The Best Fictional Books About Hotels, Motels, and Inns
Something you might have noticed about me is that while I love to read, I also love to write. One of my favorite things to do is brainstorm new content to share here on the blog. While a lot of my blog posts are reviews of the different books I read, I also enjoy creating books lists on different topics. In today’s blog post I’m going to be sharing a list of books about hotels.
If you think about it, a hotel is a fabulous place to set a story. The hospitality industry is so fast paced. There are characters coming and going as they stay at the hotel. Plus there’s the hardworking staff taking care of everybody’s needs behind the scenes. A hotel or an inn can provide so much interesting subject matter for a novel.
20 Fictional Books About Hotels, Motels, and Inns
The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand
The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand is a contemporary novel set on the picturesque island of Nantucket, a popular summer destination. The story revolves around the revival of a historic hotel, the Hotel Nantucket, which has fallen into disrepair after a tragic event years ago. The novel weaves together the lives of the hotel’s staff and guests as they navigate personal and professional challenges, secrets, and aspirations.
The new owner of the hotel is Xavier Darling, who has big plans to restore the property to its former glory. To help achieve this, he hires a diverse group of employees, each with their own complex backstory. As the hotel reopens its doors, the characters’ lives intertwine, and their individual stories gradually unfold. Themes of love, loss, redemption, and forgiveness are explored as the characters come to terms with their pasts and forge new futures.
Purchase The Hotel Nantucket
Read My Review
Hotel Vendome by Danielle Steel
Hotel Vendome is the story of a small, run down hotel in New York City that is turned into something beautiful by Hugues Martin. He transforms it into a beautiful boutique hotel that is fit for celebrities, socialites, and world travelers with their own stories to tell.
While the hotel is the perfect place for the rich and famous to stay when visiting New York, it’s also where Hugues lives with his wife and daughter. But when his wife grows tired of his obsession with work and the hotel, she leaves him. He becomes the single parent to his four year old daughter, Heloise.
The book takes place over many years and follows Heloise as she grows up. She dreams of following in her fathers footsteps and one day running the Hotel Vendome. This is a sprawling story filled with ups and downs, as it follows the Martin family over the years.
Purchase Hotel Vendome
A Magical New York Christmas
A Magical New York Christmas is a beautiful story that takes place at one of the most well known hotels in New York City: The Plaza.
It’s the week of Christmas, and Sabrina Post is staying at The Plaza Hotel. But while many are staying there for pleasure, she is there for work. She’s accepted the ghostwriting position for the memoir of Grayson Westcott―a famous art dealer. He is staying at the hotel and so she visits his hotel room everyday to listen to his stories and take notes for his upcoming book.
While at the hotel bar one day, Sabrina meets British hotel guest Ian Wentworth. Ian assumes she is a wealthy guest at the hotel and she doesn’t correct him. Meanwhile, Sabrina believes that Ian is a wealthy lord. But in reality he is the the personal secretary of Lord Spencer Braxton. As the week unfolds, Sabrina learns so much about Grayson’s life and has a wonderful time getting to know Ian. But what will happen when she and Ian learn the complete truth about each other?
This book is filled with Christmas magic as well as beautiful imagery of the most grand hotel in NYC. P.S. If you love Eloise or Eloise at the Plaza, I think you’ll also love this book. It has some fun crossover mentions.
Purchase A Magical New York Christmas
Read My Review
The Maid by Nita Prose
This Maid is a mystery novel about a woman named Molly Gray. She struggles with social skills and interacting with others. When her grandmother was alive, she would help Molly interpret and understand the world around her.
But Gran recently passed away, and since then Molly’s been navigating the world on her own. She’s incredibly hard working and takes her job as a hotel maid very seriously. Taking care of the guest rooms at the Regency Grand Hotel is her job and it makes perfect sense to her.
But what doesn’t make sense is finding Mr. Charles Black dead in his bed one morning. Molly’s behaviors lead the police to believe that she might have had something to do with his death. But with the help and guidance of some friends, she will work to find out what really happened to Mr. Black before it’s too late.
Purchase The Maid
The Book Club Hotel by Sarah Morgan
The Book Club Hotel features a wonderful winter destination called The Maple Sugar Inn, which is fully booked for the holidays. The Owner, Hattie Coleman, is a young widow and single mom who is just trying to make it through the holiday season in one piece.
A group of lifelong friends checks in for a girls trip, and to Hattie, it seems like they have it all. Their bond over books has gotten them through many difficult situations. Hattie isn’t prepared for how invested she is going to get in these guests. Over the course of their bookish holiday, the four of them will come together and help each other in ways they never imagined.
If you like women’s fiction about the power of female friendships, you’ll want to check out this new novel by Sarah Morgan.
Purchase The Book Club Hotel
Summers at The Saint by Mary Kay Andrews
Summers at the Saint is the newest release by popular author Mary Kay Andrews. St Cecelia (also known as The Saint) is a landmark hotel (and largest hotel) on the coast of Georgia. Although it’s one of the most popular vacation spots around, Traci Eddings never stayed there growing up. Instead, she worked there. And she eventually married the owner’s son.
Years later, she’s the widowed owner and she’s determined to restore the hotel to what it used to be. Who cares if her brother in law is determined to see her fail? It will take hard work along with all of the connections that she has in order to restore the hotel back to its glory days. She won’t let staff shortages or financial troubles get in her way. Her determination and hard work (along with that of her hotel workers) will have to be enough.
Check out Summers at The Saint to find out if Traci is able to make it work in the end!
