Hotel Fr., from O.Fr. (origin of Eng. hostel ), from Latin (origin
of Eng. hospital ),=guest place], name applied since the late
17th cent. to an establishment supplying both food and lodging
to the public (see inn ). In common law of England and America,
the hotelkeeper is a public servant and must receive all proper
persons.
The first American hotels, successors to the early inns, differed
from their European prototypes by charging a fixed fee for food
and lodging (American plan). For many years $1.00 per day was
the accepted price.
Fraunces Tavern (1762; see under Fraunces, Samuel ) and the City
Hotel (1793) were fashionable resorts of early New York City.
The Tremont House, in Boston (1829), for years considered the
most imposing hotel in the United States, was rivaled by the Astor
House, built in New York in 1836.
The modern hotel in America dates from the early days of railroad
travel, when the modest hostelry, prepared to entertain small
groups of occasional guests, was forced to become a more commodious
and efficient institution to accommodate the great number of traveling
salespeople. |
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