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Ugh!
That's crazy.
You're buying orange juice and croissants,
but you're not fixing the fire extinguisher.
2009.
You had a syringe in your building!
The problems are much bigger.
LIDA: I'm really trying.
That's bull [bleep]
No.
[ Sighs ]
Right now, knowing the information that you know,
would you let your five children sleep in this building?
No.
What we're running into is a lot of water damage.
I want to get it to a three-star.
This is a zero-star.
You are sitting on a time bomb.
Somebody's going to [bleep] jail.
-- Captions by VITAC --
Closed Captions provided by Scripps Networks, LLC.
I'm in Hollywood, California,
on the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame.
I'm in the epicenter of the entertainment industry.
Hollywood attracts over 40 million visitors each year.
If you know anything about entertainment,
this is the place you want to be.
I'm touching fame.
Look where I'm at. The Chinese Theatre.
Right there is the famous Hollywood sign.
Directly across the street is the theater
where the Academy Awards are going to be held,
and on the other side of that theater is my next project --
the Hollywood Liberty Hotel.
First-time hotel owners Lida Khorsandi
and her husband, Moez, bought the hotel with it's 21 rooms
out of bankruptcy two months ago for $3 million.
Lida's been running the hotel ever since,
and it hasn't been going well.
Owning and operating the hotel has been very hectic.
I pretty much been in medicine my whole life,
so I don't have any experience in running a hotel.
LIDA: If we don't get Anthony's help,
the hotel will just keep going downhill.
MELCHIORRI: So, they have the location right.
Very few hotels in the world have locations like this.
But before I even set foot in the building,
I can see there are problems.
I'm not really thrilled with the colors of the building.
This table -- it's all chipped, it's filthy.
I'm cleaning their table for them.
That's the front of the hotel.
Look. There's crap right on the front of the hotel.
Look at the tiles, here. All broken.
They call Hollywood Boulevard the boulevard of broken dreams.
I'm gonna call this hotel the hotel of broken tiles and crap.
Wish me luck.
I like it out there better.
I just came from Hollywood Boulevard,
with the neon lights, the Walk of Fame,
and then I walk into this.
This is depressing.
Oh, wow. This does not feel like you're in a first-class hotel.
Look.
My gas station has a better couch in the lobby
than this hotel.
I am not feeling very glamorous.
How are you?
Good, sir. How are you?
Nice to meet you, Mark.
Thank you. I'll be assisting you today.
So, you're the front-desk agent?
And how long have you been here?
About four or five years.
Has the lobby always looked like this?
It used to look actually worse.
Yes.
What was your occupancy last night?
Last night it was actually close to 90.
We only have two rooms left.
Did he just say 90%?
If the hotel's occupancy rate is this high all the time,
it should be making a lot of money.
So why am I here?
So, what I'd like to do now is I'd like to see a room.
Okay.
How much does it go for, usually?
Usually during the week we go a bit lower --
$79, $89 plus tax.
Come here for a second. I want to show you something.
I just want to make sure I understand something.
That theater, the Dolby Theatre,
is where they have the Academy Awards.
That is correct.
And on the other side of this building
is the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Correct.
And we're selling rooms for $79 a night?
True.
Wow. Okay.
Other hotels in this area are getting over $200 a night,
so why is this one so low?
Maybe there's some clues in the room.
Okay, this is room 207.
Let's see what we got.
There's no skirt.
I mean, you can see the mattress frame.
Oh, my God.
Oh...
That's where my head goes.
Look above me.
The smoke detector is missing.
Look at that glass.
I wouldn't put a bottle of water in there.
In case I'm hungry, there's food left over from the last guest.
What's that noise?
There's running water.
I hear running water.
There's dripping faucets, and then there's streaming faucets.
That's a streaming faucet.
So, not only are you wasting money
and you're wasting resources,
it just tells the guests
you don't have good maintenance practices.
And you can't shut it off.
It doesn't shut off.
It just spins around.
Water conservation is a huge issue in L.A.,
and one leaky faucet, over the course of a year,
can waste enough water to fill a swimming pool.
I can see the filth right through the grate.
Okay, there's some things I can give the owner a pass on.
This, she can't get a pass on.
This filter isn't filtering anything.
And, in fact, it's probably adding
to all sorts of dust and dirt in the air.
