The Hotel (Singaporean TV series)

*The Hotel*
The Hotel
	大酒店
Genre	Dramedy
Written by	Hong Xi 洪夕; 周少文
Directed by	黎致明
Starring	Edmund Chen ; Ivy Lee ; Chen Hanwei ; Jacelyn Tay ; Chen Liping ; May Phua ; Yang Libing
Country of origin	Singapore
Original language	Chinese
No. of episodes	20
Production
Producer	马家骏
Running time	approx. 45 minutes
Original release
Network	MediaCorp TV Channel 8
Release	December 2001 –; 2002

The Hotel (Chinese: 大酒店) 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.

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-classmate Johnny 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
3	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	Neurosurgeon Childhood 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 father Underworld 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	Architect Hotel guest
15	Aileen Tan	Yang Ruizhen 杨瑞贞	Yang Maorong's older sister
16	Christopher Lee	Shawn
16	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 friend Hotel 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
19	Chen Huihui	June Tay	lawyer
20	Fang Hui	Helen	Seto and Rainbow's mother
20	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.^[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]

References

^ 庄致颖 (23 November 2011). "阿哥阿姐《大酒店》中抢镜". Lianhe Wanbao. Singapore.
^ Seah, Lionel (12 December 2001). "Welcome to Hotel calamity". The Straits Times. Singapore.
^ Wee Teck, Yeoh (7 December 2001). "Visit The Hotel? No thanks". The New Paper. Singapore.