Hotel Hell – Season 1 Episode 5 – Recap – River Rock Inn

In the fifth episode of Hotel Hell Season 1, “River Rock Inn,” Gordon Ramsay pays a visit to River Rock Inn—which is located in Milford, PA. The owner of the hotel, Ken Pisciotta, borrowed money from his mother & brother to purchase the inn. He is a single 48-year-old, living in hundreds and thousands of dollars in debt. There’s also a ladybug & cockroach infestation at the River Rock Inn.

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If you missed Episode 4, you can read my recap here:

Ken Pisciotta and the assistant innkeeper—Karen Loeschorn—have left the hotel in poor condition, to say the least. The River Rock Inn—which is located in Pennsylvania—is just a two-hour drive from Manhattan, NY. As soon as Ken purchased the inn, it fell apart.

Tour of River Rock Inn:

• Reception Desk: Very Poor – The desk was very small, and it was located in a hallway (not in a lobby).
• Bedroom: Very Poor – There were dead ladybugs on the windowsill and on the carpet floor. The old-fashioned TV was broken as well.
• Bathroom: Very Poor – There were living cockroaches on the bathroom floor. “I’ve never had a cockroach committee welcome me on the john (toilet),” said Ramsay. There wasn’t any shampoo, conditioner, or soap inside the bathtub either.

The overall hygiene of the hotel was appalling.

It’s Time to Check Out the Food:

Seth, the head chef at the River Rock Inn, has been professionally cooking for 18 years…. yet the food he cooked for Ramsay looked absolutely gross. I believe this isn’t all Seth’s fault as the owner, Ken, micromanages the food and decides what is put on the final menu.

Ken promised Ramsay an “American Bistro”, but he was served the complete opposite. Ramsay received frozen and re-heated meat. None of the meat is made in-house—they actually shipped this specific batch of meat from Northern California.

Gordon Ramsay said it best, “It looks like someone just dropped a T-Rex foot on my plate! This is a meal for eight, not one. I feel like I’m eating a f***ing flip-flop with mayonnaise.”

Ramsay Confronts the Team:

Ramsay gathered the staff into the common area. He asked Ken how much River Rock Inn is losing per month: Ken is losing a whopping $7,000 a month. Ramsay said to Ken, “You’re not the captain of the Titanic, you’re the f***ing iceberg.”

Ramsay Heads Back to His Guest Room:

Ramsay used a black light to check if it was safe to sleep on the bedsheets. It was definitely not. There were bodily fluids everywhere. Literally everywhere. These sheets haven’t been washed in a long while. Since there was a vast spread of bodily fluid stains on the bedsheets, Ramsay pulled out his sleeping bag and slept in that instead.

The morning after, Ramsay got up to take a shower. Only… the shower head wasn’t placed high enough. It wasn’t even one of those removable, adjustable shower heads. He mentioned that he felt dirtier after the shower than before.

Previous Guests Reveal Their True Feelings about River Rock Inn:

Ramsay invited guests (who have previously stayed at the hotel) to reveal their true feelings about the hotel. All of the guests complained about insects inside the bedroom, the shower heads not being adjustable, the bathtub drains being clogged, and the beds being very uncomfortable to sleep on.

Then, Ramsay asked Ken, Karen, and the rest of the staff to come take a look at the bedsheets. The staff had no clue how dirty the bedsheets were. They were shocked. “It’s like a f***ing galaxy!,” said Ramsay. “Ken, you’re running a hotel, not a brothel! It is disgusting. Start taking responsibility.”

The Clean-Up:

The staff finally cleaned up the inn, from top to bottom. They’ve removed all of the insects, all of the dust, all of the hair, and most importantly, the dirty bedsheets.

Ramsay took the bedsheets to the cleaners. “I hope you don’t catch anything,” said Ramsay to one of the employees at the cleaners.

Ken is Passive-Aggressive:

Ken has a terrible habit of writing notes on just about everything in the hotel. He doesn’t like other people touching his belongings… not even the cookies in the kitchen. Ken wrote a note on a jar of cookies, “If you eat these cookies, take one to your next job interview.”

Ramsay gathered the rest of the staff members into the common area, and he asked Ken to stay inside the bedroom. Ramsay placed a security camera in the common area, and Ken watched what the staff members had to say about him from a TV in the bedroom.

The staff described Ken as a “bully,” “a spirit-sucker,” and “someone who’s afraid of confrontation.”

The Staff Receive Training:

Ramsay invited Ramesh—from Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, NV—to teach the River Rock staff the proper way to greet guests at the inn. Ramesh stated that the River Rock staff must smile at the guests when they walk through the front entrance. They must also initiate a handshake, and say “Welcome to the River Rock Inn.” If the guests don’t have a good first impression, they won’t be coming back to the inn.

Ramsay’s Interior Designers Re-Decorate the River Rock Inn:

Gordon Ramsay’s team of interior designers built a new welcome sign for the River Rock Inn. They’ve also added new bedding and new flat-screen TV’s. All the insects have been removed from the hotel. The wireless router has now been updated and modernized: future guests can now use WiFi in their rooms! There is also a brand new reception desk, a brand new website, and a brand-new menu that head chef Seth can use.

Stay tuned for my recap of the season finale.