hotelHotel Impossible · Season 3, Episode 3 · Aired August 26, 2013
Gadsden Hotel
Douglas, Arizona
Yes. This one is still open.
What happened after
Historic 1907 hotel (160 rooms); official site live with resnexus.com booking system.
What happened on the show
Few properties on the show carried grandeur like the Gadsden, a 160-room historic hotel that opened in 1907 in the border town of Douglas, Arizona, complete with a marble lobby and a stained-glass mural that made it a genuine architectural landmark. The episode, titled Fire Drill Flame Out, pointed at exactly the kind of safety and operational failing that a century-old building of this scale can hide. Melchiorri's challenge was the classic grand-old-hotel dilemma: preserve the irreplaceable historic character while fixing the neglect and the systems that a property this age and size demands. He worked the rooms and the operation at 1046 North G Avenue, pushing ownership to honor the 1907 architecture as a marketable asset while bringing the standards and safety up to what a full-service hotel requires. The fix balanced heritage against hard operational reality.
After the cameras left
The Gadsden still presides over downtown Douglas. As of our 2026 verification the historic 1907 hotel is open, with a live official site running a working reservation system across its 160 rooms, and recent traveler reviews from the last couple of years confirm ongoing business. The grand old hotel that once needed a safety reckoning is still trading on the architecture and history the show told it to protect. Confirmed operating as of 2026.
Sources
Confidence: high. Last checked 2026-07-19.
What is there now
Street imagery via Google Maps. Location approximate.