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Grand Hotel is a series airing on ABC and starring Demián Bichir. It is a loose Remake of the Spanish series Gran Hotel, transplanted to Miami Beach.

The Riviera Grand Hotel is one of the last family-owned hotels in Miami Beach, but this is about to change as owner Santiago Mendoza (Demián Bichir) intends to sell the hotel to a Chinese corporation owned by the father of his future son-in-law.

However, on the day of his stepdaughter's wedding, his daughter Alicia (Denyse Tonz) manages to scuttle the deal, and now he and his family must scramble to find a new way of paying off their debts. Meanwhile, one of their newest employees, Danny (Lincoln Younes), is snooping around for information about the supposed disappearance of one of their line cooks.

The series was canceled by ABC after one season.


This series contains examples of:

  • Almighty Mom: El Rey decides he's going to quit his contract with the hotel when Gigi and Alicia won't cater to his crazy whims. The duo then fly El Rey's mom to Miami where she berates her son as an idiot and forces him to honor the contract.
  • An Arm and a Leg: Javi lost his leg under unrevealed circumstances. Ep. 8 reveals he drove drunk after a fight with his father and wound up in an car accident while in high school.
  • Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Despite their Sibling Rivalry and jealousy between them, Carolina seems to genuinely care for Yoli, feeling guilty and trying to make up to her after she sleeps with the guy she likes and reacting with enthusiasm when Yoli reveals she's dating Marissa.
  • Bait-and-Switch: In the finale Danny asks Gigi who killed Skye and she replies "Someone who had more to lose than I did." It then cuts to Helen feeding Malcolm in the hospital and saying "there's nothing I wouldn't do for my family," indicating she did it. Instead, it turns out Malcolm did.
  • Basement-Dweller: It turns out Jason still lives with his parents as he saves up for a place. His dad jokes about how he even has posters of Christina Aguilera in his room (Jason: "They were here when I moved in!")
  • Battle Butler: Battle Waiter in the case of Danny, who reveals himself to be one to defend Santiago during the brawl at Carolina's wedding, which ends up saving his job.
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: Desperate to take down rival hotel the Finn, Santiago tells Mateo to have his people do something that will affect. Their solution is to set off a huge deck collapse which ends up injuring Javi.
  • Best Friend: Beatriz and Gigi were this.
  • Bigger Is Better in Bed: One of the hotel maids that saw Javi naked jokes he was born with three legs, and fittingly he's considered a Sex God.
  • Big Storm Episode: The prologue of the first episode takes place during a huge Hurricane afflicting the Hotel, and Sky just happens to disappear during it.
  • Black Boss Lady: Helen Parker, the no-nonsense, staff manager of the Riviera Grand Hotel.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing:
    • Gigi tries to make nice to Alicia, but badmouths her behind her back.
    • As Danny uncovers the truth about what happened to Skye, he realizes that his sister was not as innocent as he though she was. She stole a letter that revealed that Santiago and Helen had an affair decades ago and then she tried to extort money from Gigi in exchange for silence.
  • Brainy Brunette: Alicia is a smart woman who just graduated from Cornell with a business degree.
  • Bridezilla: Alicia has to handle a turn on this when an older gay couple get married and one is a wildly over the top guy who brings a pop-up book of the ultra-lavish wedding he wants.
  • Brutal Honesty: Yoli can be blunt to a fault, in contrast to Carolina and Gigi's faux-nice attitude.
  • But for Me, It Was Tuesday: When Ingrid realizes Mateo would rather she get an abortion than supporting their child, she instead goes to Javi and makes him think he's the father. It works because Javi has slept with so many women that he honestly believes there's a great chance that he just doesn't remember Ingrid and is the father.
  • The Casanova: Javi is a womanizer and has slept around with a lot of women. So much he even believes Ingrid when she tells him the baby is hers, despite not remembering her.
  • The Charmer:
    • Santiago is incredibly charismatic with his guests.
    • Danny seems to have a way with words and is quick to get in people's good graces.
  • Cliffhanger: Santiago is shot in his office with a very large pool of suspects around.
  • Cliffhanger Cop Out: Episode 10 ends with Alicia firing Danny after he tells her the truth about his sister. Episode 11 opens with Helen bluntly telling Alicia that unless she can explain why she wants Danny fired, he's keeping the job.
