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62-746: The Seaside Inn (formerly the Seaside Inn & Cottages ) is an Inn in Kennebunk, Maine which has been in continuous operation under the same family since 1667, making it one of the oldest companies in the United States . John Gooch, the first settler in the Cape Neddick area, arrived in the area 1637. At some point, he established the Inn, and, by 1667, he was commissioned by Ferdinando Gorges , an agent of King Charles II , to "reside on

124-498: A marketing co-operative . With the introduction of chains, independent motels started to decline. The emergence of freeways bypassing existing highways (such as the Interstate Highway System in the U.S.) caused older motels away from the new roads to lose clientele to motel chains built along the new road's offramps. Some entire roadside towns were abandoned. Amboy, California (population 700) had grown as

186-474: A Route 66 rest stop and would decline with the highway as the opening of Interstate 40 in 1973 bypassed the village entirely. The ghost town and its 1938 Roy's Motel and Café were allowed to decay for years and used by film makers in a weathered and deteriorated state. Even the original 1952 Holiday Inn Hotel Courts in Memphis closed by 1973 and was eventually demolished, as I-40 bypassed U.S. 70 and

248-431: A different trademark and branding , major hotel chains could build new limited-service properties near airports and freeways without undermining their existing mid-price brands. Creation of new brands also allowed chains to circumvent the contractual minimum distance protections between individual hoteliers in the same chain. Franchisors placed multiple properties under different brands at the same motorway exit, leading to

310-399: A family vacation. He would build his own motel at 4941 Summer Avenue ( U.S. 70 ) on the main highway (U.S. 70) from Memphis to Nashville , adopting a name from a 1942 musical film Holiday Inn about a fictional lodge only open on public holidays. Every new Holiday Inn would have TV, air conditioning, a restaurant, and a pool; all would meet a long list of standards in order to have

372-437: A group of motel owners in the southwestern U.S., published a guidebook until the early 1950s. A splinter of this now-defunct group, Quality Courts, began as a referral chain in 1941, but was converted to a franchised operation ( Quality Inn ) in the 1960s. Budget Host and Best Value Inn are also referral chains. Best Western (1946) was a similar referral chain of independent western U.S. motels. It remains in operation as

434-660: A guest in Memphis to have the same experience as someone in Daytona Beach, Florida or Akron, Ohio . Originally a motel chain, Holiday Inn was first to deploy an IBM -designed national room reservations system in 1965 and opened its 1000th location by 1968. In 1954 a 60-room motor hotel in Flagstaff, Arizona , opened as the first Ramada ( Spanish for " a shaded resting place "). The Twin Bridges Motor Hotel , established in 1957 near Washington, D.C. as

496-618: A lodging establishment called " Milestone Mo-Tel " in San Luis Obispo , California, which was constructed in 1925 by Arthur Heineman . In conceiving of a name for his hotel, Heineman combined the two words motor hotel into one word as mo-tel , after he found that he could not fit the words "Milestone Motor Hotel" on the rooftop. Therefore the word "motel" and literally the first motel was born. Many other similar businesses followed in its footsteps and started building their own auto camps, as well as calling themselves "motels". Later, as

558-476: A member of Quality Courts, became the first Marriott in 1959, expanding from motel to hotel in 1962. For individual motel owners, a franchise chain provided an automated central reservation system and a nationally recognized brand which assured consumers that rooms and amenities met a consistent minimum standard. This came at a cost; franchise fees, marketing fees, reservation fees, and royalty fees were not reduced during times of economic recession, leaving most of

620-417: A member-owned chain, although the modern Best Western operation shares many of the characteristics (such as centralized purchasing and reservation systems) of the later franchise systems. The earliest motel chains, proprietary brands for multiple properties built with common architecture, were born in the 1930s. The first of these were ownership chains, in which a small group of people owned and operated all of

682-461: A motel chain was not pursued further. In 1951, residential developer Kemmons Wilson returned to Memphis, Tennessee disillusioned by motels encountered on a family road trip to Washington, D.C. In each city, rooms varied from well-kept to filthy, few had a swimming pool, no on-site restaurant meant a few miles driving to buy dinner, and (while the room itself was $ 8 to $ 10) motor courts charged $ 2 extra per child, substantially increasing costs of

