"Up ahead in the distance
I saw a shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night
There she stood in the doorway
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinkin' to myself
'This could be heaven or this could be hell'
I saw a shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night
There she stood in the doorway
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinkin' to myself
'This could be heaven or this could be hell'
— The Eagles, "Hotel California"
Tropes about hotels, motels, inns, and anywhere else that offers short-term rentals on bedrooms.
See also Building Tropes, Architecture Tropes, Luxury Tropes, and Index of Hospitality.
Types of Hotels:
- Hell Hotel: A scary hotel.
- Horrible Housing: Can be expanded to include hotels.
- Inn Between the Worlds: A space between different worlds but part of none. Often a hotel.
- Inn of No Return: A hotel that kills its customers.
- Love Hotels: Japanese hotels built specifically for the purpose of allowing couples to have sex in privacy.
- No-Tell Motel: Sleazy motel rented by the hour.
- Rest-and-Resupply Stop: One-stop shop for all your mid-quest needs.
- Ryokan Inn: A fancy, traditional Japanese hotel.
- There Are No Tents: Hotels as the only viable place to sleep.
Hotel-Associated Tropes:
- Candlelit Bath: A common benefit of staying in a hotel.
- Dumbwaiter Ride: Often occurs in hotels that have them.
- Fish-Eye Lens: A camera trick used when someone is peeking through the door's peephole.
- French Maid: Sometimes employed at hotels.
- George Washington Slept Here: A hotel self-advertises with the name of a famous patron.
- Hotel Hellion: A bratty kid terrorizes a hotel.
- Hot Springs Episode: Using resort hotels as an excuse for fanservice.
- House-Hunting Montage: Many of the shown houses often act as unintentional hotels, because they're too terrible for anyone to even consider living in them for more than a day.
- Inn Security: Something bad happens to your Player Character while they're asleep at an inn.
- The Jeeves: Can manifest in the form of an immaculate hotel concierge.
- Key Under the Doormat: A common way to let someone into your room.
- Lonely Bachelor Pad: Can be a long-term hotel room.
- No Fame, No Wealth, No Service: A hotel refuses to admit those who aren't big-wigs.
- Public Bathhouse Scene: Sometimes occur in resorts.
- Ransacked Room: Returning to an overturned hotel room.
- Rather Inn-Accessible: The hotel is in a really out of the way, often dangerous location.
- Room Disservice: Posing as hotel staff to get closer to someone.
- Rule of Pool: Often applies to hotel pools.
- Smithical Marriage: A couple having an affair rents a hotel room under false names.
- The Stateroom Sketch: A stock gag where lots of people crowd into a too-small room, often a hotel room.
- Stealing from the Hotel: Taking advantage of the complimentary amenities.
- There Is Only One Bed: Characters rent a room with only one bed and are forced to share or sleep on the floor.
- Trauma Inn: Going to an inn to heal after injuries.
- You All Meet in an Inn: The adventure begins by the heroes meeting in an inn.
