(keep reading to learn what happened)
Season: 3 | View All Season 3 Episodes
Original Episode Air Date: May 31, 2016
Vienna Inn Address: 14 South St Southbridge, MA 01550
Episode Recap
Vienna Inn was a Southbridge, Massachusetts hotel featured on Season 3 of Hotel Hell.
Though the Vienna Inn Hotel Hell episode aired in May 2016, the actual filming and visit from Gordon Ramsay took place much earlier in late 2015.
It was Season 3 Episode 2 of Hotel Hell.
Vienna Inn is located in Southbridge, Massachusetts, a small town with a population under 18,000.
Southbridge is located near the Connecticut border in the south-central part of the state. There’s a lot of nature in the area and the nearest big city is Boston, which is still a good ways away.
The hotel owners are John and Lisa Krach, and the theme of the inn is Austrian. That’s why it’s named the Vienna Inn – Vienna has nothing to do with its actual location.
The inn has a bad reputation amongst the locals, and they refuse to visit the Vienna Inn.
The couple bought the inn in 2000, and since then, there have been rumors that they hold adult-only parties in the basement. Interesting! Haha.
Lisa is overly emotional and gets upset a lot.
Staff members say the couple isn’t as wholesome and cutesy as they appear to be to others.
Guests can even hear the couple arguing while eating in the dining room.
When Gordon arrives at the Vienna Inn, he is greeted by a dead cat and a head of cabbage. Not the most auspicious beginning
He also finds out the staff is responsible for their uniform costs, $300.00. I didn’t even know this was legal in the USA – it’s super messed up.
Lisa manages the day-to-day stuff of the inn while her husband Johnathon cooks in the kitchen.
Gordon is taken to his room, where he sees a rocking chair furnished by Lisa.
He then orders room service. His appetizer is soggy and bland.
Inside the bedroom is a sealed closet that Gordon cannot enter.
Lisa informs him that it is her closet because she has no room for her clothes. Their bedroom is connected to Gordons.
That’s super weird, right? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
During dinner, Gordon orders various dishes such as scallops and a vegetarian mushroom crepe.
The scallops taste foul, but the decorative flower on the vegetarian dish is tasty.
The server tells Gordon the inn is declining due to inconsistent management.
She also informs Gordon that Lisa has smacked her in the head in front of patrons, which is super inappropriate.
Gordon advises John and Lisa to close the inn because John is disinterested and Lisa is flaky.
Gordon ventures down to the basement to see if the rumors of adult parties are true, but all that is down there are expensive wine bottles and a mineral spa. I was a bit disappointed, to be honest.
That night Gordon watches a dinner service at the restaurant.
When Gordon examines the kitchen, he finds stale food that needs to be tossed out.
There are cross-contaminated meat and food that sits out for too long.
Gordon is fed up with the couple and says he never met owners undeserving of his assistance.
Lisa goes inside to have a drink after their meeting.
The staff and Gordon have a meeting where Gordon sees the owners’ rude text messages to their team.
They are also paid in small amounts and not given their entire paychecks.
The owners join the meeting, and the employees tell them their objections.
Dave Foss, a sommelier, comes in to help the inn sell wine while the rooms are being renovated.
Gordon gives the staff new uniforms, and the restaurant has a new menu.
However, Lisa is unhappy about the changes Gordon has made.
During the re-launch, the kitchen is a disaster.
Lisa is upset Gordon had only renovated one room, and he informs them the rest of the work is up to them.
Overall, it was a bit of a disaster as far as Hotel Hell episodes go. So – how did it work out in the end? Let’s find out…
Vienna Inn Update - What Happened Next?
Now that we’ve recapped the Vienna Inn Hotel Hell episode, let’s talk about what happened after Gordon Ramsay and his crew left Southbridge, MA.
In general, the Vienna Inn owners didn’t seem very receptive to the changes from Gordon Ramsay.
They soon switched back to the old restaurant menu and they also went back to much of the older decorations (including the clutter).
I think it mentioned this at the end of the Hotel Inn Vienna Inn episode – the changes didn’t last long at all.
The reviews actually weren’t bad, though, as Vienna Inn and a 4.5 star rating on Yelp.
Most reviewers seem to love the food (the original food, that is), which is a bit of a shock given how the hotel/restaurant came off in the Vienna Inn Hotel Hell episode.