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744-453: A motel strip extending from Lundy's Lane to the falls has long been marketed to newlyweds) would offer "honeymoon suites" with extra amenities such as whirlpool baths . The first campgrounds for automobile tourists were constructed in the late 1910s. Before that, tourists who couldn't afford to stay in a hotel either slept in their cars or pitched their tents in fields alongside the road. These were called auto camps. The modern campgrounds of

806-413: 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

868-399: A particular kind of image. Inns were like bed and breakfasts , with a community dining room which was also used for town meetings or rented for wedding parties. The front, facing the road, was ornamental and welcoming for travelers. The back also usually had at least one livery barn for travelers to keep their horses. There were no lobbies as in modern inns; rather, the innkeeper would answer

930-455: A restaurant or diner or buy a meal no matter how much money you had. You couldn't find a place to answer the call of nature even with a pocketful of money...if you were a person of color traveling on Route 66 in the 1940s and '50s. The Negro Motorist Green Book (1936–64) listed lodgings, restaurants, fuel stations, liquor stores, and barber and beauty salons without racial restrictions; the smaller Directory of Negro Hotels and Guest Houses in

992-408: A resting place to those traveling on foot or by other means. These inns were built between towns if the distance between municipalities was too far for one day's travel. These structures, called caravansarais, were inns with large courtyards and ample supplies of water for drinking and other uses. They typically contained a café, in addition to supplies of food and fodder. After the caravans traveled

1054-422: A result of failing to obtain a registered trademark for the word "Mo-Tel" or "motel", Milestone Mo-Tel was renamed simply as " Motel Inn ". Combining the individual cabins of the tourist court under a single roof yielded the motor court or motor hotel. A handful of motor courts were beginning to call themselves motels, a term coined in 1926. Many of these early motels are still popular and are in operation, as in

1116-492: A room in a distant city. The main roads into major towns therefore became a sea of orange or red neon proclaiming VACANCY (and later C O L O R TV, air conditioning, or a swimming pool) as competing operators vied for precious visibility on crowded highways. Other venues for advertising were local tourist bureaus and postcards provided for free use by clients. A rating in the Directory of Motor Courts and Cottages by

1178-419: A seat and a barrel which were emptied every morning. Beds would accommodate more than one man, sometimes even a dozen. During the 19th century, the inn played a major role in the growing transportation system of England. Industry was on the rise, and people were traveling more in order to keep and maintain business. The English inn was considered an important part of English infrastructure, as it helped maintain

1240-480: A series of small cabins with common parking. Motels are often individually owned, though motel chains do exist. As large highway systems began to be developed in the 1920s, 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 peaked in popularity in the 1960s with rising car travel, only to decline in response to competition from

1302-625: 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. A second story, if present, would face onto a balcony served by multiple stairwells. The post-war motels, especially in the early 1950s to late 1960s, 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. U.S. Route 66

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1364-473: A smooth flow of travel throughout the country. As modes of transport have evolved, tourist lodging has adapted to serve each generation of traveler. A stagecoach made frequent stops at roadside coaching inns for water, food, and horses. A passenger train stopped only at designated stations in the city center, around which were built grand railway hotels . Motorcar traffic on old-style two-lane highways might have paused at any camp, cabin court, or motel along

1426-466: A tip for service. In the 1940s, most construction ground to a near-halt as workers, fuel, rubber, and transport were pulled away from civilian use for the war effort. What little construction did take place was typically near military bases where every habitable cabin was pressed into service to house soldiers and their families. The post-war 1950s ushered in a building boom on a massive scale. By 1947, approximately 22,000 motor courts were in operation in

1488-623: A very limited selection of continental breakfast foods but have no restaurant, bar, or room service. Journey's End Corporation (founded 1978 in Belleville, Ontario ) built two-story hotel buildings with no on-site amenities to compete directly in price with existing motels. Rooms were comparable to a good hotel but there was no pool, restaurant, health club, or conference center. There was no room service and generic architectural designs varied little between cities. The chain targeted "budget-minded business travelers looking for something between

1550-618: A while they would take a break at these caravansarais, and often spend the night to rest the human travelers and their animals. The term "inn" historically characterized a rural hotel which provided lodging, food and refreshments, and accommodations for travelers' horses. To capitalize on this nostalgic image many typically lower end and middling modern motor hotel operators seek to distance themselves from similar motels by styling themselves "inns", regardless of services and accommodations provided. Examples are Comfort Inn , Days Inn , Holiday Inn , Knights Inn , and Premier Inn . The term "inn"

