One of the “success” stories from Hotel Hell is the historic Brick Hotel, which is still open following its feature on the show in 2016.
Hotel Hell is one of the failed experiments by leading culinary media personality, Gordon Ramsay. Having premiered in 2012, the show did not have a long natural television run, as by 2016 and after three seasons, it was cancelled.
Ramsay has seemingly not spoken about this, which has resulted in speculation by the public. But that is not to say that the short-lived show did not have some memorable episodes.
Hotel Hell’s premise was, “Chef Gordon Ramsay visits struggling, dysfunctional hotels across America and spends a week trying to help them become successful.” One such episode was the Brick Hotel episode, which aired in the final season of the show.
Gordon Ramsay does not speak about why Hotel Hell ended
Hotel Hell, which was a spin-off of Kitchen Nightmares, may have been one of the biggest ratings pullers of the shows that Ramsay produced, but it threatened his reputation.
This is primarily due to the fact that these shows hinged the success of at least most of the restaurants and hotels that he was planning on turning around.
However, with both shows, the results were the opposite, and the success rates were not high. As such, Hotel Hell’s end was associated with the end of Kitchen Nightmares, as they were discontinued in the same year.
Hotel Hell: What happened to Brick Hotel?
The Brick Hotel feature aired as the sixth episode of season three, which aired in June 2016. Even before Gordon Ramsay visited the historic hotel located in Newtown, Pennsylvania, its reputation preceded it.
The hotel was owned by mother and son, Verindar and CJ Kaur, who were initially told that the hotel was a “hands-off business that would run itself.”
Before even stepping into the hotel, Ramsay already started investigating the cause of the problem. The hotel had a high staff turnover of 50 to 100 turnover in less than a year.
When Ramsay met with the fired staff, they attributed this turnover to Verindar’s dictatorial nature, who ruled the hotel with an iron fist as her son was not active or present in the everyday operation of the hotel.
The result was a run-down hotel that was a health hazard because the staff that remained did not have time to train the new staff since they changed so often.
Moreover, the only reason the hotel was staying afloat was because of the event that was hosted on the premises.
Ramsay’s intervention was to renovate the entire hotel by deep cleaning the premises, changing some of the decor, and buying over $75 000 worth of new bed linen and towels.
Moreover, he got CJ to commit to being more present so that Verindar could step back and allow the staff to run the hotel without her micromanaging them.
Is Brick Hotel still open?
As of 2022, Brick Hotel is confirmed to still be operational, and Verindar and CJ Kaur are still the owners of the hotel.
While the news of the hotel’s continued operation is good news for the businessowners and, in extension, for Hotel Hell, it does not mean that the changes that Gordon Ramsay and his team introduced are still implemented. This is as the hotel has poor reviews on TripAdvisor and Yelp.
The reasons range from the state of the hotel to the fact that some reviewers have detailed being swindled, as they paid for a room that they were not given, and no discount was provided. Moreover, Verindar still angers not only the staff, but customers too.
What is Verindar Kaur doing now?
Verindar’s dismissive and overall obnoxious behaviour towards staff and customers alike was detrimental to the success of the hotel. Part of the hotel turning around was the need for her to step back.
While it seemed that she did for a while after the intervention, she appears to have returned and continues to treat staff and customers dismissively.
How much does it cost to stay at the Brick Hotel?
Although it might not be worth it to stay at the Brick Hotel, the hotel might be a tourist attraction for fans of the show who are looking to experience a hotel that Gordon Ramsay attempted to turn around.
Therefore, if you are looking to stay at the Brick Hotel, it costs around $130 per night on weekdays and, on average, $155 during weekends. You can visit their website for specifications.
