A motel , also known as a motor hotel , motor inn or motor lodge , is a hotel designed for motorists, usually having each room entered directly from the parking area for motor vehicles rather than through a central lobby. Entering dictionaries after World War II , the word motel , coined as a portmanteau of "motor hotel", originates from the defunct lodging compound establishment; The Milestone Mo-Tel in San Luis Obispo, California later renamed as "Motel Inn" , which was built in Motels are often individually owned, though motel chains do exist.
As large highway systems began to be developed in the s, long-distance road journeys became more common, and the need for inexpensive, easily accessible overnight accommodation sites close to the main routes led to the growth of the motel concept. Motels differ from hotels in their location along highways, as opposed to the urban cores favored by hotels, and their orientation to the outside in contrast to hotels, whose doors typically face an interior hallway.
Motels almost by definition include a parking lot, while older hotels were not usually built with automobile parking in mind. Because of their low-rise construction, the number of rooms which would fit on any given amount of land was low compared to the high-rise urban hotels which had grown around train stations. This was not an issue in an era where the major highways became the main street in every town along the way and inexpensive land at the edge of town could be developed with motels, car dealerships, fuel stations, lumber yards, amusement parks, roadside diners, drive-in restaurants, theaters, and countless other small roadside businesses.
The automobile brought mobility and the motel could appear anywhere on the vast network of two-lane highways. Motels are typically constructed in an I-, L-, or U-shaped layout that includes guest rooms; an attached manager's office; a small reception; and in some cases, a small diner and a swimming pool. A motel was typically single-story with rooms opening directly onto a parking lot, making it easy to unload suitcases from a vehicle.
The post-war motels, especially in the early s to late s, sought more visual distinction, often featuring eye-catching colorful neon signs which employed themes from popular culture, ranging from Western imagery of cowboys and Indians to contemporary images of spaceships and atomic era iconography.
