Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby - Episode Guide

In the first episode of this eye-opening series, Giles Coren and Monica Galetti join the 9,500-strong workforce in one of the world's biggest hotels - Singapore's Marina Bay Sands. This epic hotel caters for one million guests every year, cost £3.5 billion to build and was created as part of a government plan to triple tourist income to Singapore within ten years.

Giles and Monica head to the Andean Cloud Forest of Ecuador to work at Mashpi Lodge, a $10 million modernist hotel featuring an extraordinary gondola cable car that ‘flies' guests one mile through the jungle canopy at a dizzying height.

In the third episode, Giles and Monica discover Giraffe Manor, a unique hotel where giraffes, staff and guests all coexist in a hunting lodge on the edge of Nairobi National Park. It is the operational headquarters of Tanya and Mikey Carr-Hartley, fourth generation Kenyans who also own three satellite luxury lodges and camps throughout Kenya and east Africa. But it is at Giraffe Manor that they serve an awe-inspiring breakfast like no other, as giraffes join guests in the hotel dining room. Monica meets head chef David Kisevu and goes food shopping with him in Rongai. Giles and Monica fly to the remote outpost of Sasaab Lodge, a six-acre plot set within 82,000 acres of land owned by Samburu tribespeople. The Samburu are the hotel's landlords, and the hotel offers local people employment - up to 75% of the hotel's staff are Samburu. Giles and Monica follow their new co-workers back to their village to find out how the hotel has impacted tribal life.

Giles and Monica arrive at Royal Mansour in Marrakesh. In contrast to the developing country it inhabits, the 'jewel of the city' was built with a limitless budget by royal decree to showcase the kingdom to world leaders and to billionaire and celebrity guests. Its network of luxurious riads, built by the nation's finest artisans, are kitted out with suede and silk carpets, extravagant chandeliers and open fireplaces lit by personal butlers. The hotel prides itself on its incredible attention to detail, creating an absolutely flawless guest experience. Monica works with executive housekeeper Laurence, who intriguingly teaches her to how to 'show love to curtains'. Giles is introduced to the hotel's 1km of underground tunnels, which ensure absolute discretion - to the guests, it looks as though every whim is fulfilled as if by magic.

Giles and Monica experience the warm embrace of Fogo Island Inn on a rocky, sea-sprayed outpost of remote Fogo Island in Newfoundland. White, angular and perched atop zig-zagged stilts like the local fishermen's houses, it pays homage to the European settlers that arrived from Ireland and Devon to fish cod. A cod-fishing moratorium was put in place in the 1990s, and the island's population subsequently shrank as families moved away in search of other work. Giles and Monica meet founder Zita Cobb. Her family has lovingly folded its rich heritage into a unique retreat for guests from all over the world. Giles is initiated as an honorary Newfoundlander by the inn's housekeepers, who rope him into a community boat race. Monica spends time with local guide Norm, who reveals how to grow the perfect potato. Monica and Giles both help to put on a traditional Fogo Inn 'wedding scoff'. Above all, they tell the poignant story of the fight to revive the island.

In the sixth episode Giles and Monica don their best thermals and extreme weather gear and travel 200km north of the Arctic Circle to Sweden's Lapland.

They enter a magical world of snow, ice, inky blue and pink skies - and Icehotel, a regular feature of bucket lists. Now in its 27th year, the hotel's team have given themselves their biggest challenge yet: to run an Icehotel that will stay open 365 days of the year, powered by the sun.

Giles Coren and Monica Galetti fly to the other side of the world to work in one of the world's most luxurious eco resorts on the small island of Tetiaroa in French Polynesia, not too far from Monica's birthplace - Samoa. Here, surrounded by a beautiful coral reef and an abundance of marine life, they both work alongside the staff of the exclusive Brando Resort to serve 5-star luxury to guests paying up to an eye-watering ú11,000 per a night. The hotel was the brainchild of Hollywood star Marlon Brando, who wanted to preserve Polynesian culture and marine life - and Giles meets Tumi, Brando's granddaughter, who strives to deliver his vision. Infused with Brando's environmental ethos, the resort is now one of the favourite hideaway destinations for the rich and famous - from Pippa Middleton to Leonardo di Caprio and Barack Obama.

In the second episode, Giles and Monica travel to the Anantara Al Jabal Al Akhdar in Oman. It is the highest five-star hotel in the Middle East and a resort seeking to blend local tradition with modern tastes. Built to resemble an ancient Omani fort, and situated 2,000 metres above sea level on the rim of a dramatic canyon, the hotel has recently made the most of its location by constructing a jaw-dropping via ferrata and zip-wire rope course along the cliff edge. Led by the hotel's mountain guru Maher, Giles and Monica undertake a test-run of the stunning adventure course before it opens to guests, facing 30-metre drops and Giles's prolific fear of heights.

