A Falmouth guest house website received 60,000 hits in just four days after appearing on national television last Thursday.

Interest in the Eden Lodge has been so high that its website crashed in the hours after the programme, The Hotel Inspector, aired on Channel 5 – and it shows little signs of abating.

It is after the “Hotel Inspector” Alex Polizzi visited the bed and breakfast in Melvill Road to give her famous tough love and help turn around its fortunes.

At one point during the episode she describes one of the rooms as “like being on an acid trip”, before giving it a makeover, along with another of the bedrooms. The dining room and lounge were also redecorated.

Lynn Self, who owns and runs the guest house with partner Ziggy Broome, described filming with Alex as “fabulous.”

She told the Packet: “It was a wonderful experience. I can’t say how much we enjoyed it. The changes she’s made and the ideas she’s given – she’s instilled enthusiasm in us. We were on a sinking ship really [before].”

Since Alex’s visit bookings have risen, but it is the reopening of the swimming pool that has proved most successful to date.

Having been used as a dumping ground in recent years, Alex paid to renovate the pool and get it running again.

It is now being used by three diving schools it the area, which give taster sessions in the pool, with swimming classes starting today, Wednesday.

Alex is due to return at the end of the season, to find out whether her work has had an impact, by which time Lynn and Ziggy should have completed the redecoration of the whole property.

Lynn said she had been blown away by the reaction to the programme, adding: “I didn’t think there would be that much response. It’s been amazing.”