1612-675: A work of non-fiction entitled The Seaside House: Maine Innkeepers which tells the complete history of the family and running of the inn. The inn was recognized by New England's Yankee Magazine as the Maine lodging with the "Best Family Ties" in 2009. Inn An Innkeeper is the person who runs an inn. Inns in Europe were possibly first established when the Romans built their system of Roman roads 2,000 years ago. Many inns in Europe are several centuries old. In addition to providing for

1674-586: Is also retained in its historic use in many laws governing motels and hotels, often known as "innkeeper's acts", or refer to hôteliers and motel operators as "innkeepers" in the body of the legislation These laws typically define the innkeepers' liability for valuables entrusted to them by clients and determine whether an innkeeper holds any lien against such goods. In some jurisdictions, an offense named as " defrauding an innkeeper " prohibits fraudulently obtaining "food, lodging, or other accommodation at any hotel, inn, boarding house, or eating house"; in this context,

1736-649: Is the most popular example of the "neon era". Many of these signs remain in use to this day. In some motels, a handful of rooms would be larger and contain kitchenettes or apartment-like amenities; these rooms were marketed at a higher price as "efficiencies" as their occupants could prepare food themselves instead of incurring the cost of eating all meals in restaurants. Rooms with connecting doors (so that two standard rooms could be combined into one larger room) also commonly appeared in both hotels and motels. A few motels (particularly in Niagara Falls, Ontario , where

1798-521: The southwestern United States , a handful of tourist homes were opened by African Americans as early as the Great Depression due to the lack of food or lodging for travelers of color in the Jim Crow conditions of the era. There were things money couldn't buy on Route 66. Between Chicago and Los Angeles you couldn't rent a room if you were tired after a long drive. You couldn't sit down in

1860-492: The 1920s and 1930s provided running water, picnic grounds, and restroom facilities. Auto camps predated motels by a few years, established in the 1920s as primitive municipal camp sites where travelers pitched their own tents. As demand increased, for-profit commercial camps gradually displaced public campgrounds. Until the first travel trailers became available in the 1930s, auto tourists adapted their cars by adding beds, makeshift kitchens and roof decks. The next step up from

1922-517: The 1970s and 1980s, independent motels were losing ground to chains such as Motel 6 and Ramada, existing roadside locations were increasingly bypassed by freeways, and the development of the motel chain led to a blurring of motel and hotel. While family-owned motels with as few as five rooms could still be found, especially along older highways, these were forced to compete with a proliferation of Economy Limited Service chains. ELS hotels typically do not offer cooked food or mixed drinks; they may offer

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1984-597: The American Automobile Association was just one of many credentials eagerly sought by independent motels of the era. Regional guides (such as Official Florida Guide by A. Lowell Hunt or Approved Travelers Motor Courts ) and the food/lodging guidebooks published by restaurant reviewer Duncan Hines ( Adventures in Good Eating , 1936 and Lodging for a Night , 1938) were also valued endorsements. The referral chain in lodging originated in

2046-562: The Mississippi River) until the 1960s. Both built national supply chain and reservation systems while aggressively removing properties not meeting minimum standards. In 1963, their paths diverged. Quality Courts became Quality Inn , abandoning its former co-operative structure to become a for-profit corporation, use shareholder capital to build entirely company-owned locations, and require its members to become franchisees, while Best Western retained its original member-owned status as

2108-535: The U.S. alone; a typical 50-room motel in that era cost $ 3000 per room in initial construction costs, compared to $ 12,000 per room for metropolitan city hotel construction. By 1950 there were 50,000 motels serving half of the 22 million U.S. vacationers; a year later motels surpassed hotels in consumer demand. The industry peaked in 1964 with 61,000 properties and fell to 16,000 properties by 2012. Many motels began advertising on colorful neon signs that they had "air cooling" (an early term for "air conditioning") during

2170-632: The United States (1939, U.S. Travel Bureau) specialized in accommodations. Segregation of U.S. tourist accommodation would legally be ended by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and by a court ruling in Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States affirming that Congress' powers over interstate commerce extend to regulation of local incidents (such as racial discrimination in a motel serving interstate travelers) which might substantially and harmfully affect that commerce. The term "motel" originated from

2232-469: The beach-front motel instantly became a success. In major beach-front cities such as Jacksonville, Florida , Miami, Florida , and Ocean City, Maryland , rows of colorful motels such as the Castaways, in all shapes and sizes, became commonplace. The original motels were small, locally owned businesses which grew around two-lane highways which were main street in every town along the way. As independents,

