Anthony Melchiorri is a hotelier extraordinaire. A former U.S. Air Force protocol officer, he takes a no-nonsense approach as a fixer on the Travel Channel?s series ?Hotel Impossible.?
In this program, now in its sixth season, Melchiorri uses his 25 years of hotel experience, plus a wealth of business strategies (and a terrific sense of humor) to rescue and revive struggling properties and put them ? in just four days of taping ? onto the fast track to success and profitability. His past experience includes stints as the director of front-office operations at New York?s landmark Plaza Hotel, and as general manager for the city?s Lucerne Hotel and famous Algonquin Hotel, which he developed into one of the top-ranking hotels in New York. He was also vice president of Nickelodeon Family Suites. I spoke to Melchiorri by phone as he drove from his home in New York to an ailing property in Pennsylvania that was to be featured on the show.
What?s your favorite part of problem-solving on ?Hotel Impossible?"

The desperation is both my favorite and least favorite. Time is running out ? you only have four days ? and there are things you don?t know; sometimes it?s bankruptcy or foreclosures that you have no idea about until the second or third day you are there. You have to deal with those issues in order to save the hotel. The problems are traumatic for the owners and for me to hear. Those problems can really hurt the opportunity for success. I?m an adrenaline junkie so the adr...