The word comes from the French hôtel, which just means hall. Historically, many "hotels" were places that housed medium-to-long-term guests, either exclusively

The word comes from the French hôtel, which just means hall. Historically, many "hotels" were places that housed medium-to-long-term guests, either exclusively or alongside short-term visitors. Like the Eloise books, which took place at the Plaza Hotel, or Paris’s Hôtel des Invalides, where wounded soldiers recovered.