The rise of the automobile in the early twentieth century reordered the nation's transportation regime and marked the beginning of a new hotel age.Motor hotel, or motel, a new hotel variant which, instead of being located in cities and other travel destinations, was typically sited on inexpensive land along the roads in between.From its beginnings as an experimental cultural form, the American hotel became a ubiquitous presence on the national landscape and developed into an immense and vital national industry.