innkeeper

American  

[in-kee-per] / ˈɪnˌki pər /

noun

1. a person who owns or manages an inn or, sometimes, a hotel.

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innkeeper British  

/ ˈɪnˌkiːpə /

noun

1. an owner or manager of an inn

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Etymology

Origin of innkeeper

First recorded in 1540–50; inn + keeper

Explanation

An innkeeper is someone who owns or manages an inn. When you arrive at an inn, the innkeeper might be the person who checks you in and gives you a key to your room (and maybe a chocolate on your pillow). The earliest innkeepers ran inns in Europe during medieval times. These inns provided lodging, food, and a place for travelers to leave their horses, and an innkeeper managed all of these details. Today in the UK, some pubs call themselves inns, so you might find an innkeeper serving pints there, while in the US an inn is almost always a more charming version of a motel, run by an innkeeper.

Example Sentences

Often have I recalled the scene in John Buchan’s spy thriller “The 39 Steps” when the protagonist, Richard Hannay, tells his true but unlikely story to an innkeeper.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 23, 2025

“I have fireplaces flying forward,” said Olivia Cobian, the innkeeper at the Gingerbread Mansion, a bed-and-breakfast in the historic town of Ferndale, as sirens wailed in the background Thursday morning.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 5, 2024

Audience members also got a glimpse of Olivia Colman as a Cockney innkeeper and Sally Hawkins as Wonka's mother.

From BBC • Apr. 28, 2023

The later show, which featured Newhart as a Vermont innkeeper, ended with him waking up in Chicago next to his on-screen wife from “The Bob Newhart Show,” revealing the second series to be dream.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 24, 2023

The innkeeper tells him that Vincent is in his room, number five, on the top floor, opposite the stairs.

From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman