hotelHotel Impossible · Season 4, Episode 1 · Aired January 27, 2014
Alaskan Hotel and Bar
Juneau, Alaska
Good outcome here: the business is still trading today.
What happened after
Historic 1913 hotel, 'oldest operating hotel in Alaska'; official site directly fetched, live iqwebbook.com reservation system.
What happened on the show
On South Franklin Street in Juneau, the Alaskan Hotel and Bar carried a claim few properties on the show could match: opened in 1913, it bills itself as the oldest operating hotel in Alaska, a nationally registered historic landmark with a rowdy, adults-only bar attached. The episode, Alaskan Heavyweights, took on a property whose heritage was genuine but whose operation and the lively bar downstairs pulled in different directions. Melchiorri's task was the classic historic-property balance, magnified by a boisterous drinking establishment sharing the address: protect the century-old character while fixing the neglect and reconciling a hotel and a bar that had to coexist. He checked the guest rooms and the housekeeping, then pressed ownership to honor the 1913 pedigree as a marketable asset while running the whole operation with more discipline. The fix weighed authentic frontier character against the demands of a modern, functioning hotel.
After the cameras left
The Alaskan is still pouring drinks and renting rooms in downtown Juneau. As of our 2026 verification the historic 1913 hotel is open, with a directly checked official site running a live reservation system, and it still trades on its billing as the oldest operating hotel in Alaska with its attached adult-only bar. A nationally registered landmark more than a century old and still in business, it is one of the season's clean survival stories. Confirmed operating as of 2026.
Sources
Confidence: high. Last checked 2026-07-19.
What is there now
Street imagery via Google Maps. Location approximate.