hotel

American  

[hoh-tel] / hoʊˈtɛl /

noun

1. 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

2. a word used in communications to represent the letter H.

3. 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.

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Hotel ¹ British  

/ həʊˈtɛl /

noun

1. communications a code word for the letter h

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hotel ² British  

/ həʊˈtɛl /

noun

1. a commercially run establishment providing lodging and usually meals for guests, and often containing a public bar

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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:

• motel vs. hotel

Example Sentences

They have estimated spending $8 billion on the project, which would include a hotel and concert venue and connect with the future site of New York City Football Club’s stadium.

From The Wall Street Journal

The man we were speaking to for our latest Disclosure documentary was living in a nearby asylum hotel, where angry protests had been taking place since the summer.

From BBC

You are likely to connect to public Wi-Fi in airports, hotels and cafes, and encrypted connections are crucial for protecting personal data and preventing snooping.

From Salon

Many local businesses have lost employees, and the uncertainty has hurt restaurants, hotels and shops, she said.

From The Wall Street Journal

As for how to wind down before the day on which he achieves his lifetime ambition, Norris said he was going to try to relax in his hotel room on Saturday night.

From BBC

Related Words

• hostel
• house
• inn
• lodging
• motel
• resort
• tavern