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.
As a spotlight shone over him, Styles made a moving speech, in which he honoured Liam Payne, who died two years ago after falling from a hotel balcony in Argentina.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026
The hotel hosts special trips during the festival, led by a local astronomer, and runs visits to various sites and events across the park.
From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2026
Around 1927 Hopper began to be known for the type of picture we now associate with his name: the depiction of a figure, or several figures, in an interior—an apartment, restaurant, office or hotel.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
Beside a hotel pool, heavily built Western men stick out in the remote southeastern DRC town of Kalemie.
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026
Danny remembered seeing the guinea pigs at their hotel and the alpaca saying that there were no more of them running free.
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
Earlier that day, in Room 526 at the 25hours Hotel Terminus Nord, a crowd of women socialized with their dogs, who played with Paris-Dog-Week-branded balls.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
Gary Simms, a Cowbridge local, also had a picture with the actor when he saw him in the Bear Hotel on Sunday evening, the night before filming.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
It has recently expanded its hotels business, developing The Bedford Hotel in Belfast and buying The Waterfoot in Derry.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
At Maçakizi Restaurant, the one-Michelin-star restaurant at the Maçakizi Hotel, chef Aret Sahakyan serves a range of farm-to-table fare inspired by different Mediterranean regions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
Their first perch was the swanky Raleigh Hotel, famous for its roof garden, tenth-floor ballroom, and Beaux Arts glamour.
From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield
Indigo Road Hospitality Group, an owner of restaurants and boutique hotels, named Catherine Woods as chief marketing officer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
The reading reflected increasing prices for services, things like airfares, hotels, truck rentals, and heating and electricity.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 2026
The survey drew 58 responses from 210 hotels, and the analysis was done by travel-data firm Rove using CoStar and AirDNA data.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
Chaos ensued: passengers told the BBC they were stranded on platforms for hours, with some having to book hotels for the night.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
“Maybe next year. Aunt Louise doesn’t have enough room for all five of us, and hotels are expensive.”
From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan
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