Travel Channel's "Hotel Impossible" inspires Maui Sands

SANDUSKY — Maui Sands was known as one of the area's most troubled hotels. But the establishment, at Milan Road (U.S. 250) and Ohio 2, pulled itself back from the brink following a visit from Travel Channel's "Hotel Impossible" TV series last December. "It's worth emphasizing the desire of present management to make improvements and to make visits pleasant for all our guests," hotel marketing coordinator Robin Innes said. "Unfortunately, Travel Channel taped that episode almost one year ago and they don't mention our upgrades and what guests today will see."A bucket full of gallons of water splashes in the waterpark of Maui Sands in Perkins Township.Disasterous discoveriesThe Travel Channel program visits struggling hotels to offer review and interviews guests and employees to help businesses reach their potential.The program visited Maui Sands last year to film an all-encompassing episode offering analysis of the water park, hotel rooms, restaurants and more. The property for many years was a Holiday Inn.Re-opening in 2008, the hotel never truly finished construction until after its original owner filed for bankruptcy in 2012. A year later, Kirit Parmar and Suresh Patel, owners during the program's visit, bought the establishment — featuring an indoor water park, restaurants, an arcade and convention center — from Charter One bank for $2.5 million, a fraction of its total value.Poor water park upkeep, plummeting employee morale, unhappy guests and an in-house beg bug infestation drove "Hotel Impossible" host Anthony Melchiorri to the breaking point."My team and I discovered the worst bed bug infestation we've ever encountered on the show," Melchiorri said during the broadcast, which is available at dailymotion.com. "I can't go more than eight steps without (us) hitting positive for bed bugs."Bed bugs were discovered in hotel rooms, on cleaning supplies, on arcade prizes and apparently across the entire hotel. Melchiorri interviewed managers and discovered maintenance workers, at the time, treated rooms by spraying a chemical, which wasn't identified on the show, instead of properly fumigating."Spraying everywhere isn't the best way to get rid of bed bugs," Melchiorri said during the broadcast. "It is a good way to expose your guests, and their children, to some potentially harmful chemicals."Hotels routinely discover bed bugs and have effective pest management programs that successfully address the problem. The water park appeared to have been neglected, too.Melchiorri arrived at the establishment and immediately commented on outdoor rust on water slide supports, according to the episode. He proceeded inside and rode one of the facility's water slides. During the ordeal, he discovered the water temperature felt far too cold but did not reveal the actual temperature during the show.Later during the episode, he toured the water park and discovered rotting fence supports, rusted steps and an exposed emergency stop button."This water park looks like a 50,000-gallon liability," he said.Employees also appeared disheartened and disappointed by the hotel's ownership last year.Hotel Impossible is filmed at Maui Sands Resort & Indoor Waterpark. The water park went under new ownership in July. The new management team implemented changes suggested during the episode. RedemptionMelchiorri confronted co-owners Kirit Parmar and Suresh Patel about the issues and offered solutions. Among his suggestions: temporarily shut down the hotel, properly treat the bed bug infestation and hire a management team to lead the hotel.New ownership took control of Maui Sands in July and it appears they followed all of Melchiorri's advice, plus more. The new owners, known as Sandusky Four Brothers, who are related to Patel, a previous owner, hired a new management team and ushered in significant change. Among the improvements, Maui Sands' management:• properly eradicated the bed bug problem• renovated the majority of hotel rooms, with more renovations in progress• raised water temperatures in the park to comfortable levels• fixed fire alarm systems highlighted as a problem on the show"I think the new owners are certainly interested in continuing to make the resort a family friendly place," Innes said. "Word of mouth is very important."Maui Sands Resort and Indoor Water park is working to make improvements in the property.Reach reporter Patrick Pfanner at pfanner@sanduskyregister.com, follow him on Twitter @PatPfanner and follow the Register at Facebook.com/SanduskyRegisterHotel Impossible is filmed at Maui Sands Resort & Indoor Waterpark. The water park went under new ownership in July. The new management team implemented changes suggested during the episode. Hotel Impossible is filmed at Maui Sands Resort & Indoor Waterpark. The water park went under new ownership in July. The new management team implemented changes suggested during the episode.