For example, this 5 star review from August 2017 praised both the hotel and the food:
I just loved the place. After living in Europe specifically Germany and Austria.
We stayed over 2 nights and the beds were very comfortable in the cozy room. So European feeling.
Rooms are beautiful and comfortable. Stellar hospitality abounds at The Vienna.
From the moment we arrived, we were treated to a warm welcome and made feel so comfortable in the cozy atmosphere.
Lots of great drinks to choose from including craft beer (a personal favorite).
The menu offered some delicious choices but the specials were too tempting!
There was a dessert for every sweet tooth. Will definitely return.
That definitely doesn’t sound like the hotel that we saw Gordon Ramsay visit, lol.
Unfortunately, the Vienna Inn would not last, because of reasons that had nothing to do with the business itself (beyond general neglect, potentially).
Is the Vienna Inn still open after Hotel Hell?
Vienna Inn closed for good in 2017, which is only around a year after its Hotel Hell episode aired on TV. The hotel closed because of a three-alarm fire that caused an estimated $75,000 in damages.
While no injuries were reported, the fire spread quickly because the fire detectors were not working.
Lisa and two other people were inside the hotel at the time of the fire, but escaped without injuries (though they were taken to the hospital as a precaution).
Immediately after the fire, the Vienna Inn owners were initially planning to reopen as they called the closure “temporary”.
They posted this on Facebook on November 19, 2017:
Vienna is temporarily closed due to severe fire & soot damage.
Please know everyone got out alive. We will post our updates as events occur.
One of our Royal Vienna plates that used to grace the fireplace wall, dropped from the wall.
Seems as though it was singed by the fire heat coming out of the closet.
That’s the only thing that alerted us that there was even a fire.
No alarm yet…The fire started in the Parlor Room of the Inn inside the closet setting all the clean linen on fire filling the house with thick black smoke.
Thank God it wasn’t in the middle of the night…I wouldn’t be posting this.
Reminds me to tell you- Check your smoke detectors today.
However, things would not work out and Vienna Inn eventually permanently closed as a result of the fire damages.
In February 2018, they put the final nail in the coffin with this Facebook post:
Vienna is permanently CLOSED after 16 Wunderbar Years.
The horrible and untimely fire we experienced just a couple of days before Thanksgiving was the end for us as many if you must know we were lucky all just get out alive, especially the Pregnant woman on the third floor.
Thank you all for the opportunity to have been of service. It has been quite the journey.
Thankfully not alone – with so many friends and our talented & dedicated staff creating the most amazing“Vienna family” that anyone could ever wish for. No regrets!
Auf weidersahan
While the official closure announcement wasn’t until February 2018, I’m marking it as closed in November 2017 because the hotel never reopened after the fire.
The exact cause of the Vienna Inn Massachusetts fire was never determined, according to this local article:
The cause of the fire was never determined, Fire Chief Mark W. DiFronzo said Thursday.
It started in a closet next to a fireplace and spread from that room to another.
It resulted in smoke and water damage throughout the first floor and basement.
As of 2022, the old Vienna Inn Southbridge, MA location still seems to be vacant.
It was sold for $99,900 in 2019, but the new owners don’t seem to have done anything with it (at least not as any type of hotel business).
You can see the sale details on the Price and tax history section of the property’s Zillow page.
The property pictures on the Zillow page also show a lot of the fire damage in various areas.
I can’t share the pictures here because of copyright issues, but you can see them on the Zillow page.
Here’s the most recent picture of the old Vienna Inn Southbridge MA property that I can find on Google Maps street view – it’s from November 2019:
Overall, this one goes on Gordon Ramsay’s Hotel Hell closed list.
However, it’s not really his fault as the hotel was doing fine business wise until the fire hit.
If you want to see updates for some other nearby Hotel Hell episodes, you can also check out my updates for Curtis House Inn in Woodbury CT, Layla’s Riverside Lodge / Four Season Inn in West Dover VT, and Juniper Hill Inn in Windsor VT.
Thanks for reading!
More Information
https://www.yelp.com/biz/vienna-restaurant-and-historic-inn-southbridge-3https://www.facebook.com/vienna.restaurant.inn/
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And don't forget to check out the full Hotel Hell open and closed list.
