(keep reading to learn what happened)
Season: 2 | View All Season 2 Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: September 1, 2014
Curtis House Inn Address: 506 Main St S Woodbury, CT 06798
Episode Recap
Curtis House Inn was a Woodbury, Connecticut hotel featured on Season 3 of Hotel Hell.
Though the Curtis House Hotel Hell episode aired in September 2014, the actual filming and visit from Gordon Ramsay took place earlier in mid-2013.
It was Season 2 Episode 7 of Hotel Hell.
The Curtis House Inn is located in Woodbury, CT.
If you’re not familiar with Connecticut geography, Woodbury is a small town of about 9,000 people in between Hartford and New York City.
The Curtis House Inn is the oldest in the state and opened in the 1700s, so it has a rich history.
The Hardisty family has run the inn for generations.
Now Chris Hardisty and his sister TJ Brennan are the fourth generations to run the inn.
There are tensions between the siblings due to the running of the inn.
These issues are a big part of why the Curtis House Hotel Hell episode exists.
When Gordon Ramsay arrives, he loves the inn’s outside but hates the sign.
Shirley is at the reception desk and tells Gordon he is the only guest for the night.
Check-in is 3 PM, and Gordon arrived four hours early.
Shirley tells him there is a charge of $10 an hour.
Gordon then jokes and takes a nap on the couch, but Shirley does not think it is funny. I’m pretty sure she’s joking around, though.
There is a notebook with Gordon’s credit card number out for anyone to see, which seems like a huge issue.
He grabs the book and runs out of the inn to prove a point that anyone can grab the book and leave.
Gordon is told he is in room 16 and will share it with Betty, the ghost.
The canopy collapses in Gordon’s hands, and there are dead bugs throughout the room.
Shirley has been at the inn for almost fifty years; she is a cousin of the Hardisty’s.
She says the inn was much more popular before the current owners took over.
The lock jams in the room, and Gordon is on his way to have a Mother’s Day lunch when it is fixed.
TJ meets Gordon at the restaurant with her mother, Trudy.
Gordon orders crab cakes and has Karen, the server, taste them as well.
Surprise, surprise – they are disgusting.
The calamari is soggy, and the burger isn’t cooked to the correct temperature.
Gordon Ramsay then goes into the kitchen to watch how they work.
Chris and TJ barely speak to each other while they work.
Gordon then finds out that only salads and French fries are cooked fresh; everything else is frozen.
When Gordon tells Chris he cooks like he hates the Curtis House Inn, he doesn’t respond.
The following day, Gordon calls a meeting.
The staff tells him the biggest issue with the inn is the management.
There are no standards in the kitchen.
The lack of communication is dragging down the inn.
Gordon wants to get through to Chris and TJ and tries to mend their relationship one last time.
They all meet with former guests to get feedback.
The former guests say they had dirty sheets, dusty windows, and torn shower curtains.
Gordon tells the owners to get along or sell the inn.
Their mother, Trudy, tells Gordon how important the inn is to their family, and she doesn’t want to see it sold.
They set up an intervention for Chris and TJ.
During the intervention, Chris and TJ hug.
While Gordon is working on fixing their relationship, the inn is renovated all night by Gordon’s team.
There is a collage of family pictures on the walls.
The locks are fixed on all of the doors.
There is a new menu at the restaurant as well.
They also get an official plaque and a stop on the haunted Connecticut tour, which will give them another way to reach guests.
When Gordon Ramsay leaves the hotel, things seem to be looking up and the siblings seem to be much closer.
So was the Curtis House Hotel Hell episode a long-term success?
Keep reading to learn how this Woodbury CT hotel is doing and if it’s still open in 2024.
Curtis House Inn Update - What Happened Next?
Now that we’ve recapped the Curtis House Hotel Hell visit from Gordon Ramsay, let’s talk about what happened to the hotel after Gordon Ramsay and his crew left Woodbury, CT.
After the Curtis House Inn episode aired, the hotel seemed to be enjoying a revival.
Bookings were up and it was doing well for a few years.
After the show, people were also showing up to see the paranormal visitors.
However, it would not last forever and Curtis House Inn would eventually be sold to new owners and reopened under a new name.
Is Curtis House Inn still open after Hotel Hell?
Curtis House Inn closed in late 2018, which is over five years after the visit from Gordon Ramsay and around four years after the episode aired on TV.
Why did the Curtis House closed? Easy answer…
The hotel closed because it was sold to new owners.
The hotel had been listed for sale for a while, but the original deal fell through and it went back on the market at $800,000.
Eventually, a deal was reached and the old Curtis House Inn Woodbury, CT property reopened as Evergreen Inn and Tavern in summer 2019.
At the time of the sale, Chris Hardisty had this to say:
After 65 years as the proud owners of the oldest inn in Connecticut, the Hardisty family is selling the Curtis House.
It’s been an honor to be a part of Woodbury’s history.
