motel
Sign in to savethumb|right|A motel in Bjerka, Norway
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A motel is a type of lodging establishment designed for travelers, typically offering rooms that are easily accessible from a parking area. Motels are an important part of the hospitality industry, providing affordable short-term accommodation options for people traveling by car.
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Article
29 sectionsContents
- Architecture
- Layout
- Room types
- History
- Auto camps and courts
- Tourist homes
- Early motels
- Expansion
- Guidebooks
- Referral chains
- Ownership chains
- Franchise chains
- Freeway era
- Market segmentation
- Decline
- Modernization
- Revitalization and preservation
- U.S. Route 66
- International variations
- Canada
- Europe
- Latin America
- Crime and illicit activity
- In popular culture
- See also
- Notes
- References
- Further reading
- External links
thumb|right|A motel in Bjerka, Norway
A motel, also known as a motor hotel, motor inn or motor lodge, is a hotel designed for motorists, usually having each room entered directly from the parking area for motor vehicles rather than through a central lobby. Entering dictionaries after World War II, the word motel, coined as a portmanteau of "motor hotel", originates from the defunct lodging compound establishment, Milestone Mo-Tel in San Luis Obispo, California (later renamed "Motel Inn"), which was built in 1925. The term motel referred to a type of hotel consisting of a single building of connected rooms whose doors faced a parking lot and in some circumstances, a common area or a series of small cabins with common parking. Motels are often individually owned, though motel chains do exist.