| Native Name: | 大酒店 |
| Genre: | Dramedy |
| Runtime: | approx. 45 minutes |
| Director: | 黎致明 |
| Producer: | 马家骏 |
| Starring: | Edmund Chen Ivy Lee Chen Hanwei Jacelyn Tay Chen Liping May Phua Yang Libing |
| Country: | Singapore |
| Language: | Chinese |
| Network: | MediaCorp TV Channel 8 |
| Num Episodes: | 20 |
The Hotel is a Singapore Chinese drama which was telecast on Singapore's television station, Mediacorp, in 2001. It was released in December 2001 and was slated to be the blockbuster for the year 2001.[1] The series has been rerun on MediaCorp Channel 8 and also on AZN Television. It stars Edmund Chen, Ivy Lee, Chen Hanwei, Jacelyn Tay, Chen Liping, May Phua and Yang Libing as the casts of this series.
This series is unique as it has a large ensemble guest cast featuring over 95% of MediaCorp Channel 8 artistes appearing as hotel guests, including Zoe Tay, Gurmit Singh (Phua Chu Kang), Xiang Yun and many others. Most artistes' character names were similar to their own and, unusual for a drama series, their names were introduced on screen, not only in the credits at the end.
The Hotel revolves around a family-run business named Queen's Hotel which has been around for 2 decades. It is Christmas time and the staff are busy running the hotel and preparing for guests. Jointly run by Seto (Ivy Lee), her sister, Rainbow (Jacelyn Tay), brother, Ah Boy (Andi Lim) and sister-in-law Lychee (Yang Libing), their 3-star hotel goes downhill due to poor management. Alarmed at the poor financial situation, sleeping major shareholders and Emil (Edmund Chen) and his younger brother Sunny (Chen Hanwei) step in to salvage the failing business. Emil introduces a series of budget cuts, which results in friction between the brothers and Seto's family. He strives to instill professionalism and a customer-oriented attitude into his staff, but his straight-talking demeanour makes him much hated, especially by Seto.
Very different in character, Seto and Emil do not see eye to eye with each other on many issues. Emil however admires Rainbow's frankness and decides to court her. Seto, who deems men as good-for-nothings, is unexpectedly drawn to Sunny's manliness. Sunny and Rainbow are dreadfully worried about the affections of each other's elder siblings; they pose as lovers in order to fend them off. However, the two of them fall genuinely in love instead, leaving Seto and Emil devastated.
As fate would have it, a series of events in the hotel dissolves the animosity between Seto and Emil and they soon develop feelings for each other. However, pride prevents them from admitting their feelings.
Under Emil's management, the hotel business sees some improvement. A businessman offers to take over the hotel but is rejected by Emil as his beloved has a stake in it as well. Just as he finally decides to express his love for Seto openly, the hotel is served with a lawsuit by a mysterious lawyer who turns out to have a long-buried grudge against Emil and Sunny.
| Cast | Role | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edmund Chen | Emil Qin aka Email King | Hotel General Manager Elder brother of Sunny | |
| Ivy Lee | Miss Seto "Caidie" | Hotel Resident Manager Elder sister of Rainbow | |
| Sunny | Front Office Manager Younger brother of Emil | ||
| Rainbow | Public Relations and Purchasing Manager Younger sister of Seto | ||
| Chen Liping | Pang Yuyun (Dodo) | Housekeeping Manager Cousin of Seto, Rainbow and Ah Boy | |
| Zhang Dage ("Tiger") | Supervisor of Maintenance | ||
| Kitty | Hotel receiptionist | ||
| Andi Lim | Ah Boy | Hotel chef Brother of Seto and Rainbow Husband of Lychee | |
| Lychee | Hotel Food & beverage Manager Wife of Ah Boy | ||
