The celebrated hotelier Ruth Watson visits and assesses the site of a planned hotel, guest house or bed and breakfast, and offers advice and support to the new owners. Watson identifies weaknesses in the preparations of the new establishments, and then sends the new owners to various hotels in the UK to improve their skills.
Watson also fronts Country House Rescue for Channel 4, which sees her turn her attention to struggling country houses and their owners. Watson has previously starred in The Hotel Inspector, a documentary series for Five of a very similar format to Ruth Watson's Hotel Rescue, but with existing struggling hotels, rather than new start-ups.
Ruth Watson is doing her best to help Diana and Steve from Suffolk. They're a pair of music industry types whose family have flown the nest, leaving them rambling around their imposing home, Creeting House.
Ruth helps American ex-pats Kent and Claire, whose ambitious five million pound hotel and spa project in Newark, Nottinghamshire has fallen six months behind schedule.
Ruth visits Blackpool, where brothers Rod and Shaun Smallwood have taken over the zero-starred Kenbarry Hotel. Their ambitious plan is to reinvent it into a spa hotel.
Ruth visits Luton, where Franco and his wife Lefi are taking on a mammoth project turning two 80s office blocks into a hotel, but as debts mount can Ruth help rescue the project?
Ruth goes to Margate in Kent, where ambitious property developers Louise and Liam are battling to launch their boutique B&B as the recession starts to bite.
Ruth visits Clacton-on Sea to meet an Essex entrepreneur who dreams of restoring the seaside town's famous Victorian hotel to its former glory.