What is the difference between a hotel and a motel?

Answer 1

The term "motel" is derived from the term "motor hotel" which originally meant that the hotel provided parking (circa 1950's). The term motel today generally is used for a "limited service" property (i.e. a hotel that provides a limited number of ammenities and does not provide food service)

Answer 2

There is a HUGE difference between a motel and hotel. Hotels generally provide better service and have better in room amenities as well as better facilities. Motels may have a pool, while almost all hotels do. In a hotel you'd find room service, turn down service, maybe a club floor with complimentary breakfast, h'ordoerves and snacks and a business center. Motels generally would not have any of these.

Answer 3

In modern times there really isn't much difference, as any lodging establishment can call itself whatever it wants. Traditionally hotels were highrise buildings located mostly in downtown areas and featured amenities like on-site restaurants and porters to handle luggage. Motels were single-floor buildings typically on the outskirts of town with free, convenient parking and often outdoor entrances. They rarely had many amenities.

Today most lodging establishments are a combination of these. Almost all new "inns" are 3 - 5 floors, sort of a compromise between the hotels and motels of old. You rarely see porters except in the top-level establishments, but on-site restaurants are fairly common, even in suburban areas.

Answer 4

I've always thought of a motel as a place with just rooms for rent, and no amenities... maybe coffee if you're lucky, occasionally a small outdoor pool. To qualify as a hotel, I've always thought that there needs to be a restaurant on-site and something to do while not in the room- a decent pool, game room, etc.

Answer 5

This is not an all-inclusive definition, but usually hotels have the entrances to the rooms on the inside of the building while motels have the entrances on the outside of the building.

ACTUALLY.. a motel is a hotel but a hotel is not always a motal. Just like a square is a kind of rectangle.

Answer 6

At a hotel you usually have to go in to the main lobby and go up an elevator to go to your room, where as at a motel you park your car right by your room door. Check-in is usually a small office and the motel has two floors.

Answer 7

A motel is usually cheaper and the rooms are accessible directly from the parking lot so you don't have to entry the building and go up an elevator for example.
A hotel is usually a little higher quality and will often provide more services such as rooms for conventions and maybe a bar.

Answer 8

motel rooms face the outside
so you can drive up to the door
MOtorists' hoTEL = motel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motel Entering dictionaries after World War II, the word motel (from MOtorists' hoTEL) referred initially to a single building of connected rooms whose doors face a parking lot and/or common area or a series of small cabins with common parking. Their creation was driven by increased driving distances on the United States highway system that allowed easy cross-country travel. The concept originated with the Motel Inn of San Luis Obispo, constructed in 1925 by Arthur Heinman. The motels are also found along highways in rural and urban areas across Canada.

Answer 9

Gnerally, motels are places for people to stay while they are travelling, just a place to sleep. They are usually on highways, or directly off highways. Hotels are more likely to be destinations in themselves. They are usually in cities, so you make them your headquarters while staying there. Motels are more for passing through on your way to somewhere else.
Originally, motels were long, low and each room had a door into the parking lot. They have gotten nicer, with more inside entrances, and the distinction is somewhat less obvious than it once was.

Answer 10

Motel = Motor Hotel

The motel came into being as people began to travel more by car after WWII. The old original motels were one floor affairs with a parking lot courtyard. The old original motel rooms were easy to access from your car. You could park in front of your room and in a few steps be in your room.

The parking lot courtyard style aren't being built anymore.

Motels are now lower cost hotels along the freeways, and hotels are more upscale and have multiple eateries and amenities.

The two types of lodging establisments are kinda blurring into each other.