To find out just how much,
I've brought along the latest technology.
This air-quality monitor from Dylos
basically reads the small particles in the air --
the dust, the pollen, the mold.
It says a good reading is 0 to 75,
and a very poor reading is 3,000.
Oh, man.
This has a reading of over 4,000.
That's crazy. That's absolutely insane.
On an average day, the air quality reading
on an L.A. freeway is around 3,100.
That means that the air quality in this room
is worse than an L.A. freeway.
By any measure, this room is an "F."
They're right -- they can't get more than $79.
You have air-quality issues, you have dripping faucets,
and you have a fire-safety issue.
And I don't care if you bought the building
three months ago or yesterday,
you either clean it or you don't rent the room.
These rooms are appalling, and since the owner, Lida,
is in charge of day-to-day operations,
I need to talk to her now.
But I have a stop to make first.
I just got news that my producers
want me to see something.
Our assistant cameraman Scott is storing his equipment
in another guest room and they seem very concerned.
You want to show me something.
Yeah, well, I cleaned up the tech room
and opened up the drawer, and...
Yes.
What's in there?
Looks like drugs.
In this room.
Right here.
You're not setting me up, man?
You really found this?
We found that right there. Yes.
[ Sighs ] I thought I had problems with a dirty room.
The problems are much bigger.
Thank you.
[ Sighs ]
I need to speak to the owner right now.
This is ridiculous.
We're running a hotel,
and we're allowing things like this to be in the hotel.
I want to speak to the owner now.
Hi, Lida.
Hi. Anthony.
Nice to meet you.
So, I usually wait to sit down and speak to the owner
before I bring them into the room that I'm inspecting,
Uh-oh.
Dead in my tracks.
Really? [ Laughs ]
Okay, what was that?
It's not funny.
What is that?
Take it.
Do I have to touch that?
If I have to touch it, you have to touch it.
My crew member found this in the room down the hall
when he was moving his equipment.
What do you think about it?
I cannot believe my housekeepers missed this.
I found serious problems in your hotel.
I don't blame the housekeeper. I blame you.
You have to have a system in place, and you own the hotel,
so you're in charge of the systems.
If guest safety isn't at the top of her list, I wonder what is.
What do you want this hotel to be?
A very upscale, modern hotel
with new furniture, a new system of running it.
You know, right now it's a two-star,
I want to get it to a three-star.
Two-star?
This is a zero-star right now.
I mean, it doesn't take a hotel person
to know that that's unacceptable, right?
Yes.
So, what's your plan? Besides calling me?
'Cause I'm here for a few days.
I need to work with something.
So far, I got nothing to work with.
You have smoke detector that is disconnected and not working.
You're supposed to ensure the safety of the guests.
I...I just don't know where to start.
I really don't.
Okay, I'm gonna give you a suggestion right now --
I'd have the fire inspector come here and check out the hotel.
I wouldn't sleep here tonight.
I'm gonna ask you to get serious.
Because I just don't think you're taking me seriously.
No, I am.
If you're gonna take people's money,
you are obligated to give them
a safe, clean environment tonight.
Okay.
It's day two in Hollywood, and before I do anything,
I need to get guest safety under control.
After my meeting with Lida last night,
I asked her to make a list of safety priorities
and show it to me first thing.
If I made any impression on her at all yesterday,
calling in a building inspector is at the top of the list.
All right.
So, Anthony, just right off the bat,
these are the issues that I thought about.
Okay. I need a system for the housekeeping supplies.
Housekeeping supplies.
After everything I said about safety,
she's worried about house-cleaning supplies.
I take the safety and security of people very seriously.
Yeah. Of course. So do I.
If you did, there wouldn't be a syringe in your room.
You don't understand it. You really don't.
You don't understand your responsibility. You don't.
People die in a hotel because of negligence.
I just wanted to make sure you're taking me seriously.
Of course I am.
Okay.
What's the first thing you do as a new owner of a hotel?
Exactly.
The second thing you need to do is to have a fire inspection.
I want you to do that before lunch.
Yes.
Can I talk to you off-camera for a sec?
Off-camera? No.
MELCHIORRI: I'm at the Hollywood Liberty Hotel
in the heart of Hollywood, California,
where I found smoke detectors that don't work,
a dust-filled room, and a syringe.
