Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby

Rob Rinder and Monica Galetti travel to the Intercontinental Shanghai Wonderland, known as the world’s first 'earthscraper' hotel. Learning about the innovative architectural challenges that come with building a hotel into the side of a quarry, the team also help prepare food for 3000 aquarium fish, test drones for a dazzling light show and even help out at a sumptuous fourth birthday party.

Rob Rinder and Monica Galetti travel to Turkey to work at Argos in Cappadocia, a hotel built into a network of ancient caves. Combining history with modern luxury, Monica finds herself brushing cave ceilings with housekeeping before flying above the complex in a hot air balloon. Meanwhile, Rob helps with the finishing touches of a new spa and learns of the area’s incredible history.

Rob Rinder and Monica Galetti travel to Six Senses Ibiza on the Spanish island’s north coast. They help guests experience biohacking therapies, from cryotherapy to heated infrared masks, promising to delay ageing and increase vitality. Rob helps the luxury hotel’s 'energy balancing' while in the basement, Monica uncovers a recording studio with a party space for the music scene Ibiza is known for.

Rob Rinder and Monica Galetti travel to the Hassler Hotel, arguably Rome’s most classic and celebrated luxury hotel, which is undergoing a change in management. Family-run for generations, Rob and Monica learn about the hotel’s celebrity guests and plans for the future as they pitch in with everything from cooking traditional carbonara to driving guests around in a vintage Rolls Royce.

Beneath rainforest canopies sits a luxury hotel so remote that monkeys will break into your room if the door’s not shut. Rob Rinder and Monica Galetti travel to Malaysia’s Datai Langkawi, where they help with everything from maintaining the lily pond to driving golf buggies around hair-raising bends, all while learning about the environmental issues required to run a hotel in the heart of nature.

Rob Rinder and Monica Galetti travel 3000 meters above sea-level at Gangtey Lodge, Bhutan, in a remote region that only just obtained electricity. This luxury hotel has oxygen on hand as the chef prepares food and drink to help guests adjust to the altitude. While there, Monica learns the local pastime of archery, as Rob masters a Bhutanese song and visits the neighboring Buddhist monastery.

Rob Rinder and Monica Galetti travel to the Stanglwirt Hotel in the Austrian Alps. Owned by one family for 300 years, it has grown over the years to offer world-class sports facilities and a stable of elegant Lipizzan horses. It’s all woven around a working Alpine farm with some of the purest water in the world. Monica has to polish a lot of wood, but why does Rob feel like a fairy princess?

Rob Rinder and Monica Galetti visit Wilderness Hotel Inari, a luxury adventure hotel above the Arctic Circle in Lapland. Working in sub-zero conditions, Monica learns about the ancient indigenous Sami culture before prepping some reindeer stew. Meanwhile, Rob gets all hot and bothered in a sauna before taking a plunge in a snow hole. But will hefinally witness the wonder of the Northern Lights?