Just redoing one room is expensive and frustrating enough. Imagine tackling 10 or 20 or more…plus a pool, reception area, restaurant, and grounds. Despite the challenges, revamping a hotel is a chance to think big and bold, as these fascinating series (all available on Discovery+, the streaming home of HGTV and more) make evident.
Renovation Island, Available Now
The Proprietors
Canadian couple (and parents of four) Bryan and Sarah Baeumler. He’s a contractor, she’s a designer; they bicker over budgets. Their goals: clean, classy, eco-friendly.
The Properties
A rust-eroded 22-villa resort on the Bahamas’ South Andros Island survives Hurricane Dorian, COVID and more setbacks over two seasons to become the chic Caerula Mar Club.
If We Had To Pick One Episode…
Sweating the small stuff peps up Season 2’s fifth outing: Electronic locks fail. Rain threatens a new excursion. Guests need a diversion so appliances can be moved. Eek!
Discovery+
Inn the Works, Available Now
The Proprietors
Fun-loving, creative designer Lindsey Kurowski, who gets a construction (and comedy) assist from her sister and two brothers. She’s a fan of natural materials and midcentury style.
The Properties
First, she sinks her savings into Big Bear Lake, California’s 12-cabin Oak Knoll Lodge. In Season 2, she courts Massachusetts leaf-peepers with the 19-room Springs Motel.
If We Had To Pick One Episode…
Season 2’s sixth installment combines cool style (a revamped fireplace, a private outdoor claw-foot soaking tub) with warm family interactions (a sleepover with the siblings’ “Nonni”).
Discovery+
(Re)Motel, Available Now
The Proprietors
The 24 bite-size episodes (none longer than 11 minutes) intro 24 different establishments and their owners, all passionate about what they’ve accomplished.
The Properties
The motels seen in “after” tours are mostly on the West and East Coasts and include Massachusetts’ Tourists, a redo of a 1962 place rated online as “not fit for human inhabitation.”
If We Had To Pick One Episode…
No. 3: California’s Skyview, once a Psycho-creepy hotel on a hill, gets fun touches like a house rosé from its own vineyard and a restaurant named Norman, as in Bates Motel.
This is an excerpt from TV Insider’s June issue. For more in-depth, reported coverage devoted to streaming shows from the publishers of TV Guide Magazine, pick up the issue, currently on newsstands or purchase it online here. You can also subscribe to TV Insider Magazine here now.