Travel Channel to Premiere New Series HOTEL IMPOSSIBLE, 4/9

Competition is fierce in the hotel business. Online review sites can kill a business' reputation with one bad review. Staffs are untrained, surly or apathetic in a profession that lives or dies on service. So what's a struggling hotel operator to do? Bring in Anthony Melchiorri, a hotel "fixer," who can turn any establishment around in weeks...and he does just that in HOTEL IMPOSSIBLE Travel Channel's new original weekly one-hour series, premiering Monday, April 9, 2012 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT. Melchiorri's tough-love style can be hard to swallow and overhauling a business is a painful and often emotional task, but the potential reward of a fully booked hotel with excellent customer reviews makes it all worth it.

Each episode features a hotel fighting for its life. Melchiorri secretly scouts the property and identifies its biggest problems. He then meets with the staff from front desk receptionists to housekeeping to the owners themselves to determine the key operation issues. These owners could risk losing their hotels if Melchiorri's renovations do not work! After coming up with a plan and prescribing the changes that need to be made, Melchiorri revamps and re-motivates the staff and transforms the hotel. Whether it is demonstrating the proper way to pour a glass of wine or gutting and redecorating a lobby, Melchiorri knows how to turn a failing hotel into a bustling tourist destination.

"We know that a huge part of going on vacation is where you stay. That's why our new series, 'Hotel Impossible' is so much fun, entertaining and peppered with lots of good take-away information - exactly what our audience is looking for when they turn to Travel Channel," said Andy Singer, SVP, Programming & Production. "Anthony Melchiorri is a well-known and respected professional in the hospitality business, and now our viewers are going to find out just what it takes to be the 'hotel fixer.'"

"I have been a hotel expert for more than 20 years -- and it never gets boring. I walk into a hotel and know immediately what needs to be fixed. I still get excited about helping people turn around their hotels," says Melchiorri. "My goal for this show is to make sure you never look at a hotel the same way again."

In the premiere episode, Melchiorri travels to Montauk, NY to help Gurney's Inn, a landmark family-run resort and spa, stop living in the past and create the future that will keep them in business for generations to come. He meets the Monte family, who own and run Gurney's, to find out what they think the problems are. Paul Monte, the general manager, says people think of Gurney's as old-fashioned and spa director Candice Monte agrees. Melchiorri presents the family with some negative reviews he found online, and the family is surprised, as they never read reviews! They have no idea why their hotel is struggling. Melchiorri is appalled by the property's lack of service and finds a solution to their management woes in a surprising place. In the end, a lobby renovation and addressing the long neglected service problems with the laid-back staff will hopefully turn Gurney's Inn back into a Hamptons' hot spot.

Upcoming episodes feature major transformations that help put hotels back into the black, including The Penguin Hotel, Miami, FL; Motel New Yorker, Miami, FL; Ocean Manor, Fort Lauderdale, FL; The Purple Orchid Resort & Spa, Livermore, CA; Hotel Corpus Christi Bayfront, Corpus Christi, TX; La Jolla Cove Suites, La Jolla, CA; and Bromley Sun Lodge, Peru, VT.

"Hotel Impossible" is produced by Atlas Media Corp. for Travel Channel. For Atlas, executive producers are Bruce David Klein, Lorri Leighton and Rob Green. For Travel Channel, executive producer for is Brian Leonard.

TRAVEL CHANNEL (http://www.travelchannel.com) is a multiplatform travel lifestyle brand with the core mission of providing inspiring and compelling programming that takes viewers beyond their everyday destinations, making the unfamiliar familiar, whether it's around the world or around the block. A dual feed network that is also available in HD, Travel Channel is the world's leading travel media brand, and is available in over 94 million U.S. cable homes. Owned and operated by Scripps Networks Interactive (NYSE: SNI), Travel Channel has offices in Chevy Chase, MD, and New York, NY. Scripps Networks Interactive (NYSE: SNI) also owns and operates HGTV, DIY Network, Food Network, Cooking Channel and Great American Country.

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