2294-407: The business risk with the franchisee while franchise corporations profited. Some franchise contracts restricted the franchisee's ability to sell the business as a going concern or leave the franchise group without penalty. For the chain, the franchise model allowed a higher level of product standardization and quality control than was possible as a referral chain model while allowing expansion beyond

2356-490: The case of the 3V Tourist Court in St. Francisville, Louisiana , built in 1938. During the Great Depression, those still traveling (including business travelers and traveling salespeople) were under pressure to manage travel costs by driving instead of taking trains and staying in the new roadside motels and courts instead of more costly established downtown hotels where bell captains , porters , and other personnel would all expect

2418-555: The chain repositioned itself as a mid-price hotel brand. The Twin Bridges Marriott was demolished for parkland in 1990. Many independent 1950s-era motels would remain in operation, often sold to new owners or renamed, but continued their steady decline as clients were lost to the chains. Often the building's design, as traditionally little more than a long row of individual bedrooms with outside corridors and no kitchen or dining hall, left it ill-suited to any other purpose. In

2480-488: The coin-operated Magic Fingers vibrating bed were briefly popular; introduced in 1958, these were largely removed in the 1970s due to vandalism of the coin boxes. The American Hotel Association (which had briefly offered a Universal Credit Card in 1953 as forerunner to the modern American Express card) became the American Hotel & Motel Association in 1963. As many motels vied for their place on busy highways,

2542-592: The depression as governments attempted to create employment, but the roadside cabin camps were primitive, basically just auto camps with small cabins instead of tents. The 1935 City Directory for San Diego , California, lists "motel"-type accommodations under tourist camps. One initially could stay in the Depression-era cabin camps for less than a dollar per night, but small comforts were few and far between. Travelers in search of modern amenities soon would find them at cottage courts and tourist courts. The price

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2604-563: The door for each visitor and judge the people whom he decided to accommodate, it was up to the visitors to convince the innkeeper for accommodation. In some English towns, bye-laws would require innkeepers to offer all visitors a bed. Many inns were simply large houses that had extra rooms for renting. In 14th-century England, the courtyards of the inns were often not paved or cobbled but rather flattened earth or mud. These inns would be made of two-story timber framed buildings with steep shingle roofs. Stable boys were in charge of stabling horses at

2666-410: The early 1930s, originally serving to promote cabins and tourist courts. A predecessor of the modern "franchise chain" model, a referral chain was a group of independent motel owners in which each member lodge would voluntarily meet a set of standards and each property would promote the others. Each property would proudly display the group's name alongside its own. United Motor Courts, founded in 1933 by

2728-442: 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;

2790-410: The full-service luxury hotels and the clean-but-plain roadside inns", but largely drew individual travelers from small towns who traditionally supported small roadside motels. International chains quickly followed this same pattern. Choice Hotels created Comfort Inn as an economy limited service brand in 1982. New limited-service brands from existing franchisors provided market segmentation ; by using

2852-559: The functions of traditional inns. Economy, limited service properties, however, lack a kitchen and bar, and therefore claim at most an included continental breakfast .) The lodging aspect of the word inn lives on in some hotel brand names, like Holiday Inn , and the Inns of Court in London were once accommodations for members of the legal profession. Some laws refer to lodging operators as innkeepers . Other forms of inns exist throughout

2914-427: The hot summers or were "heated by steam" during the cold winters. A handful used novelty architecture such as wigwams or teepees . The 1950s and 1960s was the pinnacle of the motel industry in the United States and Canada. As older mom-and-pop motor hotels began adding newer amenities such as swimming pools or color TV (a luxury in the 1960s), motels were built in wild and impressive designs. In-room gimmicks such as

2976-459: The maximum practical size of a tightly held ownership chain. In some cases, loosely knit ownership chains (such as Travelodge ) and referral chains (such as Quality Courts, founded in 1939 by seven motel operators as a non-profit referral system) were converted to franchise systems. Quality Courts (1939) and The Best Western Motels (1946) were both originally referral chains and largely marketed together (as Quality Courts were predominantly east of

3038-667: The motels under one common brand. Alamo Plaza Hotel Courts , founded 1929 in East Waco, Texas , was the first such chain with seven motor courts by 1936 and more than twenty by 1955. With Simmons furniture, Beautyrest mattresses on every bed, and telephones in every room, the Alamo Plaza rooms were marketed as "tourist apartments" under a slogan of "Catering to those who care." In 1935, building contractor Scott King opened King's Motor Court in San Diego, California , renaming

