An owner tells Anthony that he wants him gone, threatens to call the police, and goes into a room.
Anthony arrives at the 14-room Bossier Inn & Suites, which has poor occupancy despite the fact it's in Bossier City, Louisiana. There are casinos and family-friendly attractions in the area, but the owners James and Grave lost over $100,000 with the Bossier Inn.
Anthony enters the lobby and immediately sees a dirty sign. The toaster is filthy and the biscuits are hard. There are no handles on the lid, and no utensils to pick the waffles up with. The area under the sink has a bucket of filth. Anthony goes to the front desk and shows the bucket to the FD agent, Conroy. Conroy explains that the sink leaks so they drain waste water into the parking lot. Conroy is the night auditor and filling in for the manager. The manager left three weeks ago, and Conroy likes working at night because no one comes in. There's a sign saying that the hotel doesn't give refunds if the room has been occupied over ten minutes, and Conroy explains that the manager approves refunds and they don't have a manager. The only people who stay are the drunks.
Anthony puts out a timer and says that he's going to time how long how it takes to get to the room and decide if he wants to stay. The sign-in pen has a spoon taped to it to keep people from stealing it. Anthony steals the pen and drives to the room. It takes him four minutes to get there and haul his luggage up. The door doesn't open so Anthony kicks the door in, which is the first time he's ever been able to do it with an electric lock.
Inside, Anthony immediately sees the disgusting carpet. There's no light and the inside of the drawers are filthy. Anthony picks up the comment card and fills it out with the stolen pen, and goes back to the lobby. He sarcastically tells Conroy that the room is fantastic, and figures that realistically he wouldn't get the money back because it took him more than ten minutes to get back. Anthony figures that James is doing it deliberately. He tells Conroy that he kicked the door open, and Conroy admits that it's happened before. Anthony spots the monitors and discovers that the cameras are trained on money areas, and figures James is more concerned about employees stealing than guest satisfaction.
Anthony goes to another room to do a thorough inspection. The light switch is hooked up to the microwave rather than the lights. The shelves in the refrigerator are covered with rotten food, because the refrigerator is wired to the switch as well. There's dust and a receipt from 2013 on top of the credenza. There are pits on top of the credenza as well. Anthony sits on the bed and discovers that it's a waterbed. It has stains all over it, and the bed supports have cut into the carpet because of the weight of the water. The toilet is filled with urine and toilet paper.
Despite the rooms, Anthony continues looking around. There is a pool area but the gate doesn't lock or close. The water in the pool is filthy, and the pool chair breaks when Anthony sits on it. He stomps through the seat and then pulls up the rope, and finds mold on it. He knocks the stone seat off of the bench because it's not fastened down, and Anthony demands to see James.
James and Grace come out, and Anthony confirms that they can see. He points out the pool and James admits that it's kind of messy. The owner says that in the summer, the pool is clean. Anthony points out the moldy rope and says that it's been like that for more than a year. He shows them the stone bench, and James says that he doesn't know how it happened. When James and Grace laugh, Anthony is ready to leave because he's telling them that they're negligent. Grace admits that she wouldn't let her children sleep in the rooms, and Anthony points out the crooked 10-minute policy. He walks off, refusing to waste any more time on them.
The next day, Anthony meets with the general manager, Angie, who left a few weeks ago. Angie explains that she and Grace don't see eye to eye. They were going to have a Christmas party for the employees, and Grace wanted to have everyone chip in for a Christmas dinner. Angie disagreed with her and left. Anthony continues, and Angie says that the housekeeping staff sweep the carpets. James bought a $750 bucket of chlorine tablets to clean the pool and it doesn't work, and the water is just as filthy in the summer. Angie says that James is going to lie, and agrees that people could get sick. The hotel had an outbreak of bedbugs, and the rooms with bedbugs are still rented. Angie says that the housekeepers make $7.75 an hour, and James will never authorize raises. He has $25 million from his oil wells, and he always brags about them. One time he gave each employee a nickel raise. When Angie objected to Grace, Grace said that black people don't need that much money. Anthony hugs Angie, who breaks into tears, and insists that the hotel isn't a sweatshop.
Angie takes Anthony to see the housekeepers. They all like Angie, and Anthony has them describe the owners. The housekeepers don't think James respects them, and confirm that James calls them monkeys. He also calls any guests monkeys behind their back if they're black. The housekeepers points out an old cart that doesn't move, and Anthony points out that there's only enough linen there for 10 rooms. There's no inventory, and James won't let them throw away linens. He gets mattresses out of dumpsters, and anything they throw away he'll get out or make them do it. Anthony asks about the Christmas party, and the housekeepers confirm that they had to buy the food. Angie had to pawn her wedding ring to take care of the staff during the holidays. Anthony promises that he'll do everything he can to help them.
