hotel
Americannoun
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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.
- Synonyms:
- motel, guesthouse, hostel, hostelry
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a word used in communications to represent the letter H.
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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.
noun
noun
Related Words
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.
Other Word Forms
- hotelless adjective
Etymology
Origin of hotel
First recorded in 1670–80; from French hôtel, Old French hostel hostel
Compare meaning
How does hotel compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Its current struggles contrast with a decade ago, when over-enrollment forced St. Michael’s to rent out a nearby hotel to house students.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 9, 2026
It had been bought by a couple who hoped to turn it into a luxury hotel when they took it over in 2016, after the collapse of a previous wedding venue venture in 2013.
From BBC • Apr. 8, 2026
His real-estate company is developing a $500 million project downtown with a boutique hotel and more than 1,000 apartment units planned.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 6, 2026
It was past 2 a.m. by the time most of the players and their families joined the party in a hotel ballroom to share food, drink, and joy.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 6, 2026
Emma takes the mouse and goes to the hotel website.
From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller
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.