Monica Galetti and Giles Coren head to the foothills of the Swiss Alps to experience a very different type of travel - health and wellness tourism. This luxury hotel houses not only multiple restaurants, spas and golf courses but also Olympic-standard sports facilities - and a high-spec clinic boasting 80 medical staff, who offer guests everything from sleep therapy to dietary advice and surgery. Grand Resort Bad Ragaz lies in the shadow of an ancient gorge, the thermal waters of which have lured visitors for centuries.

Monica Galetti and Giles Coren hop across to Ireland to scale the imposing and ancient ramparts of Ashford Castle. Set in 350 acres, it was founded 800 years ago by the Anglo-Norman De Burgo family, and much later became the family home of the Guinness family. With the help of hotel historian, Fintan, Giles discovers that the castle has had a rollercoaster journey through the centuries, sporadically reaching moments of real jeopardy, only to be saved by a turn of events or new owners. As recently as 2011, the hotel went into receivership but was bought in the nick of time and, after undergoing a ú50 million restoration, has the ambition to be the best hotel in the world.

Giles Coren and Monica Galetti travel to South Africa - where they experience a land of contrasts through working in two very different hotels. The Silo is an industrial-chic, luxury art-themed hotel in the heart of Cape Town. It sits in the former elevator shaft of a 90-year-old, 187-foot grain silo (once dubbed the tallest building in sub-Saharan Africa) and on top of the new Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa - the African equivalent of the Tate Modern - within the same re-purposed historic building. The redesign of the silo building was led by British star designer Thomas Heatherwick, who created 96 stunning windows which contain over 5,300 individual panes of glass overall and cost ú50,000 each to construct.

In this insightful and entertaining programme, Monica Galetti and Giles Coren travel to South America to work in Hacienda Hotel Vira Vira - a unique hotel near Pucon, the adventure capital of Chile and gateway to the Andes and the country's Lake District. Nestled within a 23-hectare native park along the shores of Liucura River, the hotel overlooks an active volcano which regularly spews ash and lava.

In this Christmas special, Giles and Monica travel to Kulm Hotel, St Moritz. This Swiss Alpine hotel was the birthplace of winter tourism more than 150 years ago. The Kulm's owner, Johannes Badrutt, made a bet with summer guests that if they returned in the winter and didn't enjoy themselves he would pay for their stay. The guests stayed for the season - and a new industry of winter leisure and sports was born. The current managers of the Kulm (one of whom was born there!) try to embrace the hotel's history whilst finding new ways to attract younger generations. Giles launches into the traditional grand hotel's life by being fitted up for a bellboy's uniform to work alongside veteran head concierge Silvio. Monica helps joint MD Jenny transform her office into a private dining room for the evening.

Giles Coren and Monica Galetti visit a hi-tech hotel in the self-governing Chinese gambling capital of Macau. Monica gets special access to a secret set of VIP suites dubbed The Mansion, where it takes more than just money to book an exclusive room. Giles visits a special theatre that sends its audience flying through the air, and helps to arrange the flowers for the Chinese New Year celebrations.

Monica and Giles travel deep into the Scottish Highlands to join the staff living and working in the mountains at one of the UK's remotest luxury hotels.

Monica Galetti and Giles Coren visit a hotel deep in the snowy Bavarian Alps. Monica joins in the daily meditation session for the restaurant staff, and Giles recites poetry and travels to a mountain hut to serve dinner, while dressed in lederhosen. They join the hotel guests for an evening of world-renowned musicians playing for free.

Monica Galetti and Giles Coren work behind the scenes of an amazing hotel in St Lucia.

Monica and Giles work behind the scenes of one of England's historic country estates, which the ancestral owners, Lord and Lady Masham, have opened up to guests.

Monica Galetti and Giles Coren stay in their own city to work at the Shangri-La, Britain's highest hotel. Their expectations of a standard business guest experience are blown away by discovering a hotel that makes guests' personal moments special. From bath butlers to marriage proposals, the hotel is a resort for celebrations in the clouds.

Giles Coren and Monica Galetti join the staff working in some of the most unusual hotels around the world, learning the tricks of the trade.

Monica and Giles travel to Madeira, famous for its year-round springlike weather, to work in one of Europe's leading hotels: Reid's Palace.

Monica and Giles work in an glass-fronted hotel, overlooking the historic Croatian town of Rovinj, that seeks to work in harmony with the culture it has come from.

Monica and Giles travel to Copenhagen to work at Nimb Hotel in Tivoli Gardens, where looking after guests means riding rollercoasters and booking avant-garde restaurants.

Giles Coren and Monica Galetti visit an extraordinary hotel built where people usually struggle to survive - deep in a Middle Eastern desert.

In the final episode of the series Monica Galetti and Giles Coren visit The Lanesborough in London, the first time the hotel has allowed cameras to film behind the scenes.