  • Coming-Out Story: Yoli is incredibly anxious in telling her family she's dating a woman due to her status as The Unfavorite.
  • Convenient Miscarriage: Suffered by Ingrid in episode 8.
  • Creator Cameo: Producer Eva Longoria appears in flashbacks as Beatriz.
  • Dark Secret: In the opening of the first episode, Skye tells Gigi she knows something about Santiago that would ruin his life is it went public. She disappears the very same night.
  • Deceptive Legacy: Jason has no idea he's the product of a brief affair Helen had with Santiago.
    • After years thinking their mother was a wonderful woman who died of a heart attack, Javi and Alicia are finally told that Beatriz suffered from bipolar disorder, had been a mess for years and finally committed suicide. Gigi and Santiago kept it quiet so as not to ruin the duo's view of their loving mother.
  • Did You Actually Believe...?: After getting his money back from Felix, Santiago tries to pay off Theresa, assuming that will finally settle things. Instead, she tells him they're sticking to monthly payments as she's going to be using the hotel for her operations. Mateo basically asks if Santiago honestly thought he could get out of this entire deal so easily and Theresa would just walk away.
  • Didn't Think This Through: Gigi accuses Felix of this by how he just shows up at the hotel and thinks he can have the entire family back like old times, ignoring how Santiago hates his guts and he's a wanted man. When Felix suggests that they all join him, Gigi can't believe he's been under the assumption she and the girls are going to completely drop their lives and go on the run with him.
  • The Dog Bites Back: After years of abuse and control, Mateo finally has enough and shoots Theresa dead.
  • Dude Magnet:
    • Alicia gets romantic attention from Danny, Mateo whom has commented on her good looks, and the assistant manager of the Finn hotel Oliver.
    • Ingrid gets the attention of Mateo, Jason and Javi.
  • Eating the Eye Candy: Alicia eyes Danny when he's shirtless and wet at the pool.
  • Emasculated Cuckold: Byron, Carolina's fiancé, is not pleased when he finds out she slept with another man the night before their wedding.
  • Emotional Regression: After finding out Ingrid's child isn't his, Javi, who had been growing up and accepting responsibility, slides right back to his partying and womanizing ways.
  • Exact Eavesdropping: Alicia mistakenly believes that Danny slept with Carolina after seeing him leave her hotel room. While working in the laundry room, Alicia is able to overhear them talk as Danny makes it clear that nothing happened and "I like someone else."
    • The finale shows how on the night of the storm, Malcolm just happened to be passing by the office to hear Helen and Gigi talk about Skye knowing Jason was Santiago's son.
  • Everyone Can See It: When Danny and Alicia finally hook up, they try to keep it on the "down low" and professional. It takes about five seconds for first Jason and then Santiago to realize they're a couple.
  • Family Business: The Riviera Grand Hotel is this for the Mendoza family. Alicia is particularly attached to it since it used to belong to her late mother and is extremely upset when she finds out her father is planning to sell it.
  • Foreign Remake: Of the Spanish series Gran Hotel.
  • Foreshadowing: In episode 9, Helen talks of how she and her husband had tried for years to have a child only to suffer several miscarriages with doctors thinking it was something wrong with Malcolm's sperm. Thus, when Jason was born, they called him a "miracle child." This is actually a major clue that Malcolm is not Jason's father as he's the product of a one-night stand Helen had with Santiago.
  • George Jetson Job Security: Danny finally comes clean to Alicia on how he only joined the hotel to find out what happened to his sister and had a long-term girlfriend the first time he and Alicia kissed. Alicia's reaction is to fire him on the spot. The next episode has Helen explaining to Alicia that unless she can give an actual specific reason why she's firing Danny, it can't hold up. She adds that firing an employee Alicia had just been sleeping with without giving just cause is blatantly illegal so Danny keeps his job.
  • Gold Digger: Ingrid is naturally called this when she claims Javi is the father of her baby. Gigi then relates how she had to put up with that same label from others when she married Santiago ... including from his own children.
    • A major moment has Gigi shocked to realize her own daughters have long assumed she just married Santiago for his money, not love.
    • Carolina ends up being this when she tries to get back with Byron for his cash and seems ready to bolt when he claims to have none. Sadly, it's a Secret Test of Character.
