A Chicago hotelier will go battle it out against three other Midwest hospitality pros to see whose accommodations reign supreme in tonight’s episode of “Hotel Showdown.”
The new Travel Channel series, airing at 8 p.m Tuesdays, has four proprietors pack their bags and go check out and judge each other’s hotels. The lodging with the highest score wins the $25,000 prize.
Dave Krug of Andersonville’s boutique Guesthouse Hotel will try to wow the competition with his property’s “live like a local” mantra and the hip, modern design of its apartment-like units. The 2008 building originally was meant to be condos, but it was turned into a 10-unit boutique hotel instead. In 2013, the husband-and-wife Krug team expanded it to include 15 more units, a business center, retail space, gym and more.
Krug is going up against the sprawling Copperstone Inn — a renovated 1864 farmstead on 130 acres — in the quiet community of Rockton, Illinois. He also has to fend off a couple of Wisconsin properties. The budget-friendly, retro Holiday Music Motel in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, is owned and operated by musicians and hosts concerts as well as guests.
The “Hotel Showdown” hopefuls then head up to Hayward, Wisconsin, to kick the tires at the McCormick House Inn, a refurbished Victorian mansion full of art collected during owner Jeff Miller’s world travels.
I happened to stay at McCormick House in 2008 during my previous life as a Sun-Times travel writer. I called it “ultrachic” and wrote at the time: “McCormick House isn’t your typical B&B. This Victorian mansion looks like a Pottery Barn catalog. The owners have thought of everything, from evening wine service and movies in the garden to a breakfast menu better than you’ll find in most high-end hotels.”
I’d made the 8-hour drive north to Hayward to do a story on the annual Birkebeiner cross-country ski race and the region’s fantastic Nordic skiing. The hoteliers experience it firsthand in tonight’s episode, which has them strapping on skis for a sprint to the finish.
