Hershey, PA - Simmons Motel

We had been back from vacation for about two weeks when Julie got a call:

"Was that the Simmons Hotel you stayed at? It's on TV!"

I had not previously heard of the show "Hotel Impossible", but it's been around for a while, someone we know watches it, and our hotel was on episode 5 of Season 6.

There are some hotels associated with the Hershey name. They sound lovely, with lobbies full of special flavor kisses, but they run a little expensive. For other options, the Simmons Hotel didn't have great reviews, but they weren't horrible either. I booked there.

My sisters had some trepidation, but the negative reviews focused on things being out of date but still clean. Clean is very important.

The reviews ended up being accurate - things were clearly out of date. It's not that they were dirty, but when somethings get old enough, there is still something off-putting. The carpet was so old it had taken on kind of a spongy texture, the trim on the bathroom was dingy and peeling away, and I think some of the paint was worn through. It could have been worse, but it could have been better too.

At the same time, there was a multi-generation, historic aspect to the property, and while there was no shuttle at least the walk was short (though dangerous). Seeing that Days Inn had apparently added a shuttle after we researched did make us question our decision, but we were only there for two days; we were going to suck it up.

There was a guy around who was on the sketchy side, with sketchy friends.

Then we saw the show.

Host Anthony Melchiorri's assessment was similar to mine: clean but outdated, and with potential.

The biggest disconnect was that we had been there so recently, and it was before the changes. With reality shows I thought there were months spent in post-production. Unless they only renovated one room, this had all happened after we left. We arrived on September 11th and left early on the 13th. This aired on September 29th. Somehow coming, assessing, renovating the rooms, getting the sketchy guy into rehab and him checking out early, and airing a show reporting on that all happened in between.

Yeah, the sketchy guy was the son of the owner. She was 91, and this hotel was her home and history, but the falling business and the mismanagement was breaking her heart, and that focused largely around her son's alcohol addiction.

Most of the episode focused on that, and it was really uncomfortable. There was a point where Anthony was talking to the grandson, and all of the patterns that you see with children of alcoholics are there, and it's heart-breaking.

I know there was one part where it occurred to me that Whitney was simply not meant for the hospitality business, and if the family business is one that won't work for you, that's a problem, but at the same time, so much of what was going wrong centered around the drinking that it would be hard to untangle. There was a moment of hope when he was in rehab and the front desk clerk was getting training and taking over as GM, but shortly after Whitney came back he fired her, probably jealous. Marnie, with her new training and experience, will probably be okay, but that still leaves a generation above and below that are suffering.

It was all very sad.

In light of this, I do wish I had taken more pictures. Here is our room door. We were in Room 0. The hotel is white with green shutters and trim, which is why the door signs were green (and kiss-shaped because Hershey). With the gold 0 in the green kiss, it did feel a little University of Oregon to me.