hotelHotel Impossible · Season 8, Episode 1 · Aired October 24, 2016
Recreational Springs Resort
Sturgis, South Dakota (Lead / Deadwood area)
Still open. It kept its doors open after the show.
On the show
Season 8, Episode 1 · October 24, 2016 · resort
Multi-property special (3 businesses in one episode): Sturgis, South Dakota.
What happened after
18 motel rooms, 12 cabins, 50 RV sites on a 20-acre property with restaurant/bar; official site active.
What happened on the show
The third property in Melchiorri's Season 8 Black Hills opener was the most sprawling: Recreational Springs Resort, a roughly twenty-acre spread with eighteen motel rooms, a dozen cabins, some fifty RV sites and an on-site restaurant and bar. Like its episode-mates, it was hampered by weak online marketing and an unfavorable rental arrangement, problems magnified by the sheer scale and variety of the operation. A multi-part resort in a seasonal rally market has more to sell and more ways to leave money uncaptured if its digital presence is poor. Anthony's task across the trio was to sharpen how they marketed themselves and to address the rental terms, and for a property this diverse that meant getting rooms, cabins, RV sites and the restaurant all pulling together and visible online. He pushed for a smarter, more sustainable operation that could actually capitalize on the Sturgis and Black Hills demand.
After the cameras left
Recreational Springs is still open in the Black Hills. As of our 2026 verification the roughly twenty-acre resort, with its eighteen motel rooms, twelve cabins, fifty RV sites and restaurant and bar, is operating, with an active official site, though it actually sits a few miles south of Lead, South Dakota, off Highway 14A rather than in Sturgis. The property still markets itself on rally access. With sourcing at the site level, we log the status as confirmed operating with medium confidence. Confirmed operating as of 2026.
Sources
Confidence: medium. Last checked 2026-07-19.