  • Good Girls Avoid Abortion: In the pilot, Ingrid reveals to Mateo that she's pregnant with his child, and he offers to arrange for her to get an abortion. She decides to hatch a scheme to convince Javi that the child is his so that she can blackmail him.
  • Gratuitous Spanish: Both Santiago and Gigi throw in some Spanish in their dialogue at times.
  • Green-Eyed Monster:
    • Yoli is jealous of Carolina for being pretty and thin, unlike her.
    • Carolina herself gets jealous when Yoli gets El Rey's attention with her attitude and seduces him in order to get over it.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: Felix had set up $50 million of his stolen money in an account in Gigi's name so the Feds couldn't find it. All it takes is Gigi tricking him out of the code to get that money and hand it over to Santiago.
  • Home Nudist: Santiago finds Gigi staring out the balcony completely nude in the morning. He jokes about her giving everyone a show, but since they live on the very top floor of the hotel, nobody can see her up there.
  • Hypocrite: Javi is upset when Santiago cuts him off from his wealth. When Gigi says Javi can't be so spoiled, Javi fires back that Gigi is hardly one to talk given how she spoils her daughters rotten.
    • In the finale, Santiago chastises Gigi for her complaints on his secrets when all these years, she's been hiding the truth of him being Jason's father.
  • I Did What I Had to Do: How Santiago defends his shady deals, doing what it took to keep the hotel going.
  • Idiot Ball: Carolina outdoes herself in the finale. She calls up Felix (a man who hates Santiago's guts) to tell him Santiago had put the twins in the will, meaning if anything happens to him, the girls inherit millions which Felix will no doubt try to get at himself.
  • I Never Said It Was Poison: Alicia and Danny find Beatriz's suicide note which related how she always assumed Santiago had an affair with Gigi. In flashback, Beatriz yelled about it to Helen, bringing up how Santiago had confessed to a one-night stand with another woman before. Helen assures her Santiago is not with Gigi and Beatriz can't be upset over "something that happened fifteen years ago." Beatriz instantly states she never said when Santiago had the affair and thus realizes Helen was the one-night stand.
  • Internal Reveal: The finale has Santiago finding out Jason is his son, which the audience had already found out before.
  • I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: At first, Ingrid is jealous when Jason starts dating a cheerleader. But after seeing how happy he is with her, Ingrid comes around to how it's better Jason be with someone he does like and gives him advice on how to win the lady over on a visit.
  • Impoverished Patrician: Santiago reveals to Alicia that he's deep in debts and his plan to sell the hotel was actually a last-ditch effort to raise money.
  • Insatiable Newlyweds: Downplayed since they're not married, but when Danny and Alicia finally resolve their Unresolved Sexual Tension, they basically spend all their free time having sex, and we're even show a PG-13 Sex Montage of them finding ways to be together, even during work.
  • Instantly Proven Wrong: In the finale, Danny tells Gigi there's no way Santiago is getting into a locked room. Right then, Santiago manages to break the door down with an axe.
  • Internal Reveal: In episode 8, while high on pot, Helen gives away to Gigi how Santiago got in deep with a crime ring and Mateo works for them.
  • It's All About Me:
    • Felix has this as he contends Santiago turned the Feds on him just to get at Gigi, not because Felix stole millions of dollars from many people, including Santiago. He also takes it for granted Gigi and the girls will give up their entire lives to join him on the run and can't understand why Gigi would be with Santiago.
    • When Gigi cleans him out of his stolen money and returns to Santiago, Felix groans to Yoli on how "he has your mother brainwashed", unable to accept that just maybe Gigi doesn't want to be with a selfish, greedy, thieving scumbag.
  • It's All My Fault: Santiago holds himself responsible for Javi's losing his leg. It turns out that when Javi was a teenager, Santiago found him drunk and railed on him. The fight turned ugly, and he then threw his car keys to Javi and basically dared him to leave. Sure enough, Javi ended up crashing the car and losing his leg.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Incredibly, Carolina turns out to be this. When Yoli goes public about her relationship with Marissa, Carolina doesn't mock her sister at all but instead, is fully behind her and makes it clear all her various supposed "judging" of Yoli was just her way of trying to help. She openly states it doesn't matter at all to her if her sister is gay as long as she's happy. Yoli is amazed at the realization of just how much her twin truly loves her.