Last updated: 2023-01-22 08:47
That women was a sociopath hoarder. Who makes a guest stay in a room with a locked closet door jammed with the owners clothes and their private bedroom feet away? And all that crap she was cluttering the place up with? She seemed to have a nasty temper tantrum brewing just under the surface if she didn’t get things to go her way blaming her husband for everything. He seemed dog eared and beaten down. And it’s outrageous to make an employee borrow money from the employer to pay for expensive uniforms that looked ridiculous. She claimed fake surprise that this wasn’t something that all businesses do. I would never have returned to this place after a first visit and would warn anyone else to pass it up!
Sociopathy and hoarding are two entirely separate disorders. Perhaps you oughtn’t throw such terms around when you don’t know what you’re talking about. Actual professionals in the mental health field know not to level or diagnose people with whom they have not met in a professional context. Throwing around technical jargon doesn’t make you look smart; it only shows your ignorance. I’m not a shrink but you don’t need to be in order to tell when someone doesn’t know what the heck they’re talking about.
Sarah do you have some personal connection to the woman from the episode? Like who takes the time to write all that? I also saw a sociopath hoarder watching that episode so you’re outnumbered 2-1. People can have more than one disorder, and she clearly did.
Actually I’ve just rewatched that episode, so Sarah is outnumbered 3 to 1.
To me as a viewer, with no medical training whatsoever, it clear that this woman had “issues”.
My opinion never changed from when l watched the original screening in 2013 (or whenever) and on You Tube, today 5th July 2022.
I would say hoarder is a bit extreme, and without a real diagnosis, it’s really just speculation anyway. I would say she shows signs consistent more with Narcissism or borderline, rather than sociopathy… though there is some overlap obviously. Again however, this is not a professional sit down, and an audience cannot just diagnose. I will say though, from having a sibling who is actually a hoarder.. she’s messy, cluttered, but not a hoarder.
Yes, definitely a borderline personality type with probably some other issues. If a person has lived with someone who had specific mental illness, it makes sense they can see it in others without having to be a professional. IMO.
“Real” diagnosis. It’s all made up pathology. You don’t need a “real” diagnosis. The markers for mental disorders are entirely arbitrary.
Sociopathy and Hoarding are two separate issues, you’re correct. However, I don’t see the problem with calling the innkeeper a “Sociopath Hoarder” when she clearly suffers from both disorders. People have the freedom to use the language in whatever way they please, and they don’t need some random stranger telling them they’re wrong when what they’ve said is perfectly acceptable and easily understood. Hell, it’s just the Internet, don’t be so pressed!
👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿
Lisa is that you? Haha You sound just as defensive and crazy as the lady from the episode. You could not pay me enough to eat in that place as i may have been eating chicken that was 3 days old and at some point would get anyone food poisoning.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
That makes 4-1 this woman clearly had mental issues,so you’re pressed for no reason babe
$ to 1 now as my mother had 4 different mental illnesses so yea you can have more then one ….
I also though the owner as jittery as she was was on something O.O
Adding to this. My Psych courses in college told us to never do armchair diagnoses when we don’t know the people, but she’s showing diagnosable symptoms of an anxiety disorder (hoarding) and sociopathy (physical and emotional abuse without remorse, passing blame to people they deem lesser in status, indicative of a personality disorder like Narcissistic or Borderline). I’m not claiming to know what’s going on in her head, but I’m going by DSM-V diagnosis criteria.
Something is not right with her behavior and it’s scary.
Gorden told them that the kitchen was dangerous enough to get them shut down. The installer refused to place a new stove. Insurance probably refused the claim.
I absolutely agree. I’ve had the misfortune of living with someone who had Borderline Personality Disorder, and it was a frightening experience. Lisa reminded me so much of her, especially the phony crying, and the haughty attitude – as you said – toward people she “deemed lesser in status” than herself, which is just about everybody. BPD usually goes hand in hand with Narcissism, as was explained to me by a psychologist I saw to help me deal with the situation until I was able to leave. She helped me a lot to survive being in the same house with someone so chaotic and accusatory, so much like Lisa in this episode.
I noticed she lost her balance several times in the episode…and most of her staff had just gotten used to it. The dining room was tiny. I know if you smacked me in the back of the head during service, you’d be going through the nearest window on your ass.
