a commercial establishment offering lodging to travelers and sometimes to permanent residents, and often having restaurants, meeting rooms, stores, etc., that are available to the general public.
a word used in communications to represent the letter H.
Military. Hotel, the NATO name for a class of nuclear-powered Soviet submarines armed with single-warhead ballistic missiles: in service with the Soviet Navy 1959–91.
Hotel, house, inn, tavern refer to establishments for the lodging or entertainment of travelers and others. Hotel is the common word, suggesting a more or less commodious establishment with up-to-date appointments, although this is not necessarily true: the best hotel in the city; a cheap hotel near the docks. The word house is often used in the name of a particular hotel, the connotation being wealth and luxury: the Parker House; the Palmer House. Inn suggests a place of homelike comfort and old-time appearance or ways; it is used for quaint or archaic effect in the names of some public houses and hotels in the U.S.: the Pickwick Inn; the Wayside Inn. A tavern, like the English public house, is a house where liquor is sold for drinking on the premises; until recently it was archaic or dialectal in the U.S., but has been revived to substitute for saloon, which had unfavorable connotations: Taverns are required to close by two o'clock in the morning. The word has also been used in the sense of inn, especially in New England, ever since Colonial days: Wiggins Tavern.
First recorded in 1670–80; from French hôtel, Old French hostel hostel
How does hotel compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
When you're on vacation, one place you can stay for a nightly fee is a hotel. Most hotels provide accommodations for sleeping, with minibars, pools, and ice machines to keep you entertained. While in Australia and New Zealand a hotel can also be a bar or a pub, most English-speakers recognize this word as the equivalent of an inn. Simple hotels give you a bed to sleep in and a bathroom to use, while fancier hotels might have beautiful furnishings, separate sitting rooms, swimming pools, and cafes. In the 1760s, hotel was defined as "an inn of the better sort."
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“You won’t be staying in a gray and white corporate hotel doomscrolling or watching television,” Cain said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
Ines works as a receptionist at a local hotel.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
"I was distraught... not least because they told me I would have seen it if I'd stayed in my hotel," he said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
“It was a conversation,” said hotel real-estate magnate Richard Born, who received the dismissal letter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
Or with the razor-wielding barber in the Baltimore hotel?
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
The best thing to do, Kerry says, is to avoid talking about The Bell Hotel.
From BBC ● Aug. 2, 2026
Places such as Sandberg’s Summit Hotel and the Lebec Hotel were oases for food and drink and sleep when wind and ice made the road impassable.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026
Hotel bookings have fallen more than 70 percent compared to last July, while restaurants and swimming pools lie empty.
From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026
Hotel security made them remove the parrot, though the humans were allowed to return and eat.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
From early morning until well after the gas lamps were lit, horse-drawn carriages filled with gentlemen and ladies lined the cobblestone street in front of Barnum’s Hotel.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
Employment at hotels and restaurants, for instance, fell in July to wipe out the small increase in hiring in the first six months of the year.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026
When they landed in the British town of Dover, officials sent women and children to hotels, but arrested men travelling alone like him.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
It is the latest in a series of similar incidents at Travelodge hotels reported to the BBC.
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
Construction has slowed on new hotels in the Middle East, and management said the biggest hit to sales could be yet to come.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
For two months they were on the run, staying in small hotels or with sympathetic friends.
From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