  • Jerkass Has a Point:
    • While Gigi seems to be throwing her weight around as Alicia's supervisor, she does point out how two years of business school does not mean Alicia is ready to be the manager of the hotel. The fact Alicia makes so many mistakes does back her up.
    • Gigi suspends Alicia for giving El Rey a motorcycle that he drove around the lobby. Alicia goes to complain to Helen about it but Helen responds that "if it was me, I'd have fired you on the spot."
    • Santiago reacts badly when he's told Ingrid is having Javi's baby, thinking she's trying to trick him and is after their money and all his family thinks he's being a Jerkass about it... except that's exactly what Ingrid is doing.
    • While Heather reacts very badly to Danny having dumped her for Alicia, she does raise the excellent point that Danny talks of having a trusting relationship but hasn't told Alicia the truth about being Sky's brother.
    • At first, Carolina and Yoli complaining about not having a fortune of their own seems to be just being selfish. However, Gigi realizes they're onto something with the fact that she's only wealthy because she's married to Santiago so if anything happens to him (or her), the hotel and money go to Javi and Alicia and the twins are basically left with nothing.
  • Karma Houdini: Averted. Danny decides not to turn Malcolm over to the cops for killing Skye because of how it will hurt Jason. But, given how the cancer-ridden Malcolm isn't expected to ever leave the hospital, Danny notes "it looks like the universe found a better way to punish you."
  • Kicked Upstairs: A nice variation as Santiago decides to get rid of Ingrid by having Helen get her a job as head of housekeeping for another hotel.
  • Left Hanging: The series was canceled after it's only season, leaving a Cliffhanger about who shot Santiago.
  • Lethal Chef: Ingrid turns out to be this when she attempts to make dinner for Helen and Jason.
  • Locked Out of the Loop: Alicia assumes Gigi is behind her dad's decision to sell the hotel and so works to sabotage the wedding that would also be the big deal to sell to a developer. It's afterward that Santiago reveals the hotel has been losing money for years and this was his chance to get out from under it. More importantly, Alicia (as well as Gigi) has no idea Santiago has gotten into debt with a criminal cartel.
    • It's not until Felix leaves the hotel that Javi and Alicia become aware he was even there in the first place and also didn't know about the "secret room" that belonged to their mother.
  • Made Out to Be a Jerkass: After sleeping with El Rey, Carolina tries to make it up to Yoli by getting El Rey to sing a song to her at a hotel concert. However, when the spotlight hits her, Carolina realizes El Rey is singing it to her and Yoli refuses to believe this was anything but her sister trying to show her up.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Felix, Carolina and Yoli's dad who acts like he's dead broke and on the run from the FBI but secretly using them to get closer to their mother again.
    • Gigi cites that she almost fell for Felix's act but as soon as she found out he had tens of millions of dollars hidden away she knew he was still the lying, cheating, manipulative man she'd loathed.
  • Manipulative Bitch: Gigi knows how to use Alicia's feelings about her late mother to manipulate her.
  • Missing Mom: Alicia and Javi's mother Beatriz, who died before the story begun.
  • Missing White Woman Syndrome: Subverted. In the opening, Skye Garibaldi goes missing during a hurricane, but Santiago manages to keep it out of the press.
  • Modesty Bedsheet: Javi is introduced under one with a random guest he slept with. Subverted when he gets out of bed, revealing he's wearing shorts and what the sheet was really hiding was that he's missing one of his legs.
  • Modesty Towel: Alicia finds out Carolina slept with El Rey when she finds her at his room wearing only a towel.
  • Mood Whiplash: Helen shows her husband tickets for a vacation in Paris with Jason joining them, the trio talking warmly as the soundtrack plays an uplifting tune... then Malcolm suffers a stroke and collapses.
  • Motive Misidentification: When Theresa hosts a lavish art show at the hotel, Mateo assumes she's simply selling off priceless art for profit. The cops push Danny to go undercover as they think Theresa is smuggling drugs inside the art. As it turns out, the whole thing is a massive cover for the "models" being auctioned off into slavery to wealthy bidders.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Gigi Mendoza (played by Roselyn Sánchez) who bares a lot of skin in her very first scenes.
