In each episode, celebrated hotelier and businesswoman Alex Polizzi visits a struggling British hotel to try to turn its fortunes around by giving advice and suggestions to the owner.

[1] Hotelier and businesswoman Alex Polizzi, the niece of Sir Rocco Forte, took over as The Hotel Inspector for the show's fourth series, and has remained in this role since.

Polizzi has also hosted five other series: the first in which she inspects and improves failing family businesses (BBC Two's The Fixer), a second and third in which she explores her ancestral Italy (Secret Italy and Italian Islands), a fourth in which she auditions head chefs for various hotels and restaurants (Chefs on Trial), and a fifth in which she finds employment for military veterans (Help Our Heroes).

[4] The format of The Hotel Inspector has since been used twice for other series for Channel 5, both of which recreate the concept of an expert visiting and suggesting improvements for failing commercial ventures.

The 17 series of the programme are available for streaming online on FilmRise (who acquired the FAST rights to some television programmes from Twofour's parent, ITV Studios in North America) and its partnering AVOD services, Amazon Freevee and its sister SVOD service, Amazon Prime Video, Plex, The Roku Channel and Tubi in the United States and Canada.