Monday evenings just took a turn for the better with the airing of a fascinating Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond The Lobby which sees writer and restaurant critic Giles Coren and Kiwi chef Monica Galetti working alongside staff in some of the world's most extraordinary hotels.
Episode one saw the duo join the 9500 strong workforce in one of the world’s biggest hotels – Singapore’s epic Marina Bay Sands. I spent the majority of the programme in open-mouthed astonishment at the scale of the operation and the dedication and performance of the staff to keep things to the expected standards.
The hotel, designed by architect Moshe Safdie, opened in 2010 and was built at a cost of a tidy £3.5 billion as part of a government initiative to triple tourist income to Singapore within ten years.
Its centrepiece is the astonishing infinity pool in the sky which sits on top of the three building 57 storey hotel overlooking the city below.
To see the mechanics and team behind the operation that the public never sees was an incredible insight. If you missed it then be quick and grab it on iPlayer and check out the high-tech uniform store, which supplies 160,000 pieces of staff uniform with 600 different designs, the laundry process that cleans thousands of towels a day, the catering team of 600 that services 60 restaurants, the car valet inside a 20-square kilometre car park that hosts 2500 parking spaces and some of the incredible staff that make it all happen, truly mind blowing and a tad scary.
Episode 2 goes out tonight (Monday 3rd April) where the focus turns to Mashpi Lodge, a $10 million modernist hotel perched 900m above sea level in the Andean Cloud Forest of Ecuador and features a gondola cable car that “flies” guests a mile through the jungle canopy.
Don’t miss, at 9pm on BBC2.