I. (ˈ)hō|tel noun
( -s )
Etymology: French hôtel, from Old French ostel, hostel — more at hostel
1. archaic : a city mansion of a person of rank or wealth
2.
a. : a house licensed to provide lodging and usually meals, entertainment, and various personal services for the public : inn
b. : a building of many rooms chiefly for overnight accommodation of transients and several floors served by elevators, usually with a large open street-level lobby containing easy chairs, with a variety of compartments for eating, drinking, dancing, exhibitions, and group meetings (as of salesmen or convention attendants), with shops having both inside and street-side entrances and offering for sale items (as clothes, gifts, candy, theater tickets, travel tickets) of particular interest to a traveler, or providing personal services (as hairdressing, shoe shining), and with telephone booths, writing tables and washrooms freely available
II. transitive verb
( hotelled ; hotelled ; hotelling ; hotels )
: to lodge at a hotel
III.
Usage: usually capitalized
— a communications code word for the letter h