I asked the owner, Lida,
to make a priority-safety list for the hotel,
but she isn't taking this situation seriously enough.
Can I talk to you off-camera for a second?
Off-camera? No.
Can we just do these things later?
I mean, I-I -- There's so many other things that I need to do.
Like what?
[ Sighs ]
I am really trying to stay calm right now,
but Lida is pushing every single button I have.
Like, I need help with where to store the luggage
so no one takes somebody else's luggage.
So, where's your general manger?
He doesn't know how to do that stuff?
Well, there -- there wasn't a system in place.
Am I teaching you how to be a general manager or an owner?
Okay.
So, the first thing an owner does is these things.
You just said, "I need a luggage system."
I need a licensed contractor to know if my roof is caving in.
I need to know if the smoke detectors in the rooms work
before I worry about a luggage system.
But when I bought the building,
the owner -- we went over all the issues.
I said, "Is it structurally safe?"
He said yes.
There aren't any major problems aside --
How do you know?
Because I've been here for two months and it's --
There's nothing --
No major problems. So, cross that off your list.
You inspected the building, cross it off your list.
You don't need a licensed inspector to inspect your hotel.
Cross it off. You know better than me.
You know, if anything was caving in,
if there was a leak in the roof, I would've seen it.
No licensed inspector to inspect my building.
How about fire inspection? Do we need to have somebody come in?
They're gonna come next month, I think.
Okay, so, forget about it.
Okay, so, you know better than me.
No licensed inspector and no fire inspection. Okay.
Okay. So --
That's bull [bleep]
You're going against the expert that you called in.
Do you want me to call in my inspector?
Yeah.
Why is that? 'Cause you want me to spend my money?
You don't want to spend your money?
No, no, no, no.
Do you want me to pack up and leave?
Are you having second thoughts?
Do you think I came here
to give you a luggage inspection checklist?
These are things -- internal things --
that I'm getting bad reviews on.
The major inspection, I don't think I need that right now.
I really don't. I'm telling you the truth.
I'm not going against you, don't get offended.
It's not about going against me.
It's about making sure a guest doesn't get hurt in your hotel.
There's so many other issues
going on in this building right now
that the last thing I want is like an inspector.
I need to fix these problems now.
Okay, but -- but --
so, you don't want an inspection in the building.
And you don't want a fire inspection.
Okay.
I'm gonna help Lida out a little bit,
because she's obviously not going to listen
to anything I have to say until I deal with her issues.
There's four questions,
I'm gonna answer every single one of them
in the next 20 minutes.
Let's go inside.
All right.
First up is the luggage room,
which seems to be Lida's biggest concern.
Let's start the clock.
This is a pretty good luggage room.
Clean it out, and you mark -- I'm gonna teach you.
You go "A," "B," "C," "D."
Then you have tickets.
And each ticket has little stickies on it with a number.
And when somebody gives you three or four pieces of luggage,
you take that little sticky, you put it on one, two, three --
and then you give them the claim ticket.
Oh, okay.
Great idea. Okay.
I've done this once before. Okay, let's go.
Okay, so, what's your problem here?
The problem here is I'm having random people
park in my parking lot,
and I need the parking for guests.
Okay, so, the first thing I would do is you get two signs
that says unauthorized people parking here will be towed.
You put them on poles.
Okay? Right there.
Then you get the company -- okay?
With the tow truck to start towing people.
Done. What's your third problem?
The breakfast area.
So, one of the problems we have,
the guests either go sit in the lobby
and have breakfast there,
but I just need more space for them to sit down.
I wouldn't worry about the breakfast area. I would close it.
Oh, guests love that continental breakfast.
Yeah, they're paying $79 for it, too.
In the market, that's getting $200 rates.
So, what are you doing?
What's the other thing?
[ Bell dings ]
So, this is your...?
This is supplies, yeah. Housekeeping supplies.
21 rooms and we have --
this is the entire box you have for supplies?
I'm gonna put together a list
of supplies you should have at any given time
for the proper operation of your hotel.
[ Bell dings ]
Your linen area.
It took 19 minutes and 20 seconds
to answer Lida's urgent questions
about luggage tags and shampoo bottles.
Now can we talk about the hotel being a potential fire hazard?
I am not "How do I fix my parking problem" expert.
I am a hotel expert.
I answered some of your questions, right?
Yes.
You feel better about those things?