We want to extend our sincere thanks to all our friends and patrons and especially to all of our help through the years.
We wish the new owners of the inn all the best and a world of success.
We will miss it
However, the Evergreen Inn and Tavern would also close shortly thereafter.
The old Curtis House Inn Connecticut property was sold again to new owners, who reopened it as 1754 House.
As of 2023, 1754 House is still operating at the property.
The current owner is Michael Bates-Walsh.
Here’s what the old Curtis House Woodbury CT location looks like in the most recent picture from Google Maps street view – you can see the 1754 House sign in the parking lot:
You can learn more about the new hotel and theme in this article from CT Insider.
It’s nice that the historic property is still able to be used, even if it’s not doing so as Curtis House Inn.
Curtis House Inn reviews after Hotel Hell
Unfortunately, the Curtis House Inn TripAdvisor page was deleted after the hotel closed, so I can’t find any information about the hotel’s ratings there.
However, on Yelp, the inn’s restaurant had a solid, middle-of-the-road 3.5 star rating on 80 reviews.
Here’s a sampling of a few restaurant reviews from after the Curtis House Gordon Ramsay visit…
5 star Yelp review from August 2014:
I ate there right after they filmed Hotel Hell.
It has improved and i loved the experience, but they don’t have a lot of vegan options.
Other than that, it is a great place to be with family and friends.
5 star Yelp review from March 2014:
The Curtis House is beautiful inside and out.
I’ve always loved historic buildings and this one has so much character!
But I would probably be a litttttle bit creeped out spending the night in one of the rooms, regardless of the updates after Hotel Hell.
They are very nice to look at with all the authentic antiques and decor.
This past trip on our drive through Woodbury and the surrounding towns, we went, and I got the “after thanksgiving day sandwich” which was served with fries and piled high with turkey, stuffing, and even cranberry sauce, I loved it.
Our waitress was extremely friendly and it’s nice to eat in a rustic, cozy atmosphere that really makes you think of old New England.
I always look forward to going back to the Curtis House.
4 star Yelp review from April 2018:
I love this establishment!
I have dined and played trivia downstairs, stayed upstairs to enjoy a night out with my love, ate dinner in the main dining room.
I love this treasure, this history.
I have heard the breakfast buffet is wonderful.
Go back in time and enter the Curtiss house!
I look at the photos, feel comfy in the sitting room and just enjoy!
Good drinks and dessert as well!
I have had seafood, burgers, Mediterranean salad, scallop risotto appetizer, Eggplant towers, pizza, calzones, salmon, Turkey!
Just love it.
Overall, the reviews from after Gordon’s visit seemed to be more positive than before.
However, there were still some negative reviews, such as this one star Yelp review from May 2018.
Final thoughts on the Curtis House Inn
Overall, Curtis House Inn had a decent run after the episode.
It stayed open for around 4-5 years after the Curtis House Gordon Ramsay visit, which is more than a lot of other hotels can say.
After closing, the Curtis House Connecticut property has gone through a couple different iterations.
As of 2023, the old Curtis House Woodbury CT location is occupied by a new hotel named 1754 House.
While Curtis House Inn was the only Connecticut Hotel Hell episode, Gordon Ramsay did visit some other nearby hotels on the show.
If you want to see some other Connecticut area Hotel Hell episodes, you can check out these updates:
- Vienna Inn in Southbridge, MA
- River Rock Inn in Milford, PA
- Four Seasons Inn / Layla’s Riverside Lodge in West Dover, VT
And if you want to share your thoughts on the Curtis House Inn episode, you can do so using the comments section below.
Thanks for reading!
More Information
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And don't forget to check out the full Hotel Hell open and closed list.
Last updated: 2023-05-22 05:50
The Hardistys are horrible owners. Shocked that that dump survived to 2018.
Sold for only 800 USD? Why so cheap?
They really must have wanted to get rid of it.
It was listed for $800,000. Not $800 USD.
The Hardistys were one of many trashy lowlife families that showed up on the various Gordon Ramsay TV shows. I think that the producers look for the worst kind of people in order to improve the odds of crazy, drama, and general viciousness,which is great for ratings.
After about five minutes of the Hardistys, I was hoping the place would be closed down while Ramsay was still there filming.
That’s exactly what I think also. Normal, well adjusted people who don’t hate each other or call each other names don’t make for such dramatic television.
I stayed at the place often before 2010 mainly because it was cheap and conveniently situated to a variety of other places I’d like to visit for
various reasons. I sometimes had drinks and breakfast while there. I always had dinner somewhere else. The place obviously needed lots of work. Not surprising Curtis Inn House is no more. I became aware of the tv show about it very recently. This was written in Oct. 2023.
For years it was known as the “Coitus House”. The actual National Historic Register 1754 John Curtiss House is located down the road, and is a private
residence and antiques gallery known as Antiquario Villas & Cottages.
So this isn’t even the actual house? The whole thing is a lie?
I aint reading all that