CNN
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This week in travel news: the original “motor hotel” sits abandoned, the world’s busiest airports are ranked, and how to move abroad without messing it up.
Hotels and guesthouses have existed for centuries. But the motel was born in 1925 when an architect named Arthur Heineman came up with the idea for a “motor hotel,” shortened to “motel.”
The concept was simple but effective: Now that more and more people had cars and were going on road trips, they needed places where they could stop and stay the night along the way. Thus Heineman paired low-cost rooms with small garages where guests could safely park their cars — all for $1.25 a night.
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