Greg Mussi, Owner of Pennsylvania’s Oldest Motel, Gets Earful on TV’s ‘Hotel Impossible’

Oct. 12–When he swooped in to save Pennsylvania’s oldest motel, Greg Mussi didn’t expect he’d one day get screamed at and scolded on national TV.

The Beaver Falls native gets to relive that humiliation Tuesday, hopeful it leads to a happy ending after the 9 p.m. airing of Travel Channel’s “Hotel Impossible.”

“I’m not watching,” Mussi said. “I’ll be lying somewhere in the fetal position.”

He’s joking, though it won’t be easy for Mussi and his wife, Lynda, to witness this week’s “Hotel Impossible” set at the Autoport Motel in State College, the state’s first motel, which they bought seven years ago.

For Mussi, a Penn State graduate and retired architect devoted to historic preservation, that purchase was an opportunity to save a 1936 landmark that had been slated to be torn down and replaced by a Sheetz.

Though as often the case on TV reality-makeover shows, inexperienced management — coupled with economic factors — pushed the Autoport and its owners toward financial disaster.

With their 85-room motel headed toward foreclosure, Lynda put out a rescue call heeded by “Hotel Impossible,” which sent in expert host Anthony Melchiorri and his renovation crew to identify the Autoport’s problems and seek solutions.

“He’s a no-nonsense guy,” said Mussi, who under reality-TV restraints is limited on what he can discuss until after the episode is shown.

A trailer for Tuesday’s episode shows Melchiorri irritated with a lack of signage at the Autoport.

“This is the worst experience of a hotel checkout I’ve seen,” said Melchiorri, who believes the Autoport should be thriving like its competitors, in what he describes as the “ultimate college town.”

Cameras zoom in on the motel’s peeling paint and outdated furnishings as Mussi admits, “Am I proud to have my family and friends stay here from time to time? Not really.”

Melchiorri points out bad customer reviews as part of the episode titled “Swinging for the Fences,” alluding to the motel’s head housekeeper confessing the Autoport has a reputation as a hangout for swingers, of which she is one.

Interviewed by phone, Mussi, a 1976 Beaver Falls graduate raised in the city’s College Hill section, said the Autoport’s problems began early for him, when he underestimated costs to renovate the aging motel. Intensified competition from chain motels also has hurt the Autoport’s bottom line. In recent months, the Mussis have hung high hopes on the motel’s re-branded barbecue restaurant, Clem’s.

Judging by the trailer for Tuesday’s episode, Melchiorri thinks more focus should go back to the motel.

The stern Melchiorri and his crew provided invaluable advice.

“Over the course of five days of filming, it turned out to be a positive experience,” Mussi said. “It is reality TV though. When we first met him, we were in the hot seat right away, as he walked in the door and filming started.

“He asked a lot of questions and we gave him all the information, but he didn’t like what he was hearing,” Mussi said. “It got pretty intense.”

Like the rest of America, Mussi hasn’t seen the episode though he suspects the turning point comes when normally mild-mannered Lynda lets loose with a barrage of swear words, prodded by Melchiorri’s criticisms.

Melchiorri loved it.

“He said, ‘That’s the reaction I wanted to see. I wanted you to show me that you really care about this place,'” Mussi said.

“We do have a lot of passion for this thing,” Mussi said, adding that they’ve launched a Kickstarter fundraising campaign and reached out to Penn State alumni to publicize the motel.

Some people have a misconception that “Hotel Impossible” completely renovates every single motel room.

“They did just one,” Mussi said.

But that one room can be quite a catalyst, as there are “Hotel Impossible” fans from throughout the continent who take trips to stay in specific rooms renovated by Melchiorri’s top-notch designers, specifically Blanche Garcia, who revamped the Autoport’s lobby and room design, taking inspiration from old photographs of the motel in its glory days.

Along with supplying things such as new linens for about 50 rooms, and an improved computer system to handle online bookings, “Hotel Impossible” provided the Mussis with training via Cornell University’s globally recognized hotel management program.

So now comes Tuesday’s episode, which as uncomfortable as it may be for the Mussis to watch, should spark positive results, according to Melchiorri.

“Like he said, ‘It’s also a million-dollar advertisement,'” Mussi said.