Okay.
Now, can we have an inspector inspect the hotel?
[ Sighs ]
I've got a syringe in the room,
air quality worse than an L.A. freeway,
and an owner that just doesn't get it.
I'm not sure how to move forward with Lida,
but I do know that these rooms need a lot of work,
so I'm bringing in designer Casey Noble to take a look.
You've seen some rooms, working with me,
that are less than desirable.
Mm-hmm. That's true.
But then, you haven't seen this one.
Oh...
Welcome to the abyss.
Uh...No.
Yikes. Nope.
Okay.
It looks cheap, is what it looks like to me.
Like, right off the bat, looks really cheap.
Let me show you something.
Oh. [ Gasps ]
Ugh!
[ Retches ] Don't make me touch it, hold it, feel it.
It looks sort of like I might be able to use this as a pillow.
Like a little throw pillow.
Let me show you another problem.
Okay.
You have plumbing issues.
First of all, the bathroom's disgusting.
But you have the shower head coming out of the wall,
there's mold everywhere.
It's disgusting.
So, you got it?
[ Laughs ] Yeah.
Don't say nothing. Keep walking. Get out.
Get out, get out, get out!
This is a complete gut job.
How am I supposed to fix this?
Listen to me and listen to me carefully --
I need one room like this,
I need it perfect for them to take this
and be able to renovate all the other rooms.
It's just a lot.
Do I get more time?
Well, if I shut up you'll get a few more seconds.
Okay.
Don't breathe the air in here.
While Casey comes up with a plan,
I want to meet with Ruben --
the guy who Lida says helps manage the hotel.
For some reason, he doesn't want his face on camera,
but I need to find out if he's management material.
Did you ever work in a hotel before?
Do you run housekeeping?
Have you ever managed people before?
Well, it's as I figured -- we don't have a GM.
Which means I'm just dealing with Lida,
who still hasn't called in an inspector.
But I need to get somebody in here
just to tell me if the building's safe,
so I've called in Mike from Alliance Inspecting
to give me his quick assessment.
After looking for an hour,
he has some answers that Lida needs to hear, too,
so I'm bringing her along.
This is Mike from Alliance Inspecting.
Hi.
You, too.
This is Lida, she's the owner of the building.
What state is the building in?
So, electrical, we have a 200-amp service, which --
we probably have an under-powered building, one,
and two, unsafe, old,
cloth-covered insulated wiring, here.
Insulation can just fall off and create sparks
inside its metal conduit and cause a fire.
Really?
Worse news -- the building has had a couple of fires.
It has?
No.
MELCHIORRI: The Hollywood Liberty Hotel has the potential
to be a huge money-maker because of its prime location
in the heart of Hollywood, California.
Unfortunately, there are major safety issues holding it back.
I brought in my own inspector,
and he doesn't have good news for the owner.
There's been a fire in the basement
and there's been a fire in the attic.
We see burnt wood up there.
The parts of the building that that is holding up,
it's structurally not safe now.
What do you think the cost of replacing that would be?
Ballpark?
$100,000 with what I know so far.
At the least.
That's gonna add to the budget.
Mike, it was an absolute pleasure.
Good. Okay.
All right.
Right now, knowing the information that you know,
would you let your five children sleep in this building?
So, if you wouldn't let
your five children sleep in this building,
you shouldn't let a guest sleep in the building.
This was only a preliminary inspection,
and Mike found two major problems.
Lida needs to make sure
every inch of this building is examined.
Find your own independent contractor,
pay him to come in and assess, in writing,
every single problem.
All right.
LIDA: This was a lot of information for me to digest.
I'm still in shock. [ Laughs ]
MELCHIORRI: If learning that there's fire damage and electrical problems
don't convince Lida to bring in an inspector,
I don't know what will.
Now I'm heading to meet Casey,
who tells me she's found even more issues with the building.
Anthony.
A lot is going on.
But first, meet Alec and Russell.
These are my general contractors from Ramland Construction.
And what are you doing?
What we're running into is a lot of water damage.
Basically, when we did the demo in there,
we ran into quite a bit of mold that we demo'd out.
We replaced it, but it's kind of an ongoing situation.
And that's because the plumbing was bad?
Nothing was sealed.
So, do you think that's going to be...
Everywhere?