| Dr Long | Hotel resident doctor | ||
| Ben | Hotel bellboy | ||
| Carol Tham | Judy | Hotel receiptionist | |
| Raymond Tan | Joey | Hotel waiter | |
| Chen Lianfeng | Hotel housekeeper | ||
| Pei Xiaoling | Liu Ling 刘铃 | Hotel housekeeper |
| Episode | Artiste(s) | Role | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Biyu 碧玉 | Seto's ex-classmate Johnny Ma's first wife | |
| Nancy Lim | Johnny Ma's second wife | ||
| Raymond Boo | Johnny Ma's lawyer | ||
| Johnny Ma | Plastic surgeon | ||
| Yang Tianfu | Brother Jie 杰哥 | Loan shark | |
| 2 | Mr Goh | Hotel guest | |
| Bill Fong | Travel magazine writer / hotel guest | ||
| Grace Wong | Bill's wife | ||
| 3 | Phua Chu Kang | General contractor hired by Dage | |
| Li Wenhai | Mr Li | ||
| 4 | Fang Baiming 方白明 | Airline pilot | |
| Xu Qiqi 许淇绮 | Air stewardess | ||
| Liang Tian | Uncle Tian 田伯 | Fang Baiming's uncle | |
| Yan Jinliang 严金量 | Hotel's meat supplier | ||
| Huang Bingjie | Big Head 大头 | Airline pilot | |
| 5 | Tang Tiancai 唐天财 | Neurosurgeon Childhood friend of Seto and Rainbow | |
| 6 | Lan Chuping 蓝楚萍 | ||
| Diana | Chuping's older sister | ||
| Roni | Mohamad Ali | ||
| 7 | Liang Guoqiang 梁国强 | An acrobatic troupe | |
| Li Xiaohuang 李小煌 | |||
| Cheng Zhihui 程志辉 | |||
| Mo Xuling 莫旭玲 | |||
| Lin Yisheng | Lin Fengsheng 林丰盛 | Miss Seto's ex-boyfriend | |
| 8 | Sharon | Rainbow's former university mate | |
| Wang Yafu 王亚复 | Sharon's fiance | ||
| Liu Tianyi 刘添益 | Sharon's father Underworld boss | ||
| 9 | Nishimura Jumin 西村寿民 | Japanese hotel guest | |
| 10 | Xu Yizhen 许宜珍 | A blind pianist | |
| Deng Mao Hui | Liang Zihui 梁子辉 | Yizhen's son | |
| Liang Weidong | Liang Ruidong 梁瑞东 | Yizhen's Ex-husband | |
| 11 | Huang Zhongliang 黄忠良 | Taiwanese hotel guest | |
| Tracer Wong | Wang Jinxiang 王金香 | Huang Zhongliang's wife | |
| Huang Xiaomei 黄小梅 | Huang's daughter | ||
| Huang Dajun 黄大峻 | Huang's son | ||
| 12 | Zou Dahai 邹大海 | Hotel bellboy | |
| Lynn Song Leling 宋乐玲 | Movie director | ||
| Gong Jingfang 龚靖芳 | Lynn's mother | ||
| Chow Weng Foo 周文福 | |||
| 13 | Chen Yunli 陈云丽 | Runaway Chinese bride | |
| Cassandra See | Xue Aishan 薛爱珊 | Hotel guest | |
| Robin Leong | Rob Liang Hanru 梁瀚儒 | Hotel guest | |
| Chen Youyou 陈有友 | Yunli's fiance | ||
| 14 | Rose 玫瑰 / Ye Xiaofang 叶晓芳 | Hotel guest participating in an auction | |
| Xu Wenguang 许文光 | |||
| Zhou Quanxi | Gilbert | ||
| Ye Shipin | Ye Guopin 叶国品 | ||
| James Poon | |||
| 15 | Yang Maorong 杨茂荣 | Architect Hotel guest | |
| Yang Ruizhen 杨瑞贞 | Yang Maorong's older sister | ||
| 16 | Shawn | ||
| Huang Yiren 黄伊人 | |||
| 17 | Jin Yinji | Dr Jin 金医生 | Lychee's gynaecologist Penny's mother Emil's godmother |
| Penny | Emil's old friend Hotel guest | ||
| Chen Yiming 陈一鸣 | Penny's husband | ||
| Lin Peipei 林佩佩 | Chen Yiming's secretary | ||
| 18 | Qi Weiwu 戚威武 | University students / hotel guests | |
| Lai Meiling 赖美伶 | |||
| Zhuang Xinyu 庄心瑜 | |||
| Huang De Yuan | Huang Yiyuan 黄逸远 | ||
| Xie Jiehua 谢杰华 | PI hired by Xinyu's dad | ||
| Mai Haowei | Zhuang Qianwei 庄谦为 | Xinyu's dad | |
| Cloudy | Rainbow's online friend Later Dodo's admirer | ||
| 19 | Richard Lee | Business partner | |
| June Tay | lawyer | ||
| 20 | Fang Hui | Helen | Seto and Rainbow's mother |
| Jeff | Hotel guest | ||
Lionel Seah of The Straits Times wrote that while the show is an "ingenious idea to feature over 90 artistes", but criticised the "bad" acting, "funereal" writing, "cartoon-like and two-dimensional" characters, "bogus" plots and "sad" jokes.[2]
Yeoh Wee Teck of The New Paper wrote that the performances "punctured any hope that The Hotel was going to be a series of high calibre."[3]