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Motel – A Poor Cousin To Hotel?

By: Alan Ross

Motel is an abridged word for motor hotel or motor inn. The word originated in the year 1925 and broke through into the dictionaries after the World War II. For those who are interested in a bit of history, one must credit Arthur Heinman of having created the first motel in San Luis. Initial days characterized motels by their distant locations to cities as they were all located on the highway sides.

Though motels are often more economical than hotels, they are not inferior. Many motels offer the same amenities as hotels, like Jacuzzis, on site swimming pools, and cable TV. One thing that motels usually don’t offer is an on-site restaurant, but many visitors would prefer to eat away from their lodgings anyway.

Motel also offer flexibility where visitors park outside their rooms and enter through a door leading to the parking lot. This is different from a hotel, where travelers enter through a lobby area and do not have as easy access to their automobiles. Motels can be more convenient for many travelers, especially families with lots of children. Motels are also usually less expensive than hotels.

Typical Motels
Typically, motels were all on the highways predominantly catering to the road warriors of the last century as they traveled along highways overnight. That was the era when automobiles were the ‘in things.’ Motels were typically built or constructed with all the rooms opening to a large outside area or parking lot unlike in a hotel where doors open to indoor hallways only. But strangely motels had another major difference which emphasized on the anonymous interactions between the occupants and the owners.

Motels were constructed, characteristically, in the shapes of letters I and L, although U shaped motels are not exactly out of the ordinary. Most of them have a bar attached dining hall and a manager’s office. On a night travel, you could tell a motel from a long distance by their characteristic neon signs.

Motels came up strongly on the travel scene in the early 1950s with the introduction of ‘Holiday Inn’ which heralded the end of era for the then popular 'mom and pop' hotels which were typically located on the outskirts of cities.

Now a day, motels are fading away gradually, thanks to the new Inter State Highway network. One can still find a small four or five roomer on the older highways which stand as testimony to the bygone era. They still offer low cost stay with some motels innovatively charging their guests by the hours spent.

These no-frills-attached, cozier hotels of the yesteryear are perhaps on its extinction.

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Alan Ross is a regular article contributor on many topics. Be sure to visit his other websites Motel and Hotel

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