Working alongside Sir Richard Branson's staff at his cliff top hotel, Monica and Rob learn how to deliver genuine Berber hospitality to the intrepid guests who come to visit.

Monica and Rob visit a paradise island in the Maldives. Working behind the scenes, they discover the intricate operation required to deliver a five-star service.

Monica and Rob learn what life is like for the 200-year-old preserved fishing community of Nusfjord in the Lofoten Islands. Delivering luxury in such an extreme environment is no easy task.

Monica and Rob travel to the highlands of central Sri Lanka to learn about Ceylon Tea Trails - a series of colonial era bungalows that have been renovated and revisioned by a local family of tea entrepreneurs. Monica works with the tea pickers and learns the importance of the industry to the country, while Rob tracks leopards in the surrounding plantations. The highlands are a rugged landscape, but as Rob and Monica discover, with dedication and detail, guests can still get a luxury experience.

Monica and Rob discover what it take to work at a wildlife reserve hotel in South Africa, which seeks to balance keeping both the animals and guests safe.

Monica and Rob work behind the scenes of a hotel built to resemble an entire ancient Italian village. They discover how you deliver real Italy within a carefully designed replica.

Monica Galetti and Rob Rinder discover Glenapp Castle, where guests are treated to a magical stay that is both rugged and luxurious - and thoroughly Scottish.

The series five finale episode takes place at Hotel Hubertus, a family-run Alpine resort which is located in the Italian Dolomites. Galetti and Rinder don their snow boots and explore the hotel's spectacular views and unique "Heaven & Hell" spa that requires a head for heights!

Rob Rinder and Monica Galetti visit the Intercontinental Shanghai Wonderland, known as the world's first 'earthscraper' hotel. Learning about the innovative architectural challenges that come with building a hotel into the side of a quarry, the team also help prepare dinner for the hotel's 3000 aquarium fish, test drones for the dazzling evening light show, serve guests at a private dinner, and even help prepare for a young girl's fourth birthday party.

Rob Rinder and Monica Galetti travel to Turkey to work at Argos in Cappadocia, a hotel built into a network of ancient caves. 

Combining history with modern luxury, Monica finds herself brushing cave ceilings with housekeeping before flying above in a hot air balloon. Meanwhile, Rob helps with the finishing touches of a new spa. 

With each room providing surprises and inviting curiosity, Rob seeks further education on the history of the caves as Monica practises centuries-old traditional cooking techniques.

Rob Rinder and Monica Galetti work at Six Senses Ibiza on the island's north coast. They help guests in the hotel's on-site clinic experience ‘biohacking' therapies, from cryotherapy to heated infrared masks, promising to delay ageing and increase vitality. 

Rob helps the hotel's 'energy balancing' expert create a cacao ceremony to increase 'spiritual wellness'. In the basement, Monica uncovers a recording studio with a party space for the music scene that the island is known for.

Rob Rinder and Monica Galetti visit the Hassler Hotel, arguably Rome's most classic and celebrated hotel, which is undergoing a change in management. Family-run for generations, Rob and Monica learn about the hotel's celebrity guests and plans for the future as they pitch in with everything from cooking traditional carbonara to sweeping the busy streets in front of the hotel and driving guests around in a vintage Rolls Royce, all in the heart of the Eternal City. 

Rob Rinder and Monica Galetti travel to the Datai Langkawi in Malaysia. Beneath rainforest canopies, this hotel is so tucked-away that monkeys will break into the room if the door is not shut. During their stay, Rob and Monica get involved in everything from maintaining the lily pond to driving golf buggies around hair-raising bends, all the while learning about the key environmental issues and efforts required to run a hotel right in the heart of nature.

Rob Rinder and Monica Galetti work 3000 meters above sea-level at Gangtey Lodge, Bhutan, in a remote region that only obtained electricity 11 years ago. This luxury hotel has oxygen cans on hand, and the chef prepares meals to help guests adjust to the altitude. During their stay, Monica learns the local pastime of archery and how locals make butter and cheese for the hotel's kitchen, while Rob masters a song in Bhutanese. They also pay a visit to the neighbouring Buddhist monastery.

Rob Rinder and Monica Galetti work at Stanglwirt Hotel in the Austrian Alps, owned by one family for 300 years and grown slowly over the years to offer world-class boxing and tennis facilities and a stable of elegant Lipizzan horses, all woven around a working Alpine farm with some of the purest water in the world.

Rob Rinder and Monica Galetti visit Wilderness Hotel Inari, an adventure hotel above the Arctic Circle in Lapland. Working in sub-zero conditions, Monica learns about the indigenous Sami culture before prepping some reindeer stew, while Rob gets all hot and bothered maintaining saunas before taking a cold-water plunge in a snow hole. But will Rob finally witness the wonder of the northern lights from the comfort of his own room?