  • Multiple-Choice Past: When pressed for details about how he lost his leg, Javi claims that lost it while fighting in Afghanistan. A later conversation reveals that this is a lie.
  • Nice Guy: Jason, in contrast with his mother Helen tough attitude, is actually nice and goes out of the way to help his fellow co-workers.
  • No Such Thing as Bad Publicity: In-universe example. During a concert, El Rey accidentally starts a fire in the hotel yard. Santiago and Alicia are worried this will ruin the hotel but Gigi tells reporters how it shows El Rey's performance abilities and that he'll be doing a regular gig at the hotel. Sure enough, phones are ringing off the hook for people wondering if the man will live up to his vow to "burn the whole hotel down."
  • Not So Above It All: Yoli often acts as she's far more sensible and down to earth than Carolina. However, when she has to work at the hotel spa, she complains on how unattractive the uniform is while mopping in heels. When she notes this is the hardest she's ever worked in her life, a co-worker dryly states this is easy compared to the work she does to barely make ends meet. Yoli thus realizes that, in her own way, she's just as spoiled and entitled as her twin is.
  • "Not So Different" Remark:
    • Gigi admits she actually understands Ingrid as she had the same rough background and knows what it's like to be a single mother barely able to make ends meet.
    • It turns out the reason why Helen is sympathetic to Ingrid after her miscarriage is because she had a few herself before Jason was born and knows what Ingrid is going through.
  • Not with Them for the Money: A lot of people (including their own kids) see Gigi as Santiago's Trophy Wife and a Gold Digger, but they seem to genuinely love each other.
  • Number Two: Mateo is Santiago's "right hand-man" at the hotel and a liaison between the people Santiago owes money to.
  • Oh, Crap!: Danny's reaction when ex-girlfriend Heather shows up at the hotel. And then to finding out she and Alicia have become friends.
    • Gigi when Yoli reveals she and Skye used Beatriz's old room for hookups and starts tearing it up as she believes Skye took something Gigi hid long ago.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Javi is more amazed than anyone when he turns down an attractive guest clearly trying to seduce him because A), he has work to do and B) it doesn't feel right to help a wife and mother cheat when he (supposedly) is expecting a child himself.
    • Played for Laughs when Helen accidentally eats some cookies laced with pot meant for her ill husband. Before long, she's doing revealing photos online and singing in the hotel bar.
  • Polar Opposite Twins: While not as extreme, it's clear Yoli is more sensible and caring than the incredibly selfish, superficial and not-too-bright Carolina. At one point, Yoli openly asks "how are we twins?"
  • The Prima Donna: El Rey sure qualifies. He texts about an "emergency" which turns out to be that the pastries he has mailed first-class from his mother in Los Angeles are a day old. He also insists on various crazy items and Alicia has to control her temper handling his diva requests. That's not mentioning his stunts like driving a motorcycle right through the hotel lobby.
  • This Is Reality: Invoked by Santiago when Gigi wants to fire Ingrid after she reveals she was tricking them about the baby. As Santiago points out, firing a pregnant maid after she really did sleep with the boss' son is just asking for a lawsuit the hotel can't afford.
  • Really Gets Around: Javi sleeps with a different girl every day.
  • Resignations Not Accepted: A variation as Santiago figures all he needs to do is pay off the loan and Theresa is out of his hair. Instead, she says the money doesn't matter to her at all and she will continue to use the hotel for her needs. When Santiago presses Mateo, he points out how he's been trying to get away from her since he was 20 years old and all the money they can offer won't get them out from under her thumb.
    Mateo: There is no getting out. Make your peace with it.
  • The Reveal: Danny is the brother of the maid, Sky Garibaldi, who vanished in a hurricane and is determined to find out what happened to her.
    • It's revealed that Beatriz was suffering from bipolar disorder and, by her own decision, was often locked up in a hotel room for hard episodes. It also turns out that during a rare dose of sanity, she made the mistake of giving Felix Santiago's money and thus, it was Beatriz who was the cause of the hotel's problems.
    • Santiago and Helen had an affair and Santiago is actually Jason's father.
    • Malcolm killed Skye, saying it was to protect Gigi but Danny figures it's also so Skye wouldn't reveal how Malcolm wasn't Jason's father.
