a building where travelers can pay for lodging and meals and other services
"After driving all night, we finally checked into a cozy hotel that offered both delicious breakfast and comfortable rooms for our stay."
A large town house or mansion; a grand private residence, especially in France.
"After touring the historic chateaus of the Loire Valley, we stayed at a magnificent hotel that felt more like a royal palace than a standard lodging establishment."
In plain English: A hotel is a building where people pay to sleep and stay for a short time when they are traveling.
"We checked into a small hotel near the beach for our vacation."
Usage: In modern English, a hotel is a commercial building that provides paid lodging and services to travelers, not a private mansion or country estate. Use this term when referring to places where people stay temporarily while visiting a city or region.
The word hotel comes from the Old French ostel, which originally meant a hospice or guesthouse derived from the Latin term for "hospitable." It entered English as a doublet related to both hostel and hospital, evolving from its initial sense of providing shelter for travelers.