Target is one of the many formula reality TV programs that is dumbed down into easy digestible chunks so as not to be too taxing on the "average" viewer. Last night's episode did not disappoint!
View the full show: HERE
Over the last three years, Target have featured 18 motel properties and follow a similar routine of recording the check-in process with a hidden camera, comparing tariff, testing bacteria levels in kitchen/bathroom areas and shining the dreaded UV light on bedding and in the bathroom area.
In this episode, motels were visited undercover in Tauranga that could accommodate 2 adults and 2 children. Tariff ranged from $120.00 to $200.00.
Less than savory findings included: identifiable room keys, a detached smoke alarm, a cockroach trap under a bed, no safety notice, lack of security stays on windows and a toilet door handle that was not fixed. The shock horror part of the show is always when the UV light is turned on. Unfortunately the resulting light-show produced an array of unidentifiable matter that left the viewer squirming in their lazy-boy.
We would imagine that it would be relatively easy for the show's producers to select certain motel properties that would give the shock horror results necessary to entertain the average voyeuristic viewer. There is a concern that findings at the negative end of the scale will be seen to be commonplace, instill unnecessary consumer anxiety and reflect badly on the motel industry.
This ambush, reality TV style can be most upsetting to moteliers, however any protest would get little public sympathy and would be counterproductive. Although we could question some of Target's methods, there is simply no defence for finding less than high cleaning standards in the motels that are featured.
For us, one of the major misdemeanors that featured was the following sign in a motel guest room kitchen:
We hate silly signs in motels and this tacky sign makes an appearance from time to time in motels, often affixed with blue-tack. This is one of many signs that menopausal moteliers should desist from using immediately!
Hopefully the biggest lesson from last night's Target is that could be gleamed by viewers is that: "you get what you pay for."
