes a kind of joke. In fact, if you made up a drinking game where you took a shot every time someone on the show rolls their eyes at Melchiorri, you'd end up hammered. Guaranteed.

Here were a few of our favorite scenes, mostly involving Melchiorri having a tete-a-tete with different employees of the hotel:

·A seemingly stoned bellman who didn't seem to recognize the important of actually greeting guests.

· A contractor who tried to weasel his way out of a project by simply declaring, "I don't care."

· A housekeeper who received a lesson in remote control-cleaning from Melchiorri

· An owner showing obvious attachment to some vintage telephone booths in the lobby, to whom Melchiorri suggests rather cruelly, "How about I rip them out?"

Not to imply that hotel rehab should be a smooth process. But we wish we'd heard a little more from the hotel owners and employees themselves rather than just Melchiorri.

In the end, however, we do see some positive changes come about at the hotel. The lobby is renovated (in just three nights!), the head of the family agrees to delegate some power to another member of the family, and the waiters at the restaurant start to actually seem interested in their jobs. In short, the specific issues that Melchiorri focused on all got resolved.

We're excited to follow as Melchiorri stops in at Florida, California, Texas and Vermont. With so many hotels that need fixing in so many different places, we might even learn a thing or two about the industry. If not, though, we can certainly laugh along while the industry learns some ugly truths about itself.

[Photo: Travel Channel]