These guys haven't looked at each and every bathroom,
but, I mean, I'm guessing --
what I've seen in the hotel, yeah.
So, we need to gut the bathrooms.
Every bathroom.
MELCHIORRI: Electrical problems are bad enough,
but now it sounds like we're adding
a complete plumbing overhaul to the work list.
And that means I may have to take some drastic steps.
I think the way to go forward with this hotel,
since it has 21 rooms, is to potentially shut it down.
Casey, if you owned this building,
you would shut it down and start over?
Absolutely.
I need to make sure Lida and her husband, Moez,
understand about the wiring problems, the fire damage,
and the bad plumbing.
These issues need to be confronted immediately.
Okay. So, this is where we are.
You bought a hotel out of bankruptcy,
but you never did Due Diligence.
MOEZ: Correct.
It was basically just making sure
that the day-to-day functions were running --
checking in the people,
making sure the sheets are clean, you know,
and thinking, "Well, if the cords are working,
what problem can there be?"
That is shortsighted.
You have serious problems.
I need you two to invest the money that you need to do
to bring this up to code.
And that may cost you -- I think it's about $100,000.
Are you committed to fixing those problems
Yeah, of course.
That's our number-one priority.
It wasn't before I got here.
You protect your guests.
By protecting your guests, you protect your investment.
Because God forbid somebody gets hurt in that building --
you don't have enough money for them to take.
If the owners spend $100,000 to get the building up to code,
then they can start focusing on the rooms.
The good news is, they're in an amazing area,
and once the hotel is safe and clean,
they can raise their room rates.
Let me show you a couple things.
You have a 97.5% occupancy year-to-date.
But look what you did to your rate -- $75 rate.
And you're running 100% occupancy,
so you're pounding the building.
You're pounding an old building that can't take any more.
Yeah.
With almost the lowest rate you can drive.
Is that the hotel you want to own?
No.
What do you think the average rate is
in this market for your competition?
At least $149, $179.
I would say about $170 to $180.
They have a rate of $204, which is three times your rate.
They're driving $1.3 million in revenue
if it's a 21-room hotel,
simply by just existing in this market
and having a decent product.
That's what we need -- a decent product.
MELCHIORRI: If they do this the right way,
they'll be sitting on a gold mine.
But they have a big decision to make.
So, I'm gonna give you two options.
MELCHIORRI: I'm at the Hollywood Liberty Hotel,
one block away from one of the most recognizable streets
in America, where not only are the rooms unsafe,
but the building has outdated wiring, fire damage,
and plumbing problems.
So, now the owners have a big decision to make.
So, I'm gonna give you two options --
one, do a little bit at a time.
Number two is to shut the building down
and to do this the right way,
which will cost you more up front,
but it's more efficient.
So you have a decision to make.
I need an answer tomorrow.
See you later.
I told Moez and Lida they can sleep on what I told them
before making their decision.
While they weigh the two options,
I'm looking to see if there are any other safety issues
that have been overlooked.
Okay, that works.
The inspection starts out fine, but goes downhill quickly.
Missing smoke detector.
She's worried about breakfast and croissants,
but she has a missing smoke detector.
Okay, this fire extinguisher
is supposed to have glass protecting it
so somebody doesn't take it, steal it.
I mean, look at how much dust is on the fire extinguisher.
When was the last time this was inspected?
Let's see.
Are you serious?
2009 was the last time this extinguisher was inspected.
Lida!
Where is she?
What are you doing, putting breakfast on?
I've been talking about safety issues since day one.
You'd think she would have checked the fire extinguisher.
Clearly, Lida is not getting the importance of guest safety.
Do you know what this tag is?
LIDA: No, I don't. It says 2009.
How can that be, though?
'Cause before I bought it, the owner said
the fire department came out a few months before.
Can you do me a favor?
Can you take "the owner said" out of your vocabulary?
The owner was in bankruptcy.
I don't know if he was being honest
or he wasn't being honest,
but I know, when I take over something --
like if I buy a car and it's a used car,
I go to the mechanic and make sure
it's not gonna break down in the middle of the highway.
Do you understand, when you buy a hotel,
this is the first thing you're supposed to take care of?
Yeah. Haven't gotten to that yet.
I saw you this morning,
you're setting up the croissants and the orange juice.
I don't want to have my orange juice and my croissant
and then go back to my room and die in a fire.
