What's the main difference between a motel, a hotel, and an inn?

Native speaker’s answer
Rebecca
A hotel is a big building, usually with a star ranking. You enter it through a door, and you go between rooms through corridors. A motel is usually an establishment that has 1-2 floors and is accessible from a parking lot since it's designed for motorists. This is also why it's called a "motel": "motor + hotel" = "motel." An Inn is a smaller kind of hotel that doesn't have any star rankings. Ex: I'd like to treat myself to a stay in a four-star hotel this weekend. Ex: On our road trip, we stopped at a motel for the night. Ex: We went there for the weekend and stayed at a cute little Inn. It was nice and homey.