Yup, faster than a speeding bully!
Sounds like somebody is a sociopathic hoarder lol
Diane never said that they were the same disorder. Perhaps you should learn how to read and stop putting words into people’s mouths.
You can be both a sociopath and a hoarder. lol
That woman was psycho and a swinger……she was so FOS and believed everything was great in her mind only….the way she talked to her husband didn’t fly with me
Diane, I completely agree with you. Those two essential had a large home they rented out to guests. The fact that they made employees pay for such expensive uniforms is absolutely disgusting. I believe the owners are supposed to provide uniforms for non-professional jobs. For example, nurses, who must wear uniforms, have collective agreements in place, and they would have to abide by it.
The food looked terrible. Lisa definitely has mental health issues. Perfectionism can be debilitating because she “can’t see the forest for the trees.” Second, Lisa has the need for clutter around her. Perfectionism and clutter are not a good combination. She needs to seek professional help.
With all the clutter she had ar
Guys, It doesn’t matter if she has a disorder or not. None of us (including me.) has experience in the medical or psychological field, and it’s not wise to assume someone has disorders. The whole point of the episode was for entertainment. Let’s keep it that way people.
The woman is question was clearly the whole issue with this situation. Never once did she own her responsibility in the situation, nor take Mr Ramsey’s advice. She was so quick to shift blame each time to the husband and it was so clear that Gordon was very done with her. He washed his hand quickly and couldn’t have gotten out of there quicker ! He told them there was coding issues and they were in near trouble of being shut down just before he left. I’m sure they ignored that advice also and that is where the fire issue came from.
The owner’s wife gives Amber Heard vibes
I thought the same thing!!
Lol!!
OMG yes!!! The whole episode I was telling my daughter the lady was acting just like amber heard. Her crying was just as cringy 🤦
I was thinking Tammy Faye Bakker. But not as nice.
Wow that is such a deep cut lol
I use to have a tee shirt that was a make up smudge of her face that said I ran in to Tammy faye 😀
YES!!!!!! Oh and did you notice the way she was flirting with GR in the beginning??? That beoch needs to take a better look in the mirror! And did she say to her husband she was hoping to make the place sexier? Again never bring home an exotic dancer or street walker and try to make a business partner out of them. But then it looks like her hubby probably wears a leash and collar when no one is looking. Oh and by the way, I used to work for a company that put reviews on line and I can guarantee most of their “great” loved them!” reviews were written by the owners and their minions themselves!
Lisa was rude and abusive to staff. She was rude and blamed everything on her husband. She was rude and disrespectful to Gordon. She did not take responsibility for her actions. She rolled her eyes when past quests presented their complaints. She wasn’t receptive towards Gordon’s help. She seemed extremely ungrateful and as if she thought she knew more than him. I wouldn’t have wasted time or money on that couple.
Everything about this place made me sick to my stomach, especially Lisa most of all. One of the worst people I’ve seen yet on Hotel Hell. My God, there are other hotels and people so much more deserving of Mr. Ramsey’s time or the money spent on this disgusting hotel and these two people. I hope the show’s producer does a better job of screening which hotels and the people they choose to help. Lisa was just an awful excuse for a human being and as bout as self-centered and unprofessional as a person could be.
They probably chose the hotel because they wanted to save the unaware towns people from food poisoning.
Lisa was sexy as hell. We need more hot milf innkeepers like her! Those titanic milkers of hers are glorious.
Milkers? Are you 10? Ewww.
WRITTEN by her husband! Dude you can’t save or upgrade your reputation in ANY way so give it up!
Lisa needs to go on meds. She was crazy, and I think probably bi-polar. Her husband was a little nuts too. Definitely imbalanced mentally. Very sad.
People like that should never be running an establishment and dealing with the public. I also got the gist that they’re some kind of swingers. Swing on, but not running and in or hotel… Unless it’s specifically for swingers you have mental imbalances. Then you’ll fit right in.
Bipolar doesn’t equal crazy. And yes, I am a mental health professional.
Lisa, though, is definitely in need of mental health intervention.
Mental Health Professional. IE: Professional Useless Person.
It’s doubly not Gordon’s fault as he _told_ them that there were safety issues that were discovered when he tried to get a new stove installed. I’m surprised that they weren’t arrested for criminal negligence.
