What is the difference between a ‘hotel’ and a ‘motel’?

(Anuj Saini, New Delhi)

The word ‘motel’ is a combination of two words: ‘motor’ and ‘hotel’. In the old days, motels were invariably located on highways; they were mostly used by people who were travelling by car. Unlike a hotel, the rooms of a motel are not located inside a building. In the past, a motel usually consisted of a single row of connected rooms built on a parking lot. Nowadays, we have motels in the heart of cities, and they sometimes contain more than one floor. A motel is usually much cheaper than a hotel; the services it offers are rather limited: it usually doesn’t have a restaurant, and as a result doesn’t provide room service. The word ‘motel’, like the word ‘hotel’ has the stress on the second syllable.

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