The casting company for Gordon Ramsay’s “Hotel Hell” on Fox-TV would love to bring the popular reality TV show to Hawaii.
“We would love to get a hotel in Hawaii on board,” said Kimberly Giebel, casting producer at Los Angeles-based Doron Ofir Casting.
“It’s a great vacation spot, and there’s a great variety of hotels” that could be featured, she said, saying they already have received some interest from Maui after releasing a nationwide casting call Thursday.
The show chooses to highlight struggling hotels that also have restaurant operations, and the drama that unfolds as Ramsay works to help turn operations around.
Ramsay is a globally known, Michelin-starred chef, TV show host and author who studied hotel management in the United Kingdom. In 2006, Ramsay was awarded the OBE (Order of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the industry.
Given his food-service expertise, the show goes only to lodging properties that have restaurant operations. Bed-and-breakfasts that serve only a continental breakfast aren’t considered, Giebel said.
Hoteliers who might contemplate submitting their properties’ names should know that Ramsay often isn’t gentle in exposing an operation’s problems.
Similarly, Ramsay’s “Kitchen Nightmares” show has him visiting restaurants, sampling the fare and often spitting it out, providing very colorful British-style commentary along the way, comparing the cuisine to “a dog’s dinner,” for instance.
“You know, they always say there’s no such thing as bad press,” Giebel said.
The show has contacted hoteliers who are not interested, “but with others they think, ‘If they help us out, then why not get the exposure?’” she said.
“You are putting your business out there,” which can result in mixed emotions from the owners and managers, “but most hotels end up doing really, really well after the episode airs,” Giebel said.
You’ll not find any famous hotel chains on “Hotel Hell,” and properties featured have run the gamut from very small to large.
“We love mom-and-pop, family-owned hotels and bed-and-breakfasts, where maybe the people have been in business for years and have fallen on hard times, or maybe they’re in debt and they don’t want to lose the business because it’s been in the family for so long,” she said.
The best stories the show has told have been those in which Ramsay has helped a hotel that has “had a really great reputation over the years and has a great staff,” but those involved with the property had been really struggling to make it work.
Ramsay and his team of experts perform whatever type of makeover Ramsay deems necessary.
The open casting call invites submissions from owners, employees and anyone who knows of an establishment in need of help, whether the operators know it or not.
Employees who want the property where they work to be considered can stay off the radar if there is a concern about getting fired.
The identity of the person submitting the recommendation “can definitely be anonymous,” Giebel said. The owners and managers will only know that the show’s producers “found out about them online.”
The premiere date for the third season of “Hotel Hell” has yet to be announced.
Separately, the casting call is for eight planned episodes, for which Doron Ofir Casting will submit a minimum of 10 to 12 hotels to Fox for ultimate selection.
“Not enough of Hawaii is represented on reality TV,” Giebel said, acknowledging the robust visitor industry. She also stated her intention to “get on Expedia” immediately after Friday’s phone conversation to book a return visit.
Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.