3100-508: The needs of travelers, inns traditionally acted as community gathering places. Historically, inns provided not only food and lodging, but stabling and fodder for the travelers' horses, as well. Famous London examples of inns include The George and The Tabard . However, there is no longer a formal distinction between an inn and several other kinds of establishments: many pubs use the name "inn", either because they are long established and may have been formerly coaching inns , or to summon up

3162-543: The newer chain hotels that became commonplace at highway interchanges as traffic was bypassed onto newly constructed freeways . Several historic motels are listed on the US National Register of Historic Places . 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

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3224-596: The ocean-front peninsula at the mouth of the Kennebunk River and ferry travellers across the River." The inn has been in continuous operation by the Gooch family since its inception. In 2018, it remained owned by John Gooch's twelfth-generation descendants. The early Gooch family history was chronicled in the 1929 novel Arundel by American author Kenneth Roberts . Additionally, current owner Trish Mason has written

3286-618: The original property Travelodge in 1939 after having built two dozen more simple motel-style properties in five years on behalf of various investors. He incorporated and expanded the entire chain under the TraveLodge banner after 1946. In 1937, Harlan Sanders opened a motel and restaurant as Sanders Court and Café alongside a fuel station in Corbin, Kentucky ; a second location was opened in Asheville, North Carolina , but expansion as

3348-671: The outskirts of towns that were as quirky as their owners. Auto camps continued in popularity through the Depression years and after World War II, their popularity finally starting to diminish with increasing land costs and changes in consumer demands. In contrast, though they remained small independent operations, motels quickly adopted a more homogenized appearance and were designed from the start to cater purely to motorists. In town, tourist homes were private residences advertising rooms for auto travelers. Unlike boarding houses , guests at tourist homes were usually just passing through. In

3410-587: The quality of accommodation varied widely from one lodge to another; while a minority of these properties were inspected or rated by the American Automobile Association and Canadian Automobile Association (which have published maps and tour book directories of restaurants and rooms since 1917), no consistent standard stood behind the "sanitized for your protection" banner. There was no real access to national advertising for local motels and no nationwide network to facilitate reservation of

3472-423: The rear yard of the inn where they are watered and fed. Usual foods served included pottage, bread and cheese with ale for drinking. In some towns, innkeepers are only allowed to offer food and drinks to guests. The better managed inns would place fresh rushes on the floor, mixed with rose petals, lavender and herbs. Lighting would be dim, as candles were made of tallow. For toilet facilities, inns would simply provide

3534-445: The term is often an anachronism as the majority of modern restaurants are free-standing and not attached to coaching inns or tourist lodging. Motel 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 ,

3596-571: The travel trailer was the cabin camp, a primitive but permanent group of structures. During the Great Depression , landholders whose property fronted onto highways built cabins to convert unprofitable land to income; some opened tourist homes . The (usually single-story) buildings for a roadside motel or cabin court were quick and simple to construct, with plans and instructions readily available in how-to and builder's magazines. Expansion of highway networks largely continued unabated through

3658-605: The way, while freeway traffic was restricted to access from designated off-ramps to side roads which quickly become crowded with hotel chain operators. The original functions of an inn are now usually split among separate establishments. For example, hotels, lodges and motels might provide the traditional functions of an inn but focus more on lodging customers than on other services; public houses (pubs) are primarily alcohol-serving establishments; and restaurants and taverns serve food and drink. (Hotels often contain restaurants serving full breakfasts and meals, thus providing all of

3720-400: 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 1925. The term referred to a type of hotel consisting of a single building of connected rooms whose doors faced a parking lot and in some circumstances, a common area or

3782-565: The world. Among them are the honjin and ryokan of Japan , caravanserai of Central Asia and the Middle East, and jiuguan in ancient China. In Asia Minor , during the periods of rule by the Seljuk and Ottoman Turks , impressive structures functioning as inns ( Turkish : han ) were built because inns were considered socially significant. These inns provided accommodations for people and either their vehicles or animals, and served as

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3844-617: Was higher, but the cabins had electricity, indoor bathrooms, and occasionally a private garage or carport. They were arranged in attractive clusters or a U-shape. Often, these camps were part of a larger complex containing a filling station, a café, and sometimes a convenience store. Facilities like the Rising Sun Auto Camp in Glacier National Park and Blue Bonnet Court in Texas were "mom-and-pop" facilities on

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