Purchase Summers at The Saint
The Villa by Rachel Hawkins
The Villa is a mysterious tale told in dual time periods. In present day we meet Emily and Chess. The women were inseparable when they were younger, but aren’t as close in adulthood. When Chess invites Emily on a girls trip to Italy, Emily jumps at the chance to reconnect with her old friend. They are both writers and so it will almost be like a mini writers retreat.
But when Emily and Chess arrive at Villa Aestas, Emily finds the journal of a former guest. They stayed at the villa back in 1974 when it was known as Villa Rosato. Famous rockstar Noel Gordon had rented the villa, along with his up and coming musician friend Pierce Gordon. Along with Pierce came his girlfriend Mari, and her stepsister Lara. It was a magical summer that helped Mari to write the greatest horror novel of all time and Lara to write a platinum album.
But the Summer also ended in a murder. As Emily dives into the Villa’s complicated history, she decides to keep the information to herself. But as tension with Chess rise and secrets come to light, Emily realizes that perhaps certain events are meant to repeat itself. If you like books about hotels that contain old mysteries, definitely check this one out.
Purchase The Villa
Read My Review
The Suite Spot by Trish Doller
The Suite Spot is book #2 in the Beck Sisters series by Trish Doller. Rachel Beck is a single mother working at a luxury hotel as the night reservations manager. But when she loses her job for something she didn’t do, she has to find new employment fast. When she’s offered a management position at a brewery hotel across the country, she packs up her daughter and heads for new opportunity. She meets Mason, and helps him to not only figure out the hotel business, but also figure out his life.
Purchase The Suite Spot
Hotel Du Lac by Anita Brookner
Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner is a quietly contemplative novel that explores themes of isolation, regret, and the complexities of human relationships. The story is set in a somewhat secluded Swiss hotel, where a diverse group of guests, each with their own struggles, come together under one roof.
The story focuses on Edith Hope, a middle-aged romance novelist who has come to the hotel to recover from a personal crisis. She has fled London after a failed relationship with a man. At the hotel, Edith is attempting to recover from this emotional setback, but she is also forced to confront her own feelings of guilt, self-doubt, and the consequences of her past decisions.
Purchase Hotel Du Lac
The Hotel by Pamela Kelley
The Hotel tells the story of The Whitley, Nantucket’s most exclusive hotel. Known for its elegant main building and surrounding cottages, it’s a place of luxury and relaxation for many. Just like guests keep coming back, many of the staff have worked their for years. That includes Paula Whitley, who mainly focused on accounting. But when Wynn Whitley decides to step back and promote Paula to run the hotel, the rest of the family grows angry.
Paula is in for the Summer of a lifetime as she gets to know her new job, and work with the consultant her grandfather hired. But she can’t get too comfortable. Not when her granfather hasn’t revealed what his future plans are.
Purchase The Hotel
Christmas at the Island Hotel by Jenny Colgan
If you’re looking for a heartwarming Christmas story abroad, you’ve come to the right place. Christmas at the Island Hotel takes place on Mure, a remote island halfway between Scotland and Norway. Flora and her brother Fintan are opening a new hotel, and they’re hoping to have things ready by the holidays.
Over the course of the holiday season, new friendships are made and secrets are uncovered. Guests will come and go, And most of all, the people of Mure will come together and celebrate the opening of the hotel. And celebrate the very best time of year.
Purchase Christmas at the Island Hotel
The Pink Hotel by Liska Jacobs
The main characters in The Pink Hotel are Keith and Kit Collins, a couple of newlyweds. After being confined to luxury hotel during a raging wildfire, they find themselves caught in the escalating tension between the wealthy guests and the staff. When the hotel closes its doors to outsiders as a way to keep their valuable guests safe, people quickly grow agitated with each other and their situation.
The Pink Hotel is a dark social satire that explores wealth, class, and greed through a modern lens.
Purchase The Pink Hotel
The Second Chance Hotel by Sierra Godfrey
After a whole list of unfortunate circumstances, Amelia Lang leaves her old life behind and runs away. Settling in on a small Greek island, she makes another questionable decision when she gets tricked into marrying another guest at her hotel named James. The newlyweds are gifted the hotel and they have to figure out what to do. They decide to keep it open for the busy season and at the end, Amelia will go back home to figure out her life again.
But things never go according to plan. Amelia and James must learn to run the hotel together so that they can survive the season and then go home. Unless maybe their best chance at a second chance is with each other? A love story is what neither of them expected, but it might be just what they need.
Purchase The Second Chance Hotel
Hotel of Secrets by Diana Biller
Hotel of Secrets is a historical tale.
In Vienna during ball season, Maria Wallner is focused on restoring her family’s hotel, the Hotel Wallner, and won’t let anything distract her—whether it’s her parents’ long-standing affair, mysterious attacks by masked assassins, or the intriguing American agent who keeps saving her life. Eli Whittaker, an American foreign agent, is in Vienna to track down a spy selling secret codes, with a lead that brings him to Maria’s hotel. Though he’s determined to stay focused on his mission, he finds himself drawn into the chaos of Viennese society, growing increasingly attracted to Maria despite his initial disapproval of the unpredictable situation.
Purchase Hotel of Secrets
In Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed today’s post about the best fictional books about hotels. These hotel novels cover so many different genres and themes. Some of them are romantic, while others are part mystery. Some are about travelers while others are about coming home. I love the different stories and plot lines these hotel books hold.
Whether you’re looking for a stories set in luxury hotels or seedy old hotels, this list has you covered. I hope that you find a great read in this list of contemporary fiction books. And if you have any recommendations of books about hotels, please make sure to let me know in the comments.
