originally a hotel designed for persons travelling by automobile, with convenient parking space provided. Motels serve commercial and business travellers and persons attending conventions and meetings as well as vacationers and tourists. The automobile became the principal mode of travel by 1950 in the United States and by the 1960s in Europe and Japan; and motels were built as near as possible to interstate highways, just as hotels had been built as near as possible to railroad stations. Most motels provide an informal atmosphere compared to hotels; often the guest transports his own luggage to and from his room. Most but not all motels have restaurant facilities and many have swimming pools; most rooms contain a television set.

Motels originated as a series of separate or attached roadside cabins, independently operated; but when professional management took over, their size increased, and the chain concept became popular. Franchising operations, in which an individual is allowed to go into business for himself under the widely advertised name of a chain of motels, thus realizing the benefits of chain operations with relatively modest investment, has achieved remarkable growth for several chains.