"Frau Professor Erlin called her establishment a family and not a pension; but it would have required the subtlety of a metaphysician to find out exactly where the difference lay."

Webster 1913 Definition 4 = a boarding house (French)

small hotels in europe, (in 1970, when i went on 'Europe on $5 a day' tour) were called pensions (pen see owns).

they often featured 'continental breakfasts' as part of the amenities
one place i remember was on the 6th floor --a garret room really, in a walk up, but only 2 block from the Champs Elisa--