Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Fixer Upper: The Hotel’ on Max, The Latest Chip And Joanna Gaines Show Where They Renovate a Historic Hotel

Fixer Upper: The Hotel is the latest series from Chip and Joanna Gaines, airing on Magnolia Network and Max, supersizes the traditional Fixer Upper model, because this series is all about the boutique hotel Chip and Jo have renovated in their hometown, Waco, Texas. The couple’s loving restoration of the historic old building is chronicled from the ground up, and comes complete with the Gaines’s signature southern charm.

FIXER UPPER: THE HOTEL: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: “How can I help you? Would you like some toast?” a giddy Chip Gaines asks his wife while dressed in a bellhop uniform. He drops the goofiness for a moment to then say, “Y’all, we’re going to have a hotel in downtown Waco, Texas!”

The Gist: Chip and Joanna Gaines are no longer just human people, they are a lifestyle brand, an empire, AN EXPERIENCE. And since only a very small percentage of people in this world get the opportunity to have the pair fix up their home, the next logical step for the Gaines’s is to create a haven in their hometown for visitors to immerse themselves in their shtick as tourists of the Chip and Jo experience. With the help of an investor, Ben Weprin, Chip and Jo undertook their biggest project to date, the renovation of the Karem Shrine located in downtown Waco, which they have turned into a boutique hotel with more than 30 rooms, two restaurants, and a massive library.

Fixer Upper: The Hotel gives viewers a look at the renovation process over the course of many months as we watch the building undergo a massive transformation, which will likely become a flagship experience for fans who want to make a pilgrimage to Magnolia country. Thankfully, the series knows what fans are interested in: detailed descriptions of the shiny, pretty things that Jo plans to use for decor, time jumps that allow us to skip ahead to the most interesting parts of the process (the show frequently fast forwards months into the future to update us on the building’s progress, rather than getting too hung up on any setbacks), and plenty of Jo’s best side-ponytail looks.

While the project might seem like an easy opportunity for Chip and Jo to slap their name and signature style onto a large-scale project, it’s also a departure for them, as they have to answer to both their investors and the historic registry. The hotel (which is now open and is called The Hotel 1928 in honor of the year the building was built) is considered a historic site and as such, had to be designed and decorated in a way that reflected the period it was built in, so as we see in the show, some of Joanna’s design choices are determined by that, which forces her to occasionally pivot. Chip is forced to make similar changes when, in the course of the interior demolition of the building, unexpected elements like a massive chimney are revealed and must be historically preserved.

We’re allowed into the design process for every space in the hotel, from the guest rooms to the restaurants to the massive library inside the hotel, and time and again are told what a luxe, special experience it will offer when its done. I mean, no better way to advertise your new hotel, huh? I have no business in Waco and I’d stay there.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The show has the signature stamp of Gaines-ness all over it, it’s essentially a Very Special Fixer Upper, although it’s very refreshing to watch the couple expand their design sensibilities for an aesthetic that doesn’t use any shiplap whatsoever.

Our Take: Do you love Chip and Jo? Hate them? Undecided? However you feel, I’m certain this show will only serve to magnify those feelings, because it is everything you’ve come to expect from them, just on a larger scale. The couple have built their brand off of being likeable: He’s the goof who goes off-script, she’s the gorgeous brain behind the designs. In the first episode, we spend more than a few minutes watching Chip insist to Joanna that he can do an old football drill, shuffling his feet through some slatted floorboards in an unfinished room, and in the end he appears to have actually hurt himself after falling: it’s played for laughs, but also, I feel like it’s a good lesson for Chip to turn it down from an 11 to maybe even just an 8.

Fixer Upper: The Hotel is clearly a platform for the couple to show off their latest project, but if you’re a design aficionado, watching their process is always a cozy affair thanks to their pleasant personalities and their modern and shiny, if not kind of generic, taste.

Parting Shot: With the final design touches having been chosen for the guest rooms, Jo explains that in the next episode, we’ll watch as they finalize the looks of the common spaces.

Performance Worth Watching: Jo’s hair. Always Jo’s hair.

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Memorable Dialogue: The Gaines’ are known for their excessive use of the word “Babe,” (see the Instagram reel above where at least they acknowledge that), but it almost feels like they’re trolling us with how often they use the word in this show.

Our Call: There’s a reason the Gaines’s are so popular, they just ooze homey, nice, decency (I mean, whether they really are all that, I’ll never know, but they play up their image well). If you love renovation shows, enjoy watching the process of a historic building being restored to its former glory, and are charmed by the Gaines’s agreeable personas, you’ll want to STREAM IT.

Liz Kocan is a pop culture writer living in Massachusetts. Her biggest claim to fame is the time she won on the game show Chain Reaction.