There are many establishments that call themselves Something-Inn/Inn-Something but are really either fully modern hotels (e.g. Holiday Inn, Inn on the Park; also some motels call themselves “motor inns”), or restaurants or pubs (for example, in my childhood there was a restaurant/bar at a Toronto mall called “The Rustic Inn”). But what criteria would an establishment existing in the modern world need to meet for it to really qualify as an inn in the classic sense, and not for it to be just a name they’re using to conjure up an atmosphere of the old-fashioned?
When I think of an “inn” in the true sense, I imagine an establishment in the country, likely along a main road, with the main floor used basically as a tavern, stereotypically with wooden tables and ceiling rafters, where both locals and travellers can drink, be merry, and eventually something to eat, and then some kind of rooms upstairs. (There may also be stables for horses/donkeys, but of course that won’t be found there today). I have seen examples online of inns in the UK/Europe, some of which claim they have been in operation for centuries, and which look, from the outside or the inside, quite similar to how I would imagine an “inn”. On the other hand, examples I’ve seen from North America of “country inns” have featured rather fancy-looking dining rooms with a Georgian- or Biedermeier-type decor.
I basically get the impression that the term “inn” can be used most properly in the true sense to describe a small hotel in the country or a small town that provides both food and drink and accommodation. Would this be about right? Or is the difference between an “inn” and a common hotel a rather arbitrary one?
I have nothing useful to contribute. I’m just here to give a shout out to whoever named the Lake Eufaula Inn in McIntosh County, Oklahoma. (Eufaula is pronounced ‘you falla’.) Did they watch a lot of Rocky and Bullwinkle when they were young?
When I think of how an inn would look today, I think of an old school chain motel: plenty of parking close to your room, and unlike motels these days, it always has a full service restaurant. Many chain places that call themselves “inns” do have restaurants, but rarely at all their locations. Those individual ones that do, I would consider to be inns.
Inns are small properties with a limited inventory of rooms, and they are typically found in rural locations and sometimes within communities. They are often privately or family-owned and operated. You can expect much fewer amenities at an inn than a hotel. There will likely be toiletries and a coffee maker in the room, possibly WiFi, and a basic daily breakfast offered in a common area. Compared to a motel and hotel, inns are often decorated by the owners and have a more homey feel than brand-name chains.
The cost of staying at an inn usually falls between a motel and hotel. Inns will almost always be more expensive than a motel and rarely cost as much a hotel. Although, there are boutique inns offering more amenities and services, which will be reflected in the per-night price.
I think of an inn as more like a bed and breakfast - rooms with private bath and a continental or full breakfast. A common area with a fireplace, too. Maybe even a dinner seating in a nicer one. I have no idea why I think this, I just do.
When I think of an Inn I envision places that I encountered in the UK where a drinking/dining establishment would have rooms for rent either above or behind the pub. Never actually stayed in one but we all wanted to try it out as they seemed to be everywhere outside of London.
I am so jealous, that was the idea. Have several pints and some pub food and then crawl over to your room and start the next day onto the next pub/inn and start over. That’s my dream tour of the UK, that and throw in some brewery’s and distilleries along the way.
OK, to make you more jealous, the pub was having a Cornish pasties contest and not being a local I was made a judge so my dinner was a ton of homemade pasties.
I think in the case of a restaurant that is called an inn, it may have been a restaurant with accommodations at one time, or at least trying to portray that image. As such the word does portray a certain type of establishment more informal than a hotel, more homey than a motel, and generally smaller than both.
One of my hobbies is identifying older aerial photos on https://vintageaerial.com/ .My favorite thing to identify is the motels that were scattered all over the country on the major surface highways. I’ll go to quite some length to identify one. My experience is the same as the OP’s. An Inn can be just about anything today.Some are strictly a bar and grill or restaurant. Others are motels. And some combine all the features.
Here are the 3369 Inns that have been identified so far:
Historically, what differentiated an inn from a restaurant (aside from the former also having rooms to rent) was that a restaurant had a fixed menu and your food was prepared at the time you came to eat (within reason). Whereas at the inn you ate whatever the innkeeper prepared whenever it was ready. “Supper is at 6:30, we’re having mutton stew and succotash tonight.”
