hotelier

American  

[oh-tuhl-yey, hoht-l-eer] / ˌoʊ təlˈyeɪ, ˌhoʊt lˈɪər /

noun

1. a manager or owner of a hotel or inn.

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hotelier British  

/ həʊˈtɛljeɪ /

noun

1. an owner or manager of one or more hotels

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Etymology

Origin of hotelier

1900–05; < French hôtelier; hotel, -ier ²

Explanation

A hotelier is a person who runs or owns a hotel. If you stay at a hotel, you may never see the hotelier, who is responsible for hiring and managing staff and keeping things running smoothly. It's probably more common to use the term "hotel manager," but hotelier is a fancy way to refer to the person in charge of a hotel's operation. If you've got a complaint about your room, you might angrily demand to speak to the hotelier immediately. The word hotelier comes from the French hôtelier, "hotelkeeper or hotel proprietor," and its Old French root hostel, "a lodging."

Example Sentences

The hotelier is also shifting away from the chic eateries that helped make some of his past hotels famous.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 27, 2026

Seventy-five years later, Trump, another Atlantic City hotelier, would become the pageant world’s king when he bought the organization that owns the Miss USA, Miss Teen USA and Miss Universe competitions.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 10, 2025

Veteran Kenyan hotelier Mohammed Hersi also questioned Tanzania's move to restrict occupations for foreigners.

From BBC • Jul. 30, 2025

KPC is leasing the land for the hotel from Kroenke under a long-term agreement and went through a competitive process to get the nod from the landlord to be the hotelier for Hollywood Park.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 11, 2024

The first guests began arriving at Holmes’s World’s Fair Hotel, though not in the volume he and every other South Side hotelier had expected.

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson

Related Words

• property owner
• proprietor