  • Rewatch Bonus: The revelation Santiago is Jason's real father puts many of the Santiago-Helen scenes in a new light. It also shows that much of Helen's relationship with her husband is driven by guilt over the affair.
  • Rich Bitch: Carolina is mean, vain and self-obsessed. Gigi also has shades of this, but hides it better. When Gigi shares how she had to work as a cocktail waitress to make ends meet for her girl, Carolina's reaction is to be horrified she had been eating "cocktail oranges" for snacks.
    • The twins justify their attitude by the fact that it's Gigi who has the money for being married to Santiago and should anything happen to the two of them, Carolina and Yoli would be left with pretty much nothing.
  • Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense: While Santiago and Gigi worked to get where they are, it's clear Javi, Carolina and Yoli have been spoiled rotten all their lives and no idea how to handle things. That comes up when all three are forced to work at the hotel during a strike with Carolina, in particular, having no clue how to handle actual work and the more sensible Yoli spending hours mopping floors in heels.
  • Riches to Rags: When he reveals Ingrid is pregnant, Javi is rocked when his father cuts him off, saying he needs to learn responsibility by getting a job.
  • Second Love: Gigi for Santiago. The first was Beatriz, who was Gigi's Best Friend, which is a sore point for Alicia and Javi that she married Santiago right after Beatriz died.
  • Secret-Keeper:
    • After finding Danny in his mom's office, Jason is told how Danny is looking into his sister's vanishing and agrees to keep quiet to help.
    • When Helen threatens to quit over Santiago not paying the staff and being cut out in favor of Mateo, Santiago tells her the truth of the secret deal he's made.
    • A cop recognizes Danny from when he was asking the police about his sister. She tells him she suspects her partner was bribed not to look into the case and that both of them have an interest in finding out what really happened.
    • In the finale, Danny relates he'll keep secret how Malcolm killed Skye, not for Malcolm's sake but because he doesn't want to destroy Jason or Helen over this.
  • Secret Secret-Keeper: Played with. In the finale Malcolm tells Helen "I've always known" he wasn't Jason's birth father. The reality is that while he always suspected, it wasn't until he overheard Gigi and Helen talking on the night of the storm that Malcolm truly knew.
  • Secret Test of Character: When Carolina gets back with Byron, he says his family is still upset over her cheating on him and is cutting him off if they get married. Naturally, Carolina can't live a life without money and tells Byron it's over. He's sorry...as he made the whole thing up and was just making sure it was his money she was after.
  • Self-Made Man:
    • Santiago prides himself on this. During a staff strike, he tells the kitchen staff how he started off in a kitchen "back when I had nothing" and worked his way up to management and then owning several establishments before buying the hotel. He also shows them he's still an expert chef.
    • Despite how she's currently living a rich lifestyle, Gigi relates she was left broke by her husband and thus, as a single mother, had to work as a cocktail waitress to make ends meet for her daughters.
  • Sexy Surfacing Shot: In the Pilot episode, after Danny gives Alicia an epiphany while they were talking at the pool, she promptly gets out in a hurry, with a close up shot of her hoisting herself out in just her Black Bra and Panties.
  • The Slacker: Javi, who unlike Alicia is content not to pursue any career and sleep around at the hotel.
  • Skinny Dipping: When Danny finds a woman in the pool at night with her face down in the water, he hurriedly dives in to rescue her... but it turns out it's just Alicia having a late-night swim in her underwear and floating for a bit.
  • Spanner in the Works: Carolina ends up foiling Ingrid's plan of passing off her baby as Javi's when she absentmindedly tells her mother she knew Ingrid and Mateo were involved.
    • Theresa's entire plans for the hotel, including using it for human trafficking and Santiago and Gigi's plans to fight her are all thrown off by Danny wearing a wire for the cops who learn of the human slavery auction and instantly raid the hotel.
  • Spicy Latina: Yoli, which is why El Rey gets attracted to her instead of her more conventionally pretty sister.
  • Strike Episode: When Santiago announces he can't pay the crew their annual bonuses, the staff do a mass "call in sick" bit to fight back. Santiago responds by working him, Gigi and Alicia for the staff.
