hotelier

American  

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

noun

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

---

hotelier British  

/ həʊˈtɛljeɪ /

noun

1. an owner or manager of one or more hotels

---

Etymology

Origin of hotelier

1900–05; < French hôtelier; see 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 McLean, Va., hotelier posted earnings of $385 million, or $1.66 a share, up from $300 million, or $1.23 a share, a year earlier.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 28, 2026

“Some people thought it was a bit petulant,” said Dave Burns, a hotelier and publican in Christchurch who helped launch the campaign.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 19, 2026

In Dumfries and Galloway, one hotelier has raised concerns that it would make the region "needlessly more expensive".

From BBC • Oct. 1, 2025

Back then he was a brash hotelier, perhaps best known for hosting the US version of The Apprentice and his brief cameo in the 1992 film, Home Alone 2.

From BBC • Jul. 11, 2025

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