Of course.
This goes beyond the fire extinguishers.
I'm starting to wonder
how Lida is going to keep the place functioning
through a major renovation
if she can't even keep the fire-extinguisher tags
up to date.
After three days, Lida has finally found
a licensed building inspector
who does a soup-to-nuts assessment of the property.
Uh, electrical has some issues.
It needs to be upgraded.
The plumbing pretty much needs to be redone.
How long would it take them to do the plumbing right
and to do the electric right?
I'm gonna say two, three weeks probably minimum, right.
So, about a month.
If there was nobody here and you weren't trying to function.
Can it be done with the hotel being functioning?
If you're trying to function,
Easy.
That's exactly what I said last night.
Shutting down for renovation is more efficient.
In your opinion, if you owned this hotel,
would you take a slow approach,
kind of do a little bit at a time,
or would you shut it down and renovate it?
I would go for the more aggressive approach,
and the two things that I would do right off the bat
would be upgrade the plumbing completely
and upgrade the electrical completely,
purely from a safety standpoint.
Finally.
Maybe she'll understand the importance
of all these fixes
since she's hearing it from her own inspector.
Having guests stay in a work area
could be a dangerous and bad idea.
And the water supply has to be shut off on the bottom floor?
Is there a way to separate the bottom from the top?
But I think your question was,
if you had half the hotel shut down,
could you have the other half with the water on?
And the answer is, at this point, no.
I'm worried.
It sounds like Lida still wants to keep the hotel open
through its renovation, which is a tricky thing to do
even for experienced managers.
Lida can barely keep the fire extinguishers current.
There is no way she and Moez can handle a renovation
without some poor guest getting a 2x4 dropped on his head,
or worse.
Shutting down the hotel
is really the only true option for them,
and I'm hoping they've come to the same conclusion.
So, what is your decision?
Our decision is...
Drum roll. [ Chuckles ]
We're gonna do the option
where we're gonna do things little by little.
I guess option "B."
Why did you make that decision?
Well, we thought about it a lot.
We weighed the pros and cons of each.
We needed some cash flow over time
to make sure it would be okay, and if we go piece by piece,
I think we'll be much more stable and secure.
So, it's a financial decision.
Right. Yes.
I really can't let them do that.
I know originally I gave them a choice,
but this option can no longer be on the table.
I completely disagree with your decision.
The building we're standing on top of is a gold mine.
If you renovate it, do you know what the hotel's worth?
$6.5 million.
There's no doubt in my mind,
unless there's things I don't know,
you can get a half-a-million-dollar loan
on this property like that.
But this isn't just about the money.
You're going to have a serious accident.
There was a fire extinguisher this morning
that was outdated by four years.
If there's a fire in this building right now, you're done.
You're done.
This isn't a freaking joke.
I understand.
I talked to the manager
right after we looked at the fire extinguishers.
He said that the fire department was here three weeks ago.
I don't give a [bleep]
You have fire extinguisher that is outdated for four years!
Okay, they get that tag, they get that extinguisher
and there is a fire, somebody's going to [bleep] jail!
Excuse my language.
Okay? And I apologize.
Do you -- you're not getting the seriousness.
You're buying orange juice and croissants,
but you're not fixing fire extinguishers.
You got to fix your smoke detectors.
You had a syringe in your building!
Okay?!
This is not a joke!
You are sitting on a time bomb.
MELCHIORRI: The Hollywood Liberty Hotel
needs all-new wiring and plumbing,
and the owners just told me
they want to stay open while the work is done.
We're gonna do the option
where we're gonna do things little by little.
I completely disagree with your decision.
You are sitting on a time bomb.
Now I'm determined to convince them
to shut down the hotel and fix the problems the right way.
I am here to help you.
I don't know -- I have to think about how I go forward now.
Because we're not shutting the building down,
who's gonna run it?
You?
I don't have time to be here all the time.
I can't.
Right. But let's keep it open.
So, Lida can't run the hotel and Moez is too busy.
So who's going to run it?
I want Moez to tell me their plan.
There's no one really running the hotel.
At the end of the day, when I leave,
who is going to run the building?
You know, right now, we have our current manager,
which has been here forever.
He's not a manager. Come on.
Having a needle full of blood in your room,
It's a problem.
Having frayed wires is not running okay.
