hotelHotel Impossible · Season 8, Episode 9 · Aired October 9, 2017
Sunrise Inn
Williamstown, Kentucky
Open. The rescue stuck and it continues to operate.
What happened after
Managed by Mayfield Hotels; TripAdvisor notes 'Under New Management, 100% Non-Smoking.'
What happened on the show
In Williamstown, Kentucky, Melchiorri took on the Sunrise Inn, a property with an enormous stroke of luck it had no idea how to exploit: a major tourist attraction sitting practically on its doorstep, yet owners who did not know how to run a hotel. The episode, Kentucky Conundrum, centered on that gap between a golden location and basic operational cluelessness. A hotel next to a major draw has demand handed to it, so failing to capitalize is purely a matter of the operators not knowing their business. Anthony worked the floor and the reservation book while essentially teaching the owners how to run a hotel, pushing them to organize the operation and capture the traffic the nearby attraction generated. The counsel echoed what the run taught at nearly every stop for inexperienced operators sitting on a great location: the visitors are right there, and the entire task is building a competent operation ready to receive them.
After the cameras left
The Sunrise Inn is still open in Williamstown. As of our 2026 verification the property, now managed by a hotel-management company and noted as under new management and fully non-smoking, is operating at 211 Highway 36 West off Interstate 75, with a three-and-a-half-star average across a couple hundred reviews. The property that did not know how to capitalize on its neighboring attraction has stayed in business, now under professional management, more than a decade after the show. Confirmed operating as of 2026.
Sources
Confidence: high. Last checked 2026-07-19.
What is there now
Street imagery via Google Maps. Location approximate.