In this Hotel Impossible episode, Anthony Melchiorri visits the Fiddlers Inn in Nashville, Tennessee.
Fiddlers Inn is owned by Johnny Walker.
The 200 room hotel is right opposite the Grand Ole Opry, a big draw to music lovers.
Johnny bought it in 1988 for a great deal but hard times came in 2008 and they never recovered.
Anthony arrives and he is astounded to see the Grand Ole Opry is directly opposite.
It so close to the budget hotel.
He enters the hotel but the lobby is literally a gift shop full of souvenirs.
It's hard to find the check in desk.
He picks out 37 unique hats and the register is the hotel front desk.
The exterior is not great as it is all worn out and chipped.
Anthony checks out a hotel room and it is dated and worn as well.
He checks a filter on the AC unit and it is dirty and dusty.
The duvet has pee stains and the sheet and pillowcases have stains.
The mattress is also soiled.
He finally meets with the owner to find out why he is needed.
Johnny says they have struggled for over 3 years and customers are not coming back.
He tells Anthony about the history of the hotel.
Anthony tells him about the chain hotels surrounding the area.
The Fiddlers Inn is the one in the best position.
He needs to reinvent the hotel so he can stand out from the competition.
Blanche is brought into the lobby and she is thrown by the gift shop set up.
She is to work on improving the lobby area.
Anthony leaves her and sits with Angela.
She is the General Manager and has been there 20 years but had no prior experience.
Anthony learns Johnny is very involved in daily operations.
He is thrifty and mandates they spend only 30 minutes cleaning each room, which is ridiculous.
She gets screamed at if she goes over budget especially when it comes to cleaning rooms.
Anthony is shocked by this and confronts Johnny with this information.
Johnny tries to defend himself but Anthony tells him any small outburst lives with the recipient.
Anthony brings Angela and Johnny together to resolve their issues.
Angela tells him how he makes her feel and Anthony helps Johnny see the error in his ways.
Anthony checks in on Blanche and they had found some open wiring that was a fire hazard and were fixing it.
He meets up with Vanessa, the head of housekeeping and she says they do not have the right tools.
Anthony shows her how to deep clean properly especially the sheets.
She agrees to do it but says Angela will change it all back.
Anthony meets with maintenance and there is no one running the department with 2 part time staff.
He still puts them through assessing the building and he singles out Greg as someone to work with.
He tasks them to clean the filters and organise their shop.
Anthony meets with the owner again to find out his plans to upgrade the place.
He sees that Johnny is channeling his money to the wrong places.
Johnny is cagey about spending extra money to do proper cleaning.
Anthony sits with Johnny and Angela and could not find the hotel online.
He listed them on a top third party website for $250 and they can get a lot more customers.
Anthony takes Johnny to the local radio station to promote the hotel.
Johnny does well selling the history of celebrities that have stayed there.
Anthony reveals a big surprise for the hotel on air.
He has organised a food truck competition with celebrity judge Craig Morgan.
Anthony checks in on Blanche and she has now uncovered so much mold that a lick of paint will not do.
Anthony is so worried that he comes back hours later at 2am to check in on them once again.
Forty people are helping with the work, who are mostly family and friends.
By sunrise, he checks in on the rooms and housekeeping and maintenance are working together to deep clean the rooms.
Greg has finished organising his shop and added a maintenance checklist which Anthony approves of.
Anthony checks in on the lobby again, it is hours before the food truck competition begins.
Blanche asks for more time as they are pushing themselves despite being exhausted.
Soon the competition starts and Craig joins Anthony tasting a few of the food truck dishes.
The winners are decided and Riffs food truck is the winner.
Craig entertains the crowd while Anthony takes Johnny to the new lobby.
It is bright and open with clean colours.
The gift shop has been moved to a corner with fewer items.
Johnny loves it and promises not to let the giftshop leave its corner.
Johnny thanks the community who came to help make sure the lobby was ready in time.
They celebrate by playing a fiddle for Anthony.
What Happened Next at Fiddler's Inn?
Since the episode, occupancy at the hotel has increased.
Johnny is now looking at advertising on radio.
The guests love the new lobby.
Fiddler's Inn is open.
There was a major fire at the hotel in 2018.
The hotel was sold to new owners in 2023.
It sold for $15.25 million.
Reviews after the show are mixed with praise for the location.
There are complaints about cleanliness, air conditioning and quality of sleep.
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