Having major plumbing issues is not okay.
You got to get a manager.
Are you willing to at least
come up with the money for a manager?
But if we do that, that'll take away
from doing all the other stuff we want to do.
[ Scoffs ] Doc...
I'm gonna tell you this straight up --
you cannot run this hotel, renovate this hotel,
without a manager.
That, you can't do.
It's about the safety and security of the hotel,
what's best for the hotel.
You need a manager.
So, I'm gonna try to give you some resources to help you.
Perfect. That would be great.
Okay. Thank you.
Clearly, I need to find somebody to help them run this hotel.
So I've called in Larry Broughton
from the Broughton Hotels Management Company.
He manages some of the best hotels in Los Angeles,
and I think he should manage the liberty.
This hotel isn't just a real-estate deal.
This hotel is an operation.
The way you operate this hotel has instant opportunity
for more value of your hotel, and for your bank account.
So, I brought him here to tell you how he can help you.
We have about 20 hotels in our portfolio right now.
Some of them we own, some of them we operate
for other owners who don't understand the hotel industry.
The decision you guys need to make right now
is, "Do I want to be a hotel owner,
or do I want to be a hotel operator?"
They're completely different roles in life.
What do you want to be?
An owner.
The truth is, you have to find a trusted operator
who understands customer service,
who understands how to build elite teams.
This hotel is only gonna do as well
as the team that you have in here operating it.
And I would imagine -- wouldn't it be great
if he could just go to the mailbox every month
and collect a check,
instead of dealing with the headaches
that come with customer service
and running a hotel 24 hours a day?
MOEZ: Day to day, there's so many things
that come up all the time.
So, what are you prepared to do to help them right away?
Whatever goes on inside these walls,
we're willing to help you out for the next month.
Sales and marketing experts, revenue management experts,
accounting experts, operations experts.
Our job is to set you up for success.
So, the next 30 days, you get his resources.
Pick his brain. I'm telling you something.
I'm gonna look you in the eyes and I'm gonna tell you this --
the next 30 days will set you up for tremendous success.
While the owners work out a management plan with Larry,
Casey has asked her team from Herald Painting
to give the front of the hotel a fresh look.
Inside, we've had all the carpets steam cleaned,
and they've re-tiled the bathroom.
Now she's asked me to come take a look.
This might be a socket, though.
Miss Noble.
So, what's going on in here?
Well, this is the shower
that has been totally tiled, gutted.
And this is obviously water-proof sheetrock?
Of course. Absolutely.
Everything is sealed appropriately. There'll be no leaking.
And this is a nice shower. This is a nice-sized shower.
Yeah, it is. And you look great, like, framed out, there.
This is really beautiful.
So, I gave them two choices --
to do it piecemeal
or do it the way I really want them to do it,
shut it down, do it all at once.
But the owners are still thinking
about keeping the hotel open,
so tomorrow is really my last chance to convince them
that my way is the right way.
So I may need you to back me up tomorrow.
Okay. Absolutely.
Get to work.
MELCHIORRI: I am confident
the rooms will be in good shape for tomorrow.
But my work isn't done for the night.
I need to find out how Lida plans to tackle
the plumbing and electrical issues,
and manage the hotel at the same time.
I may do two or three rooms at a time. It depends.
You have a hotel
that you're going to try to do piecemeal,
and you're making a mistake.
Lida still doesn't seem to understand
how much work needs to be done.
These are real gut renovations.
We need to shut it down.
If I shut this down and I run out of money,
I'm gonna have to file bankruptcy
like the last person did.
He ran out of money when the hotel was open
because he's running a [bleep] hole.
These rooms are disgusting and they're falling apart.
From the day I bought it, it was an excellent investment.
You got that out?
'Cause you've been dying to say that.
It's an excellent investment
if you take care of the property.
If you don't take care of the property,
you're gonna be in a lot of trouble.
If you would like more information
on myself or the show, go to...
And if you have a hotel that's in trouble
and you want our help, send us an e-mail at...
I'm at the Hollywood Liberty Hotel,
where I spent a lot of time trying to convince the owners
to shut their hotel down
to fix major plumbing and electrical issues.
Meanwhile, there's been progress in other areas.
The California Hotel Association has come in
to help with additional operational assistance.
Lida has finally started to address the fire extinguishers,
and I've given Lida a proper list
of cleaning supplies for housekeeping.