I thought the same – they could have acted on his feedback at the time.
What an atrocious woman. Wow. The entire episode she didn’t take constructive criticism, passed blame onto others, treated her husband like a total POS, and acted as though she could “charm” her way into Gordon’s heart. Ha! It was blatantly obvious from the get-go that she is a manipulative Jezebel. She is fooling no one but herself. I hope she gets professional help, otherwise her life (and that of those around her) is only going to result in ultimate misery.
I don’t doubt they burned the hotel themselves just to get out of the whole thing. Where is the fire marshal? Or perhaps he was a basement client so…..
I grew up in Massachusetts but I wasn’t born there and I can say that both of the owners were typical opportunistic lying self-righteous people…. I’m amazed that their staff even stayed there…. Trust me there are other places to find work….. if it were me after learning about them being barely legal with their setup in the kitchen I would have notified the building inspector the safety inspector the fire inspector the Attorney General… anybody😡😡😡
Omg the wife is crazy! Not once did she own her bs and instead blamed everyone around her. She needs serious mental health and it’s sad that her husband enables her behaviour.
Lisa totally started that fire.
I thought the same thing honestly, insurance fraud. Lisa seems like just the right amount of psycho to try something like that. Also please note ladies, as Lisa proved in this episode; your sex is just as capable of domestic abuse as a man. Call it “hen-pecked”, call it seduction, call it whatever you like. At the end of the day it is still called emotional and mental abuse. The sad thing is John stayed with her. Probably for the same reasons so many victims of abuse stay with their abusive spouse. They don’t feel they can do better, and they don’t want to be left alone. The reality of every abusive situation is this…You are always better alone, than being abused.
Arson leaves many telltale hints. My partner is a specialist in an accredited, national forensic laboratory. Typically, if a fire is undetermined, it means that the police and fire teams could not find any accelerants (any way to start the fire) that caused the fire.
The closet full of cloth goods was the accelerant, only a bit needed.
I came here to say that.
My thoughts exactly loved her little passive aggressive flirting with Gordon.
Yeah, how creepy was that!
Yeah, she was definitely doing some weird ass flirtation
I actually had dinner there in 2014 and the food was terrible the Yelp ratings have to be fake accounts by the owners.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they set the fire and Lisa was a total nut job flake and her husband needed to grow a set
What about when she had one of the employees pull on her foot when her ankle hurt? As she was doing it, Lisa took the time to complain about her husband. No boundaries. I found this episode very disturbing and familiar. It was like a very dysfunctional family. I felt sorry for the employees, but thought they should all go to a Codependents Anonymous meeting and get the heck out of that place. We might not be qualified to diagnose any of them, but I think anyone could see Lisa has some big issues.
That was incredibly odd, and based on some of the other comments made during the episode, it didn’t do much to reassure anyone watching that something kinky was going on there when Gordon wasn’t around.
Oh wow, even before Ramsey warned them about their unsafe equipment I was thinking that this hoarder’s delight would go up like a tinderbox.
They couldn’t even be bothered to have working smoke detectors. I am so glad that these two are out of business and that nobody died due to their dangerous negligence.
Fun fact: Big Bird and his wife are in the episode. See if you can spot them!
I agree. They are both weirdos, and Im not sure I believe their claim about no swingers. They should have been enraged about the accusations, but they just giggled. She was ungrateful, and they did not deserve Gordon Ramsay’s time or efforts.
I’ve run into a few swingin couples over the years, and those two definitely love the swings.
The owner had her boobs out when she met Ramsay at the beginning and was flirting with him. Ramsay mentioned his wife several times until she toned it down.
Lol love the name. Good catch with the mentioning of his wife.
Just watched the the relevant Hotel Hell episode. While I am sure that there is always an element of drama and exaggeration during filming, the rooms looked dirty and cluttered; I definitely would not pay over $200 to stay in one. I am not shocked it is out of business. The couple who ran it did not seem to understand how to run a hospitality based business.
Do we know what happened to the owners after all this?
The customers liked it better when the food was cross-contaminating? 😭 (Green “throw-up” face, too.)
I didn’t believe any of the woman’s tears. She absolutely has serious mental issues. She tried to smile but realized she shouldn’t look happy. (It’s hard to find an expression if you don’t feel anything.)
