The Keating Hotel has certainly had a few ups and downs since its appearance on Hotel Hell, but it still seems to be forging ahead.
Celebrity chef and hospitality expert, Gordon Ramsay has certainly encountered a few ‘unique’ décor choices over the course of Hotel Hell’s three seasons.
But none of these have ever come close to The Keating Hotel’s brilliant luxury automotive-inspired design.
And while this hotel made quite an impression on Ramsay and all longtime Hotel Hell viewers watching from home, it has now been over a decade since it made its Hotel Hell debut.
Thus, you may find yourself wondering what exactly happened to this hotel and its owner, Eddie Kaen.
The Keating Hotel now
The good news is that The Keating Hotel has turned out to be one of Hotel Hell’s biggest success stories (even though the hotel no longer looks like it did at the end of Ramsay’s makeover years ago) and is still operational to this day.
Moreover, according to Eddie’s LinkedIn profile, he is still the founder and CEO of the hotel, which brings his total run to almost 20 years in this role.
The Keating Hotel timeline
A lot has happened at The Keating Hotel over the years, but some of the most important moments in this hotel’s history can be summarized as follows:
| Date | Event |
| 1890 | The construction of the building is completed |
| 2004 | The Keating Hotel reopens with Eddie Kaen as the new Founder and CEO |
| December 2011 | Ramsay and the Hotel Hell team arrive to start filming |
| August 27, 2012 | “The Keating Hotel” episode premieres |
| September 2012 | The Keating Hotel’s restaurant, The Merk, closes and is replaced by Brick+Mortar |
| March 2020 | The Keating Hotel closes during the COVID-19 pandemic |
| 2023 | The Keating Hotel reopens (with a few key changes) |
What happened after Gordon Ramsay left The Keating Hotel
Although The Keating Hotel did pretty well following its appearance on Hotel Hell, it seems as though things behind the scenes may have still been a bit rocky.
Chef Brian left the hotel before the episode aired, and the hotel also later welcomed a new General Manager in 2016.
The Keating Hotel also launched a new nightclub, called The Pussycat Dolls Dollhouse, in 2012 to coincide with the Hotel Hell episode’s premier, but ended up closing down The Merk just a month after that.
How The Keating Hotel reverted back to its old ways
There is certainly no doubt that Kaen and Paolo Pininfarina took a lot of pride in the design of The Keating Hotel, even if it ended up being slightly imposing and unfriendly.
However, it seems like Kaen simply could not get behind some of Ramsay’s re-designs.
When CBS News 8 stopped by the Hotel in 2015, it was evident that the hotel’s lobby had been repainted in its vibrant red hue and that Ramsay’s hand portraits had been moved.
YouTuber, Brent Taylor, who visited the hotel in 2019 (about eight years after Ramsay’s makeover) found that his room had been changed back to the way it was before Ramsay’s intervention.
Is The Keating Hotel still open?
The Keating Hotel, like most other lodging establishments around the world, was forced to shut its doors in March of 2020 in order to comply with the lockdown regulations imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
But although the message posted on The Keating Hotel’s Facebook page promised that it would be “reopening as soon as possible,” the space remained uninhabited for years.
However, even though The Keating Hotel’s Facebook page has not been updated in the last three years and the hotel’s old website remains inactive to this day, The Keating Hotel has actually reopened now (again) and has been welcoming new guests since the beginning of 2023.
Though if you are thinking of stopping by The Keating Hotel for a visit, it is worth noting that some of the hotel’s most recent reviews suggest that a few things have changed during its closure.
One TripAdvisor review from September 2023 reads, “It is listed as The Keating Hotel. However, this is NOT the case. It is now being run by a management company as an Airbnb.” The review continues, saying, “The hotel is not staffed.”
Another review from Booking.com was simply titled “This place has really gone downhill since Hotel Hell”, while others seemingly confirmed that The Keating Hotel is being operated more like a holiday rental now than a hotel, with statements like, “What I did not realize about the Keating is that it is really an Airbnb” and “Pain in the butt getting into the building and when we did get in there was no staff.”
