The Hotel Inspector | Series 19 Preview (Channel 5)

In this brand-new series, The Hotel Inspector Alex Polizzi casts her net wider as she comes to the rescue of a beleaguered hospitality industry.

This year, the cries for help have been coming in unprecedented numbers from businesses across the land. Staff shortages, spiralling costs and customers with less money to spend, mean more and more places face imminent closure. Everything from Hotels and B&Bs, roadside cafes and high street pubs to camping and glamping sites.

This week, in the first episode, Alex Polizzi is in Somerset to come to the rescue of Mimmo and Michelle, a couple who took a bold step. Leaving their friends, family and food truck business over 1500 miles away in Italy, they started a new life and business in the UK, taking over the Riders Rest tea rooms on a livery yard to continue their passion for making great Italian food.

But despite all their hard work, trying to build a business that will see them through their later years, they are not living ‘la dolce vita’. It’s financially impossible for them to close the cafe to take a holiday, so Mimmo is unable to visit his beloved mother. With no pension and no savings, and working for barely any profits the couple are facing financial ruin.

Fresh eyes are needed to see past the spotless kitchen and passionate owners. Enter The Hotel Inspector, who soon discovers the couple are working for a shockingly low wage and helps formulate a radical plan.

Alex takes the couple to the nearby City of Bath for inspiration, and it soon becomes clear how they could transform their business. Can Alex save their beloved cafe? Will the couple manage to travel to Italy? And will an audacious plan she comes up with be the answer to the couple’s woes?

The Hotel Inspector returns Thursday 28th March at 9pm on Channel 5.