Having Gordon Ramsay on property was a unique, humbling and amazing experience. We knew it was going to be challenging, and we knew there was going to be a lot of drama. Nonetheless, we did learn a lot from Gordon and have gained momentum on creating an even better experience for our guests.

It took guts going on the show and as they say, what does not kill us makes us stronger.

Letter from John and Tina:

We learned so much from our experience on Hotel Hell! Here are the highlights of all that we learned from this experience:

1) The fabulous homemade granola that Gordon gave us the recipe for. People love it and buy bags to take home with them, it’s so good.

2) The new layout of the back parlor is wonderful, it flows so much better and makes the room more spacious.

3) The ballroom is so “Event friendly! It’s much more versatile and isn’t just a wedding venue anymore. With the new color palette and window treatments, it’s very sophisticated, not “fancy” so it works for anything! We’ve already had two corporate events held there and they were so happy.

4) The two suites that were renovated bring a fresh, crisp contemporary look and feel to both of these luxury rooms: the Bell Tower Suite and the newly renamed Gordon Ramsay Executive Suite. Our guests have already given us high marks for these redesigned suites.

5) Chef Ramsay’s innovative idea for a home style meal served for our in house guests in the evenings, these have already been great successes in our trial runs as well as our premier night of the show. We will begin regular service to our guests after November 4th, Sunday through Thursday evenings.

6) We have begun a managers wine reception each evening hosted by the manager on duty.

7) We have been launched into the Global Distribution System, which is a world wide availability system so we can be seen by users pretty much everywhere.

8) We wanted some outside perspective that would help catapult us to the next level in our business and at the same time help us free ourselves up for some more personal time and relationship development, we believe that this event with Chef Gordon Ramsay and Hotel Hell has done that for us.

And...to answer the questions about the experience… let me say that all of the production staff and producers were fabulous to work with and yes, in some respects, it was a harrowing experience, in others it was also a little fun! How often does anybody get to tell Gordon Ramsay that their British accent is better than his and on television? Of course he is Scottish, so there you have it.

We had some fun in the kitchen with Chef Ramsay as he was spilling some secrets on how to prepare Filet Mignon without ruining it. Tina and I will never forget the mantra we were hearing from Gordon as we were catering that wedding, “Use two hands, use two hands, now you’ve got the rhythm!”  Tina and I do work well together, and  we have our differences on occasion.  However, we challenge anyone to do what we do together 24/7, working with the public without a break from them or more importantly from each other and not have an occasional challenge or difference!  We do what we do best, we soldier on, and we laugh a lot, primarily at ourselves and some of the antics that we go through to accomplish our tasks! We have been told by many of our guests that we should do a TV show just about all the funny and weird stuff that goes on while running an Inn.

Another question was recently asked about Tina’s dreams and if she has been able to fulfill any of those dreams? The answer to that is coming in a couple weeks as we are taking our first vacation in 3 years!  We will hit Universal Studios, do a cruise to Central America and even go ziplining! These are all things Tina wants to do as well as do some geo cashing. Maybe I’ll get to develop a new accent to use in another Murder Mystery at The Roosevelt? Tina’s next dream is to be on The Amazing Race and run around the world. Hmmmm, would we be the loving couple or the drama king and queen? We’ll have to wait and see?

Thanks for everyone’s support and comments.
Warmest regards,
John Hough
The Roosevelt Inn