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.
Marriott has been a standout among the leading hotel stocks.
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026
In Las Vegas last week, data center operators, investors and bankers gathered at the Wynn hotel to discuss the state of the industry.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
In August 2025, Serhii K was arrested after checking into a hotel near the Italian Adriatic resort of Rimini, by police acting under a European arrest warrant issued by federal prosecutors in Germany.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
Our solution was to use one of the Kariba houseboats as a mobile hotel and laboratory, so that we could prospect the shoreline.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2026
The smell— goodness, it certainly doesn’t smell like the hotel in Lucerne.
From "The Bletchley Riddle" by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin
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
The villa, bookable from around $35,780 a night, is an extension of the 74-room Hotel Maçakizi, a Turkish Riviera fixture since the late 1970s.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
In the 1920s, while O’Keeffe was living in Manhattan, she began painting high-rises, often looking up from below or down on the city and across the East River from her quarters in the Shelton Hotel.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
Soldiers and detectives rushed to Booth’s room at the National Hotel.
From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson
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
The prosecutor, himself the target of sanctions, said they crippled daily life -- he was unable to book transport, hotels, or conduct banking operations.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
There are also results for restaurants, hotels, and dude ranches.
From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy
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