Hotel Hell has no shortage of interesting characters, but Phillip Lovingfoss will go down in history as one of the show’s most out-there owners.
There is something about the allure of reality television and Gordon Ramsay’s notoriously confrontational personality that tends to bring out the eccentric side of some of the hotel owners that Hotel Hell sets out to help.
Over the course of Hotel Hell’s first three seasons (yes, we are still holding out for a Kitchen Nightmares-style reboot) viewers and fans had the pleasure of following along as various hotel owners showed off their collectables, shared their ghost stories, sung their hearts out and even dragged Ramsay along for Sherlock Holmes murder mystery parties.
But while Hotel Hell has certainly had its fair share of eccentric characters – none have been quite as out-there as the Monticello Hotel owner, Phillip Lovingfoss.
Phillip Lovingfoss then and now
Lovingfoss has become quite a notorious figure among Hotel Hell fans over the years, not only because of the curious way that he chose to show off his wealth (whilst also snubbing the Monticello Hotel staff of their raises), or even his history with the hotel, or his girlfriend.
But mostly because he is (as far as we know) the only Hotel Hell owner who showed up to film this episode fresh from a DUI arrest.
And while the details of Lovingfoss’s life seemed almost impossible to believe when the “Monticello Hotel” episode first aired, it seems like things only got more chaotic for this former hotel owner, as time progressed.
What ever happened to the Monticello Hotel?
Before we dive into what happened to the Monticello Hotel’s eccentric owner after Ramsay and his Hotel Hell crew left the premises, we should discuss what happened to the hotel after Ramsay’s visit.
It seems like Lovingfoss sold the Monticello Hotel just a few years after Ramsay’s makeover. And Grant (who has now sadly passed away) purchased the restaurant shortly thereafter.
The renamed ‘Grant’s at the Monticello Hotel’ is still open today, but the Monticello Hotel no longer operates as a hotel.
The Monticello Hotel’s Hotel Hell timeline can be outlined as follows:
| Date | Event |
| 1923 | Construction on the Monticello Hotel is completed |
| mid-2013 | The “Monticello Hotel” episode is filmed |
| July 2014 | The “Monticello Hotel” episode premieres |
| 2016 | The Monticello Hotel closes briefly for renovations |
| 2019 | The Monticello Hotel is converted into an apartment building |
Did Gordon Ramsay’s Monticello Hotel intervention work?
Usually, when we refer to a Gordon Ramsay Hotel Hell intervention, this only really applies to the way that the hotel is run and its physical layout.
However, in the case of the Monticello Hotel, Ramsay held an actual intervention, aimed at helping Lovingfoss to see how bad his drinking problem had become.
Unfortunately though, it seems like Ramsay and his team failed on both fronts during this particular episode, as the hotel eventually closed down, and it seems like Lovingfoss continued to struggle with his sobriety many years after the fact.
Lovingfoss even ended up having to serve 90 days in jail after the jury found him guilty of intimidating the judge who presided over his DUI case. And if the rumors are true, Lovingfoss has since faced quite a few other DUI charges .
Did Phillip Lovingfoss really die?
If you have found yourself wondering what happened to the former Monticello Hotel owner over the course of the last decade, chances are, you have come across a rumor or two that Lovingfoss passed away.
However, while you may even find an obituary for Phillip Lovingfoss here or there, the Philip Lovingfoss that appeared on Hotel Hell is, in fact, still alive. And according to his most recent activity on Facebook, he is still living in Longview, Washington.
What happened to the rest of the former Monticello Hotel staff?
Besides the news about Lovingfoss’s various arrests and charges, he and his girlfriend, Ginger, have kept a fairly low profile after their brief stint as reality television stars. And the same can be said for most of the Monticello Hotel’s former staff members.
Although Grant passed away, his wife, Sherry, and their two sons, Trent and Nic, continue to run Grant’s at the Monticello Hotel as a family business to this day.
And while most of the hotel’s other staff members were forced to look for employment elsewhere when it changed ownership, it seems like most of them have remained nearby.
Debbie (who fans may remember as the server who had worked at the Monticello Hotel for 12 years without getting a raise) still lives in Longview, Washington, even though she no longer works at the hotel.
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