guesthouse

noun

Etymology: From Middle English gest hous, gistenehus, gystehuse, gesthus, partly from Old English gæsthūs, ġesthūs (“guesthouse, hostel; guest-chamber”), from Proto-West Germanic *gastihūs; and partly from Old Norse gesthús (“guesthouse; guest-chamber”); both from Proto-Germanic *gastihūsą, corresponding to guest + house.

1. A small house near a main house, for lodging visitors.

   “The wine house and the guest house were hung with curtains shining bright against the wooden walls.”

2. A private house offering accommodation to paying guests; a boarding house; a bed and breakfast.

   “Low-season competition between the several backpackers and many guesthouses in town keeps prices down, but in high season expect steep price hikes (except at the backpackers) and book ahead.”

   “For me, in any case, Ladakh seemed a beautifully unfallen place next to the blue-glass shopping malls of modern Lhasa, the global village of pizza joints and guesthouses that is urban Nepal, or long-isolated Bhutan with its chic new hotels.”