#75542
07/09/2002 12:51 PM
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526 |
My youngest asked me the difference between these. I tried to tell her I didn't know, but she wasn't having any. I told her what I *think* was that a motel might be short for "motor hotel" and that in my experience motels seemed to be single or rarely double story buildings in which customers could park almost directly in front of their rooms. I kinda get the impression that a motel is some place you stay for a night or two when you're on your way some place and a hotel is where you stay when you get there.
But the real answer is "I don't know." Does anyone else?
k
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#75543
07/09/2002 12:55 PM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
this is one of those rare cases where you know more than you think you know.
: )
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#75544
07/09/2002 1:03 PM
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
It was my impression as a child, when I heard my parents discussing staying in either hotels or motels, that motels were the places along the route on the way to a city or a town, places where you could stop to rest along the highways. But I thought the hotels were the grand many-storied structures within the city itself, like the splendiferous Jefferson Hotel in Richmond.
I think of hotels as highrise buildings. My imagination doesn't put them along the highway as it does motels.
Consider "Grand Hotel," the Garbo classic.
Then consider "Grand Motel," the classic that has yet to be created. Is there anywhere a grand motel?
And, as always, there's probably a gray area in between hotel and motel through which both forms apply.
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#75545
07/09/2002 2:35 PM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
Yes, motel was, indeed, coined from motor hotel, when folks enthusiastically took to the roads in the 1950's and small roadside hotels sprang up to accomodate these new vehicular nomads. The motels in the Wildwoods (the shore resort town in New Jersey where I live) are a prime example of this period, now dubbed Doo Wop architecture. And we have the largest concentration of these 1950's-early 1960's motels in the country (US).
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#75546
07/09/2002 2:43 PM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
Hotel should, if you are going to pick nits, Hi Faldage be spelt with a circumflex over the "o" - comme ça "Hôtel". I believe that the "ô" signifies a silent "s" following the "o", making the original "hostel".
In C18 England a hotel was similar to an INN, in that it provided not only alcoholic refreshment, but also food, non-alcoholic drinks and beds for the night - whether for a one-night stay or for a longer period.
The name derives, I think, from the large town houses of the French nobility, and still exists in France in the term, "Hôtel de Ville", which is the town hall and official abode of the Mayor.
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#75547
07/09/2002 3:53 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
I can remember when there were no motels. The roads had not yet been built. "Motel" was an obvious
coinage. I remember going from Bridgewater, MA to Plymouh MA for a tricentennial of the landing of the
Pilgrims, in 1921. It was a one lane dirt road all the way. If you met another car, one had to back up to a place where it could get off road enough to let the other pass.
I think motels started in the thirties. Majority of occupants were there because it was preferable to
"footprints on the dashboard upside down".
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#75548
07/09/2002 4:09 PM
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
Reminds me of the modern day Conderella. At midnight she turns into a motel.
TEd
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#75549
07/09/2002 4:33 PM
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526 |
Then consider "Grand Motel," the classic that has yet to be created. Is there anywhere a grand motel?
Yes, very good. That contrasts the notions well enough.
Like most words I use this one all the time not really knowing what I'm hearing and much less what I'm saying.
k
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#75550
07/10/2002 1:50 AM
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Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 8
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 8 |
AAA describes as follows:
"Hotel-full service. Usually high-rise establishments, offering a wide range of services and on-premise food/beverage outlets, shops, convenience facilities and recreation activities.
Motel-limited service. Low-rise or multi-story establishment offering limited public and recreational facilities."
And another that looks like a cross between....
"Motor Inn-moderate service. Single or multi-story establishment offering on-premise food/beverage service, meeting and banquet facilities and some recreational facilities."
They also describe: Country Inns, Resorts, Bed & Breakfast, Condominiums, Complexes, Lodges, Apartments, Cottages, and Ranches. Whewwwwwwww.
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#75551
07/10/2002 2:18 AM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289 |
Then, Manx, one might add the motels that rent rooms by the hour, which are more like a bawdyhouse.
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#75552
07/10/2002 2:44 AM
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Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 8
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 8 |
I didn't see them listed in AAA tho! :O
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