hotelThe Hotel Inspector · Season 5, Episode 6 · Aired August 10, 2009
The African Queen
River Thames
Yes. This one is still open.
On the show
Season 5, Episode 6 · August 10, 2009 · floating hotel
revisited in Series 9 finale (2012-09-06)
What happened after
100ft two-deck hotel barge on the River Thames, now marketed as a 'Cruising Hotel Boat' offering Thames cruise packages (incl. via Leger Holidays).
What happened on the show
Alex Polizzi climbed aboard one of the show's most unusual cases in series 5: the African Queen, a floating hotel on the River Thames. With the boat running at just thirty per cent occupancy, owners Bonny and Andy were at breaking point. The eight-bedroom vessel was failing to turn a profit, and even when guests did come, the sheer physical labour of running a hotel on the water was grinding the couple down. Polizzi's challenge was doubly hard here, because a boat cannot simply be redecorated out of trouble; the economics of a niche floating hotel are punishing, and her job was to find a way to lift bookings enough to make the operation sustainable for an exhausted pair. The floating hotel aired in August 2009, and the show returned in the series 9 finale in 2012 to check whether the vessel was still trading.
After the cameras left
The African Queen appears to be still afloat and trading. A hundred-foot two-deck hotel barge on the Thames now markets itself as a cruising hotel boat offering Thames cruise packages, including through Leger Holidays, with operators named as Andy and Bonny Cowley matching the show's owners. The vessel type, location and names align closely, though the exact identity as the same 2009 boat was not independently nailed down, so the open status sits at medium confidence. The show returned for a revisit in series 9 in 2012, supporting continuity.
Sources
Confidence: medium. Last checked 2026-07-19.