Casey Noble and her team have been working hard
to create a brand-new design for the hotel,
both inside and out.
It's finally time to let the owners
see the hotel's new look.
So, what do you notice?
LIDA: You painted the building. It looks fabulous.
MELCHIORRI: You like the color?
I love it. Very Hollywood.
And I think it made a big impact,
because from the outside, you know, it looks fantastic.
Hopefully once we do the inside, it's gonna look even better.
This, the outside of the building,
it's the first step in showing you
a comprehensive plan for what's possible in this hotel.
Now I want to show you a few more things.
Let's go.
Not only did Casey paint the building,
but she also came up with a plan for how the owners
can add some life to their boring lobby.
Welcome to your old lobby,
and your new designer, Casey Noble.
This is the first step in really showing you a plan
of where we think the direction should go.
So, first, what I think your guests don't have right now
is a sense of arrival.
So, I think you should make this one room.
To have a bigger lobby would make a bigger impact.
Okay, so, you worked *** this plan.
Is there anything else you think?
Um...yeah. One small project.
Let's go.
Let's go.
MELCHIORRI: Just one more stop,
and then I can get back to convincing the owners
to shut down their hotel and fix it properly.
Oh, my God.
Wow.
Moez...
Oh, my God.
Wow.
This is fantastic.
Before, it was a dark, dingy room,
and it's just so bright
and I just love it.
And it's just so light and airy,
and it's all my favorite colors.
I love gray, white, black...
It's so Hollywood.
And I love these pictures.
[ Sniffles ]
It's gorgeous.
Oh, Moez, look at this.
It's absolutely beautiful.
It's fantastic. And I love the shower.
You had this really divided space
between the bathroom and the bedroom,
so we did curtains instead of doors
that will, you know --
Did you increase this space?
'Cause it was like,
you couldn't even walk into this area,
Exactly.
So, do you like it, Lida?
I mean, you can't tell me...
I don't like it, I love it.
I'm glad. I'm glad.
Great.
Sorry I gave you such a hard time.
Say it one more time. Look me in the eyes and say it again.
I'm sorry I gave you such a hard time.
This entire, entire renovation came out of her brain.
Oh...well...
I had a lot of help,
a construction crew that was amazing.
You guys have to meet them.
Hi, guys.
RUSSELL: How are you?
You don't know, really, how hard they worked.
So I want you to tell them a couple of the challenges
that you guys ran into.
Basically ripped out your entire shower.
The entire subfloor was rotted out --
black mold, everything.
And we re-framed your entire subfloor.
You feel safe in this room?
Makes you want to come back.
So, guys, your job here is done.
Good job, lady.
Thank you.
Okay. Good job. Good job, guys.
It was an absolute pleasure.
MELCHIORRI: The plumbing is solid, the electric is solid.
Now you're in a safe, clean room.
How'd we do?
You know, it was a long ride -- worth it.
This is a $200-a-night room.
Now, back to my main mission.
This is what the Liberty has to become
if it's going to succeed,
and there's only one way to get there.
Say it with me -- close the hotel.
I spent a lot of time on a chart.
What I want you to understand
is, if you close the hotel all at once,
you spend $978,000 --
you will have to go into debt.
But the good news is,
you will finish paying off your debt in two and a half years.
And when your hotel opens six months from now,
it will be worth $6.5 million.
Your way of running the hotel
while you're doing the renovation --
God bless you and good luck --
is all the sudden, two and a half years later,
and you still have debt.
You still have
hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of debt.
What do you think about what I just said?
What's your decision?
My decision after everything...
I'd close it down.
Oh, my God.
We're just waiting to hear from the bank.
We decided, if we get it, we're closing.
You have got something very special,
and I really, really, really, really hope you're successful.
My job's done.
Okay?
You're gonna do it. I wish you the best.
I really do. I really wish you the best.
Thank you so much.
Give me a hug, man.
Thank you so much, Anthony.
Appreciate everything you've done.
Oh, absolutely.
I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart.
I really do.
And I realize, underneath this tough skin,
there's a big heart.
[ Laughs ]
The success of this hotel comes down to two things --
will the owner focus and make the right decisions,
and will they be able to find the money
to do the renovation the correct way?
If they do those two things,
this hotel is gonna be ridiculously successful.