Jack in your job, find a country pile, open a hotel… that’s the dream for many people. And it all sounds idyllic, until water starts seeping through the walls, the roof caves in and bookings fall off a cliff.
Now a new series, Help! We Bought A Hotel, rams home the reality for many aspiring hoteliers, showing the pitfalls, financial pressures and staffing nightmares – alongside those rare occasions when things actually go to plan.
Musician Jamie Turner had vague plans for an artists’ retreat when he bought a crumbling property in France. ‘I’ve done a lot of travelling and I always look for places that have a community feel,’ says Jamie, 40. ‘I once stayed in a place in Italy where long-term residents mixed with normal guests, and I had that in my periphery.’
Jamie Turner (second from left) with his co-owners at La Boule d’Or, their hotel in Clamecy, which is 130 miles south of Paris
So when he saw the hotel listed on the French version of Gumtree, armed only with an advance payment on an album he was supposed to make, he made a decision that would change his life. Along with three others – one friend and two investors he’d never met – he decided to take a plunge on buying the property, although the show does not reveal what they paid.
‘We were just a group of people who started talking during the pandemic and had this idea of building somewhere with a community,’ recalls Jamie. ‘None of us had any experience, but then we stumbled across this 12th-century chapel attached to an 18th century building with a courtyard. It had been on the market for a long time. I put the numbers onto a spreadsheet and I realised that it had failed because the owners had stopped caring, and the place it was in, Clamecy, had a shrinking population. When we turned up there was no electricity, water, gas – they’d all been switched off years earlier so we really didn’t know what we were buying.’
Reality quickly hit when the foursome took ownership of the place and had the utilities turned back on. ‘Water rushed out of a hole in the wall like a geyser,’ says Jamie. ‘Then the light fittings started dripping and a ceiling totally collapsed. There was nothing to do but cry. There’s a Tom Hanks film called The Money Pit – I felt like I was living that experience.’
Musician Jamie Turner (pictured) is one of the owners of La Boule d’Or hotel
Along with three others, Jamie (second from right) decided to take a plunge on buying the property
‘None of us had any experience, but then we stumbled across this 12th-century chapel attached to an 18th-century building with a courtyard,’ recalls Jamie
So Jamie did what any millennial would do – he sat in his car, closed the doors and made a video explaining what had happened and pleading for help. He posted it on social media and before he knew it the video had gone viral – it has now been watched more than 4 million times. Then people started arriving, from South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and all over Europe.
‘It was crazy and wonderful,’ recalls Jamie. ‘This is the first project I’ve ever done that someone has actually had a tattoo to celebrate it.’ When the visitor showed him the tattoo on her arm the name of the hotel, Le Boule D’Or, was on it. ‘Although I didn’t have the heart to tell her that there was a little grammatical error.’ It should of course have been La Boule d’Or.
With an army of helpers on hand, he was able to completely restore the hotel. ‘At one point a welder came to help us and created this incredible bar area which is shaped so that everyone can look at each other,’ he says. The hotel, 130 miles south of Paris, is now open for business.
The hotel needed restoring. So Jamie did what any millennial would do – he made a video explaining what had happened and pleading for help
Jamie is one of several brave Britons attempting to carve out a new life in the hotel business in the six-part series. Another is Grace Truscott, 26, who went into business with her entrepreneur father Robert to buy a hotel in Spain. With her mother Lorraine behind the bar and 16-year-old brother James working in the bakery when he’s not at school, the Hotel Algorfa is very much a family concern.
But when they bought the property, a bank repossession located in the hills outside Alicante, it needed a lot of TLC. Of its 36 rooms, only eight were usable. ‘There was a lot of water coming in and lots of problems,’ recalls Grace. ‘The pool had a retractable roof that had to be totally fixed and there were problems with the drains.
‘There was a bit of trial and error where we thought we had got to a place where everything had been waterproofed, then we’d open up a room and after a heavy downfall it would have to be signed off again and we’d have to start from scratch. It took a long time to reach a place where there are no more leaks, and we’re now busy finishing off the final few rooms.’
Grace Truscott (pictured) went into business with her entrepreneur father Robert to buy a hotel in Spain
But when Grace and Robert bought the property, a bank repossession located in the hills outside Alicante, it needed a lot of TLC. Of its 36 rooms, only eight were usable
Grace admits that there are pluses and minuses to working with her family. ‘We butt heads constantly,’ she says. ‘Because we’re family we’re probably a bit harsher on each other than people normally are. There’s a lot of bickering, which in the workplace isn’t a good look I suppose. It can be quite comical, as you’ll see. But at the same time we’re a very close family and we’re on this crazy adventure together.’
The show also introduces us to a couple who have made a roaring success of their venture after taking the plunge nine years ago. Tim and Ingrid were looking for a better quality of life back in 2015, so they bought the historic Chabanettes Hotel & Spa in the Auvergne region of France.
Ingrid, who’s French and has a degree in tourism and marketing, met experienced hotel manager Tim ten years ago and when their son Lorenzo arrived they immediately began to re-evaluate their future. They initially thought about buying a guest house, but when they walked into the 170-year-old Chabanettes they were immediately struck by its magic.
Tim and Ingrid were looking for a better quality of life back in 2015, so they bought the historic Chabanettes Hotel & Spa in the Auvergne region of France
Hotel manager Tim and Ingrid thought about buying a guest house, but when they walked into the 170-year-old Chabanettes they were immediately struck by its magic
It had recently been renovated when they bought it, so the plumbing, electrics and roof were all in good order, but the rooms and service were basic and the owners were charging just 30 euros a night for its five rooms. Having invested more than £200,000 improving the property, adding a spa and other features, the couple now let those rooms for 200 euros a night.
The area, near the spa town of Vichy, is famous for its healing waters and one of the property’s previous owners would take in ill children from the smog-filled cities and restore them to health. Now tourists from France and all over Europe seek out the hotel to ‘cocoon’ there for a relaxing break, with some visitors never leaving their rooms for an entire weekend.
It’s too early to say whether Jamie and Grace can emulate Tim and Ingrid, but they insist they’ll never regret their decision. ‘It’s been a huge learning curve,’ says Grace. ‘But it’s also been a very special experience. We now have a hotel that’s filling with guests and a wonderful business.’
Help! We Bought A Hotel starts later this month on Channel 4.
- Help! We Bought A Hotel starts later this month on Channel 4.
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