Everyone needs to dial it down. a) Gordon Ramsey will not be out of pocket for this show .. he’s doing no favours, and his makeovers all seem to have the same grayeige theme. b) he’s a drama queen and behaving as abusive as she was accused of being c) she’s wacky/flaky and had television cameras on her while she was re-creating her accused behaviour.
The restaurant business attracts ‘crazy’ people and sometimes breed it. They bought their own show, which had some wacky and authentic elements to it, and may have been financially muddling through… 13 years of an extraordinary lifestyle. And I think, there was a core customer appeal for the wackiness, despite the Harper Valley PTA.
this is 100% the husband or wife from the show and it’s hilarious. she was psychotic, he was a pushover. they didn’t pay their employees on time, they hoarded, and overall were probably the worst two owners in the series (tied with the two sisters who gordon literally kicked out of their own hotel)
I feel there’s some truth to it. I personally didn’t like Gordon’s bland gray theme either, neither the uniforms. I think the old uniforms were very Oktoberfest… But seeing the pictures here with the German words in it seems like this was the intent. “Wunderbar” “Auf weidersahan”. Yeah there were errors (Should be “Auf Wiedersehen”) but the point was that they wanted to portray a certain German style.
I think Gordon should have tried to match their style a bit more. But other than that, I agree with pretty much all criticism given that I read here.
But yeah, emphasis on just how bland I found Gordon’s makeover in this episode. Usually I really like the style, but this was a disappointment.
Because if I didn’t require names we wouldn’t be able to tell Stendhal’s comments apart from other ones.
Three generations of my family were innkeepers, and these shows are PAINFUL! But this was the most agonizing episode. Lisa and Jonathan were an embarrassment to the industry. It’s not just about lodging. The foundation of this business is hospitality. Hospitality given to the guests, from decor, cleanliness, and food, all the way to a welcoming attitude every moment of their stay, and carrying that into how employees are treated. And I saw none of that from these two owners. Jonathan and Lisa are far too selfish and broken to ever succeed as innkeepers. Ever. Such a frustrating episode to watch!
I know there are comments half joking that she probably started the fire, but I think it started for even worse reasons.
We heard Gordon say at the end the new oven couldn’t even be installed because the kitchen setup was borderline “illegal.” He was leaving them with a final word of caution they clearly did not heed. Makes me think if their kitchen wasn’t even up to code, chances are the rest of the property wasn’t either. And for a restaurant to NOT have functioning smoke detectors?? What the what?
My roommate is a licensed home inspector. He’s had several residential-zoned properties that function as a business with the general public coming on site. Most business owners are above board with things like this, but there are the few who either don’t know any better or want to get away with NOT complying with building & electrical codes, mostly because it’s costly.
And that’s what makes it even worse than burning the place down for insurance fraud, imo. The fact that either ignorance OR willfull intent could’ve been behind the fire is more disturbing. People could have died in that fire. To continually put at risk the lives of guests & staff day in, day out is sickening. The look on their faces after Gordon told them the problem spoke volumes. It’s almost like they didn’t care. I played for my roommate the part where he warns them. He said the only way that kitchen could have been described as “illegal” is if it was purposely wired to function, but not to code. This, coupled with non-working smoke detectors (and really, who knows what other funky electrical wiring) is inexcusable and shows reckless disregard for people’s well being. Foul as hell, those two owners.
Read an article about the owners saying almost everything was staged – which you see that all the time but funny enough it’s always the ones who look bad saying it. Don’t get me wrong I know it’s dramatized but I also believe there’s truth in there.
Especially when he’s trying to defend the old chicken he served. He said that’s common practice to cook it and serve it days later and that you can’t cook things like that fresh. WHAT?! I cook chicken fresh. And yes sometimes I do eat it for a few days if we don’t finish it in one meal. However when I go to a restaurant don’t expect to be served “leftovers”!
I thought out of everything they looked bad for that seemed like a bizarre thing to defend. Made me think GR’s assessment of them being “off” isn’t wrong lol.
Lisa is a MILF. I’m pretty sure her husband gets off on the abuse. Was obvious they were swingers though. I’ve been in those circles. Too bad they live across the country from me, I’d like to take her for a spin.