  • Tempting Fate: At the end of episode 9, Danny tells Jason that things are going great with Alicia, he has an ally on the police force and "no one is going to blow my cover." Unknown to Danny, his ex-girlfriend is now checking into the hotel.
    • Felix assures Gigi "there's nothing to be afraid of" by him staying at the hotel. Right on cue, Santiago enters the room.
  • Threat Backfire: When Santiago discovers Theresa is using an art show at the hotel to cover up selling women to slavery, he rants to stop it or he calls the cops. Theresa just smugly points out that at the least, Santiago has to handle the bad publicity of this and at worse, he gets blamed for it. Turns out to be moot as Danny has been wearing a wire for the cops who, upon hearing a human slavery auction is going on, instantly raid the place.
  • Throw the Dog a Bone: When Ingrid comes back to the hotel after suffering a miscarriage, Helen is surprised. She then finds out the reason is because not only is Ingrid broke but she's lost her apartment and needs a place to sleep. Helen realizes the only thing to do is to let Ingrid stay with her family for a bit.
  • Toplessness from the Back: When Gigi is naked at her balcony, only of her bare back is seen by the viewer, with a conveniently placed lamp covering her below the waist.
  • The Unfavorite:
    • Javi who is considered to be the "Disappointing One" and a leech in the eyes of his father.
    • Yoli also seems to be this for Gigi.
    • At a party meant to be open to Yoli being gay, Gigi shares a story of being so proud of Yoli as a child doing a solo during a dance recital. She can't understand why Yoli storms out...until Yoli explains that it was Carolina who did that solo. Gigi is rocked to realize she couldn't even remember a great story with Yoli.
      Yoli: My whole life...I thought that maybe deep down inside, you knew I wasn't totally straight and that's why you pushed me away. But now I see that was never it. It's just me you don't accept.
    • Gig is forced to admit that Yoli always reminded her of her duplicitous ex-husband and thus subconciously pushed her away which she regrets.
  • Ungrateful Bastard: El Rey shows no qualms at all about leaving the hotel high and dry to jump ship to a rival hotel. Alicia openly rants on how "after everything I did for you", El Rey is just leaving for more money.
  • Unresolved Sexual Tension: Between Danny and Alicia, after they bond at the pool. Ends up being Resolved a few episodes later. And how.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: It turns out that in a rare bout of sanity, Beatriz signed over much of Santiago's cash to Felix for an investment only to realize too late how he stole it all. Thus, the hotel's financial problems were because of her although Santiago knows Felix is truly to blame for taking advantage of her.
  • Uptown Girl:
    • Waiter Danny ends up falling for Alicia, the daughter of the hotel owner.
    • Hotel masseuse Marisa and Yoli, the stepdaughter of the hotel owner.
  • Vow of Celibacy: Returning from rehab, Javi is jarred when Alicia makes it clear that, to help his recovery, he can't have sex for at least six months. Naturally, the hotel happens to be hosting "the hottest bachleorette party of all time" comprised of cherleaders which has Javi moaning he was better off drunk.
  • Wham Line: In episode 12, Beatriz realizes Santiago and Helen had a one-night stand fifteen years earlier and then asks "how old is Jason?"
    • When Javi introduces his new sponser/lover, Ingrid can only utter one shocked word: "Mom?!"
  • Wham Shot:
    • At the end of episode four, after he and Alicia have shared a kiss, Danny gets a phone call from the person he was talking to in the pilot. Cut to the other end as we see a woman who appears to be Danny's long-time girlfriend waiting for him to come home.
    • Yoli opens up a lockbox to look at a photograph of her and Sky kissing with Sky writing "love" on the back.
    • At the end of episode 9, Danny's ex-girlfriend checks into the hotel.
    • A literal version in episode 11 as Mateo shoots Theresa.
    • At the end of episode 12, Santiago watches video of the night Skye vanished to see a crying Gigi in a blood-stained dress.
    • Fittingly, the last one of the season: Santiago is seemingly shot and killed in his office.
  • Wicked Stepmother: Gigi, full stop. She was Beatriz Mendoza's best friend, but after Bea's death, Gigi wasted no time moving on Santiago, and Javi and Alicia have never forgiven her for it. She even badmouths Alicia behind her back.

 
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Nobody Can See Me Up Here

Santiago is surprised to find Gigi lounging naked in her balcony.

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