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. 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.
Synopsis 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 Main cast 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 Chen Hanwei Sunny Front Office Manager Younger brother of Emil Jacelyn Tay Rainbow Public Relations and Purchasing Manager Younger sister of Seto Chen Liping Pang Yuyun (Dodo) Housekeeping Manager Cousin of Seto, Rainbow and Ah Boy Huang Shinan Zhang Dage ("Tiger") Supervisor of Maintenance May Phua Kitty Hotel receiptionist Andi Lim Ah Boy Hotel chef Brother of Seto and Rainbow Husband of Lychee Yang Libing Lychee Hotel Food & beverage Manager Wife of Ah Boy Yao Wenlong Dr Long Hotel resident doctor Brandon Wong Ben Hotel bellboy Carol Tham Judy Hotel receiptionist Raymond Tan Joey Hotel waiter Zhu Xiufeng Chen Lianfeng Hotel housekeeper Pei Xiaoling Liu Ling 刘铃 Hotel housekeeper
Star appearances Episode Artiste(s) Role 1 Zoe Tay Biyu 碧玉 Seto's ex-classmateJohnny Ma's first wife Pan Lingling Nancy Lim Johnny Ma's second wife Chen Tianwen Raymond Boo Johnny Ma's lawyer Terence Cao Johnny Ma Plastic surgeon Yang Tianfu Brother Jie 杰哥 Loan shark 2 Huang Wenyong Mr Goh Hotel guest Tay Ping Hui Bill Fong Travel magazine writer / hotel guest Andrea De Cruz Grace Wong Bill's wife 3 Gurmit Singh Phua Chu Kang General contractor hired by Dage Li Wenhai Mr Li 4 Chew Chor Meng Fang Baiming 方白明 Airline pilot Joey Swee Xu Qiqi 许淇绮 Air stewardess Liang Tian Uncle Tian 田伯 Fang Baiming's uncle Yan Bingliang Yan Jinliang 严金量 Hotel's meat supplier Huang Bingjie Big Head 大头 Airline pilot 5 Zheng Geping Tang Tiancai 唐天财 NeurosurgeonChildhood friend of Seto and Rainbow 6 Yvonne Lim Lan Chuping 蓝楚萍 Xiang Yun Diana Chuping's older sister Roni Mohamad Ali 7 Jack Neo Liang Guoqiang 梁国强 An acrobatic troupe Mark Lee Li Xiaohuang 李小煌 Henry Thia Cheng Zhihui 程志辉 Patricia Mok Mo Xuling 莫旭玲 Lin Yisheng Lin Fengsheng 林丰盛 Miss Seto's ex-boyfriend 8 Sharon Au Sharon Rainbow's former university mate Alan Tern Wang Yafu 王亚复 Sharon's fiance Richard Low Liu Tianyi 刘添益 Sharon's fatherUnderworld boss 9 Moses Lim Nishimura Jumin 西村寿民 Japanese hotel guest 10 Cynthia Koh 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 Yiliang Huang Zhongliang 黄忠良 Taiwanese hotel guest Tracer Wong Wang Jinxiang 王金香 Huang Zhongliang's wife Priscelia Chan Huang Xiaomei 黄小梅 Huang's daughter Nick Shen Huang Dajun 黄大峻 Huang's son 12 Vincent Ng Zou Dahai 邹大海 Hotel bellboy Wong Li-Lin Lynn Song Leling 宋乐玲 Movie director Hong Huifang Gong Jingfang 龚靖芳 Lynn's mother Ryan Choo Chow Weng Foo 周文福 13 Florence Tan 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 Andrew Seow Chen Youyou 陈有友 Yunli's fiance 14 Fann Wong Rose 玫瑰 / Ye Xiaofang 叶晓芳 Hotel guest participating in an auction Xie Shaoguang Xu Wenguang 许文光 Zhou Quanxi Gilbert Ye Shipin Ye Guopin 叶国品 Pierre Png James Poon 15 Dasmond Koh Yang Maorong 杨茂荣 ArchitectHotel guest Aileen Tan Yang Ruizhen 杨瑞贞 Yang Maorong's older sister 16 Christopher Lee Shawn Huang Biren Huang Yiren 黄伊人 17 Jin Yinji Dr Jin 金医生 Lychee's gynaecologist Penny's mother Emil's godmother Lin Meijiao Penny Emil's old friendHotel guest Rayson Tan Chen Yiming 陈一鸣 Penny's husband Carole Lin Lin Peipei 林佩佩 Chen Yiming's secretary 18 Qi Yuwu Qi Weiwu 戚威武 University students / hotel guests Vivian Lai Lai Meiling 赖美伶 Fiona Xie Zhuang Xinyu 庄心瑜 Huang De Yuan Huang Yiyuan 黄逸远 Chen Guohua Xie Jiehua 谢杰华 PI hired by Xinyu's dad Mai Haowei Zhuang Qianwei 庄谦为 Xinyu's dad Li Nanxing Cloudy Rainbow's online friend Later Dodo's admirer 19 Chen Shucheng Richard Lee Business partner Chen Huihui June Tay lawyer 20 Fang Hui Helen Seto and Rainbow's mother Jeff Wang Jeff Hotel guest
Reception 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.
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."
References
External links
The Hotel on Mediacorp website Theme Song on YouTube