"proprietor of a hotel," 1905, from French hôtelier "hotelkeeper," from Old French ostelier, hostelier (12c.), from hostel "a lodging" (see hostel). Compare hostler.
Entries linking to hotelier
hostel n.
early 13c., "inn, house of entertainment," from Old French ostel, hostel "house, home, dwelling; inn, lodgings, shelter" (11c., Modern French hôtel), from Medieval Latin hospitale "inn; large house" (see hospital). Obsolete after 16c., revived 1808, along with hostelry by Sir Walter Scott. Youth hostel is recorded by 1931.
hostler n.
formerly also hosteler, late 14c., "one who tends to horses at an inn," also, occasionally, "innkeeper," from Anglo-French hostiler, Old French ostelier, hostelier "innkeeper; steward in a monastery" (12c., Modern French hôtelier), from Medieval Latin hostilarius "the monk who entertains guests at a monastery," from hospitale "inn" (see hospital). Compare ostler.