A hotel is an establishment that provides short-term lodging for a fee. A hotel room may have a modest-quality mattress in a compact room to a spacious suite with a larger, higher-quality bed, a dresser, a refrigerator, other kitchen facilities, upholstered chairs, a flat-screen television, and an en-suite bathroom. Small, lower-priced hotels may offer only the bare minimum of guest services and facilities. Hotel facilities that are larger and more expensive may include swimming pools, business centers (with computers, printers, and other office equipment), childcare, conference and event facilities, tennis courts, gymnasiums, restaurants, day spas, and social function facilities. A hotel room is usually numbered (or named in smaller hotels and B&Bs) so guests can identify it. There are some boutique, high-end hotels with custom-designed rooms. As part of a room and board arrangement, some hotels offer meals. Japan’s capsule hotels offer tiny rooms suitable only for sleeping, as well as shared bathrooms.

Medieval Europe’s inns were the precursors to modern hotels. Coach travelers stayed in coaching inns for about 200 years starting in the mid-17th century. The mid-18th century saw the beginning of inns catering to more affluent clients. In 1768, Exeter opened one of the first hotels of the modern era. Throughout Western Europe and North America in the early 19th century, hotels proliferated, and luxury hotels began to appear towards the end of the century.

Hotel operations vary in size, function, complexity, and cost. Most hotels and major hospitality companies classify hotel types according to industry standards. A full-service hotel offers luxury amenities, full-service accommodations, an on-site restaurant, a concierge, room service, and laundry staff. Luxurious full-service hotels offer many full-service accommodations, a full-service restaurant, and a variety of amenities. An upscale boutique hotel is usually more intimate, non-branded, independent, and non-branded. On-site amenities are limited at small to medium-sized hotels. A small to medium-sized economy hotel offers basic accommodations with few or no amenities. In contrast to a standard hotel, extended-stay hotels offer longer-term, full-service accommodations.

A timeshare or destination club is a form of property ownership in which you own an individual accommodation unit for seasonal use. It is a small, low-rise lodging with direct access to separate rooms from the parking lot. Boutique hotels usually have an intimate setting or a unique environment. Several hotels have entered the public consciousness through popular media, such as the Ritz Hotel in London. Some hotels are built specifically as destinations in themselves, for example, casinos and holiday resorts.

Most hotel establishments are run by a general manager who serves as the head executive (often referred to as the “hotel manager”), department heads who oversee various departments within a hotel (e.g., food service), middle managers, administrative staff, and line-level supervisors. The organizational chart and volume of job positions and hierarchy varies by hotel size, function, and class, and is often determined by hotel ownership and managing companies