Anthony figures that the only way to save the hotel is to have someone who cares buy the hotel. He has a local realtor broker assess the value of the property, and the broker says that the property is very tied. He values it at about $1.2 million, and he could get that much for just the land. Five years ago, the Lees bought the property for $3 million. The broker says that they'd have to market the hotel on a national basis.
Next, Anthony sits down with James and Grace and says that the hotel is in bad shape. He warns them that they need at least $1.5 million to renovate the hotel, and they have to pay the employees real wages. The Lees say that they don't have $2 million to invest in the hotel, and Anthony asks if they would sell the hotel. He says that they don't know how to run a hotel, and the hotel is last place online. James figures that the customers online are exaggerating, and Anthony says that it's the worst hotel he's ever seen. The Lees claim that they don't have any bedbugs, and Anthony says that he had an exterminator come in with bedbug dogs. He says that they checked ten rooms and six had bedbugs.
Anthony asks why the employees don't have vacuums, and the Lees claim that they have 15 vacuums but the housekeepers won't use them. The production team looks around the hotel and finds nine vacuums, and seven of them don't work. James says that he never called his employees monkeys or screamed at them, and Anthony points out that several employees have claimed he does. Grace tells her husband that he said it, and he says that he never said it to them directly. James says that he yells at Grace sometimes, and Anthony figures that he's lying to him and walks out.
Grace breaks down talking to the show's producer and says that their romantic relationship has ended but their partnership in the hotel has ended. Anthony talks with her privately and Grace says that James isn't a people person. She admits that she's afraid of him, and explains that James came by at 2 o'clock and made her draft an agreement and sign it. In the agreement James owns 50% of all of their properties. Grace explains that she put 90% of the money into the hotel. Anthony says that James is destroying her soul, and Grace agrees. She agrees to sell it but is afraid of what James might do if she tries. Anthony tells her that she needs to make some serious decisions and he'll do what he can.
Next, Anthony calls in Jenny Choi to design a room so a buyer can see the potential. She thinks the place is grimy and gags when they enter the room. The desk isn't safe because of one of the legs has fallen off, and Anthony leaves because he can't deal with the smell.
The producers tell Anthony that James overheard him and Grace talking. James orders Anthony to get out because he's not helping him in a friendly way, and refuses to answer any financial questions. He calls Grace and asks her about what she claimed, and tells Anthony to get out because he doesn't like him. James threatens to call the police and goes into a room.
Anthony calls Grace back to get her opinion, and he tells her what happened. She wants Anthony to stay and finish the show, and insists that she can go to a friend's house if she doesn't free safe. Grace admits that James' behavior doesn't surprise her.
An expert comes in to examine the pool, and the man says that it's a 9.5 on a scale of 1 to 10. He explains that a pool requires a lot of maintenance, and shows Anthony the filter tank. The sand is clogged up with hair, skin and suntan oil, and figures that it hasn't been changed in five years. The expert figures that there's fecal matter in the pool, and he says that they'll get the pool cleaned.
Anthony manages to find a buyer, George, who sends a representative to look around the property. Once the representative is finished, Anthony teleconferences with George. George assures Anthony that when he comes in, he builds a new team and they go ahead. He knows about all the problems and figures that it's a full-blown rebuild, and he would make an $800,000 offer. However, he admits that he could go closer to $1 million. George agrees to teleconference with Grace the same day.
Back in the laundry room, Anthony tells the housekeepers that Grace is under a lot of pressures from James. He advises them that if the hotel isn't sold in a couple of months then they should leave. Until then, Anthony gives them some pride by providing them with new vacuums, uniforms, and a cart. He gives them to them, not to James, and says that they should leave if James insults them. Anthony assures them that James is will beneath them and they all hug.
Next, Anthony meets with Angie again and explains what he's been doing. He then gives her the wedding ring back that his crew tracked down at a pawnshop.
On the last day, Jenny and Bliss Contracting complete the renovations on one room and the pool area. Anthony shows Grace the new pool area and explains that they're trying to show the investors what it should look like. He takes her to the room and Grace is very happy with the work. Jenny and her team come in and Jenny thanks David and Crystal for their work. The floor is vinyl and the furniture was made locally. American Hotel Register gave them new linens, and Jenny added a dark wall for the contrast. Grace then teleconferences with George, who says that they have a solid basis to move forward on a number of options.
Written by Gadfly on May 24, 2016