I spent my Saturday night watching BBC's show "Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby" on the couch with my boyfriend and dog. I had been eyeing this series on Netflix for a few weeks and finally gave it a try. I didn't even make it past the intro to the show before I was skeptical and slightly irritated at Giles Coran's behavior.
His opening tagline says something about how he has "opinions on everything." I had a feeling he was going to tell us all of his stupid opinions in this show. Did he ever.
His supervisors at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore featured on episode 1 had clear disdain for his disrespect. Giles made a joke of driving an Italian sports car by driving reckless in the hotel's parking garage and taking up 3 parking spaces. He tried to slide across the hood of the car afterwards, which clearly pissed off the person generous enough to let him drive the car in the first place. He attempted to try this move again across a Bentley at the Hotel Mansour in Morocco. Unsurprisingly, the person generous enough to let him drive the Bentley was not impressed. No one thought he was cool. Except for Giles himself, of course.
Is Giles a critic & writer, or a college frat boy acting stupid? I asked myself this question many times throughout this series.
The nail in the coffin for me however came during episode 2 while in a cloud forest in Ecuador at the Mashpi Lodge. Giles was given a head lamp for a nighttime hike to see frogs, and the only comment he could come up with was that a gynecologist would wear such a thing.
Immature idiot, indeed.
To be honest I only made it through 3 episodes because his immaturity and carelessness was so distracting. His comments were idiotic and added nothing of value to the show, and it was very clear he wasn't taking the job seriously.
Have you watched this series on Netflix? Were you able to see past Giles Coran's behavior and appreciate these unique and beautiful hotels?