Discussion: Hotels in the Course of History
The age of the hunter and gatherer is past. Nevertheless, our genes still feel the excitement of mobility, which manifests itself in an urge to travel. As the writer Raoul Schrott describes, the word "hotel" can be traced back to a mythical source in ancient Greek: to the name of the goddess Hestia. Later in France, stately homes in towns and cities were referred to as "hôtels". After the French Revolution, the term was used for important public buildings; and even today, the expression for a town hall is "hôtel de ville".
