Court Opinion

ID: 9650646
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 15:47:40.830815+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:24.754728
License: Public Domain

*510Dissenting Opinion by
Ervin, J.:
I dissent and would reverse the order of the lower court and direct the granting of the new hotel liquor license applied for in these proceedings. The only question is whether the fact that the sleeping accommodations are contained in a building or buildings separate from the dining facilities disqualifies the premises and the applicants from seeking a hotel liquor license. In my judgment, the fact that the restaurant is in a building separate from the sleeping quarters should not be fatal to the application. While statistics are not available, it is my belief that the great majority of travelers today stay in motels rather than hotels. This is undoubtedly because of the great increase in motor vehicle transportation. Huge sums of money have been invested, not only in Pennsylvania but throughout the length and breadth of our land, in the construction of motels. Most of them are well run and are clean and modern in every respect. To discriminate between motels and hotels in this modern day is a step backward. To deny services and accommodations to the traveling public who stay in motels merely because of the fact that the restaurant is not physically a part of the sleeping quarters is unreasonable. A motel on one side of the road, under the majority opinion, would qualify for a license as long as the restaurant was a part of the sleeping quarters. But a motel immediately across the road could not qualify for a license if the restaurant were separate from the sleeping quarters. As long as both are in a common ownership, there is no logical reason for making a distinction.
Webster’s New International Dictionary, Second Edition, Unabridged, 1956, in Addenda, contains the following definition for “motel”: “(Prom motorists’ hotel) a. A hotel for automobile tourists, b. A group of furnished cabins or attached cottages, situated near *511a highway, offering accommodation to tourists.” Words and Phrases, 1956 Cumulative Annual Pocket Part to Vol. 27, contains the following re “motel”: “The word ‘motel’ generally denotes a small hotel where lodgings are available for hire, with a minimum of personal service being furnished by the proprietor. Schermer v. Fremar Corp., 114 A. 2d 757, 760, 36 N. J. Super. 46.
“A ‘motel’ is a modern development of an inn or hotel, serving transients, and cannot be regarded as an ‘apartment house’ within meaning of restrictive covenant. Parrish v. Newbury, Ky., 279 S.W. 2d 229, 233.” See also Maturi v. Balint, 130 N.Y.S. 2d 122, 123, 283 App. Div. 624, where a motel was held to be a hotel.
Gunther and Watkins, JJ., join in this dissent.